presented  to  the 

LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  •  SAN  DIEGO 

by 

FRIENDS  OF  THE  LIBRARY 

MR.   &  MRS.   RICHARD  KORNHAUSER 

donor 


POLITICAL    HISTORY 


OF 


RECENT  TIMES 

1816-1875 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  GERMANY 

BY 

WILHELM  MULLER 

PROFESSOR  IN  TUBINGEN 

REVISED    AND    ENLARGED    BY    THE    AUTHOR 


WITH  AN  APPENDIX  COVERING  THE  PERIOD  FROM  1876  TO  1881 
BY  THE 

REV.  JOHN  P.  PETERS,  Pn.D. 


NEW    YORK 
HARPER   &  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN   SQUARE 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1882,  by 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Att  rights  reserved. 


PREFACE. 


IN  presenting  Professor  Miiller's  "  Politische  Geschichte  der  Neu- 
esten  Zeit "  to  the  public  in  an  English  dress,  the  translator,  with 
Professor  Miiller's  permission,  has  somewhat  abridged  the  space 
allotted  to  Germany,  and  enlarged  that  allotted  to  England,  while 
omitting  the  United  States  entirely.  He  has  also  accorded  slightly 
fuller  mention  to  one  or  two  of  the  secondary  States.  These,  and 
a  few  other  insignificant  changes,  he  has  not  thought  it  necessary 
to  indicate  in  the  text.  The  third  edition  of  Professor  Miiller's  work, 
from  which  this  translation  has  been  made,  appeared  in  1875.  The 
translator  has  added  several  sections,  bringing  the  history  forward 
to  the  year  1882 ;  in  doing  which  he  has  relied  for  his  materials 
almost  exclusively  (up  to  1881)  on  Professor  Miiller's  annual  publi- 
cation, "  Politische  Geschichte  der  Gegenwart " — the  same  method 
which  Professor  Miiller  himself  pursued  in  writing  the  history  of 
the  period  1870-1875.  It  would,  therefore,  be  unfair  to  make  Pro- 
fessor Miiller  responsible  for  that  portion  of  the  work.  The  trans- 
lator has  used  for  the  most  part  his  materials,  but  followed  his  own 
discretion  in  the  selection  and  mode  of  presentation. 

The  difficulty  of  composing  an  unbiassed  record  of  the  immediate 
past  must  be  so  manifest  to  all,  that  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  ask 
the  reader's  indulgence  for  the  shortcomings  of  the  last  period. 
Since  the  section  on  France  was  written,  Gambetta,  the  "  man  of 
revenge,"  has  fallen  (January  26, 1882),  substantially  on  the  question 
of  "  Scrutin  de  liste,"  and  been  succeeded  by  de  Freycinet,  the  man 
of  peace,  supported  by  Le"on  Say  and  Jules  Ferry,  thus  reversing  for 
the  present  French  foreign  policy.  In  other  countries  the  outlook 
has  not  materially  changed  since  the  various  sections  went  to  press. 


iv  PREFACE. 

The  publication  of  the  official  statistics  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war, 
however,  necessitates  a  few  changes  in  the  numbers  given  on  page 
459.  The  total  number  of  French  officers  who  were  made  prisoners, 
laid  down  their  arms,  or  were  disarmed,  was  21,508 ;  of  common 
soldiers,  702,343.  The  number  of  French  officers  taken  as  prisoners 
of  war  to  Germany  was  11,360;  of  common  soldiers,  371,981.  The 
number  of  cannon  captured  was  7441 ;  of  eagles  and  colors,  107. 

I  have  endeavored  to  make  the  book  useful  for  purposes  of 
general  reference  by  the  addition  of  a  general  index,  arranged  as 
far  as  possible  under  general  heads ;  a  complete  index  of  all  per- 
sons mentioned  ;  and  an  exact  index  of  principal  dates. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  the  friends  who  have  assisted  me  in  vari- 
ous ways,  and,  above  all,  to  President  White  (of  Cornell  University) 

and  Professor  Miiller. 

JOHN  P.  PETERS. 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 


Fon  many  years  —  as  Professor  of  Modern  History,  first  at  the 
State  University  of  Michigan,  afterward  at  Cornell  University — I  had 
been  seeking  a  work  which  should  give  to  thoughtful  students  a 
view,  large  but  concise,  of  the  political  history  of  Continental  Eu- 
rope in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Such  a  work  was  needed  by  students  preliminary  to  the  lecture- 
room,  and  by  the  general  public  preparatory  to  reading  the  news- 
papers. 

The  search  seemed  hopeless.  The  number  of  historical  works 
upon  the  period  was  immense,  but  there  was  nothing  which  an- 
swered the  purpose ;  all  were  either  lifeless  compilations  or  ex- 
tended treatises,  giving  a  world  of  confusing  incidents. 

Occasionally  I  found  a  work  which  seemed  likely  to  be  useful; 
but  if  short,  it  was  dry,  and  if  long  it  wove  about  the  subject  a  web 
of  details  which  soon  shut  out  any  large  general  view.  But  at  last  I 
came  upon  the  "  Politischc  Geschichte  der  Neuesten  Zeit,"  by  Profes- 
sor Wilhelm  Miiller,  of  Tubingen.  The  fact  that  it  had  run  through 
several  editions  showed  that  it  was  appreciated  in  Germany ;  three 
readings  of  it  satisfied  me  that  it  is  what  is  needed  in  America. 

The  whole  course  of  Continental  history  since  1815  is  wisely  di- 
vided into  periods,  and  the  development  of  each  nation  is  kept  dis- 
tinct, yet  easily  brought  into  relations  with  that  of  every  other;  the 
events  presented  are  those  an  American  mainly  cares  to  know,  and 
unobscured  by  those  he  does  not  care  to  know.  It  is  not  an  abridg- 
ment ;  it  is  a  living  history ;  the  style  is  clear,  the  spirit  manly  and 
healthy. 

Pervading  the  whole  is  faith  in  the  existence  of  good  on  earth, 


vi  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

hope  in  well-ordered  liberty ;  skepticism  as  to  the  efficiency  of  noise 
and  political  hysterics ;  contempt  for  sham  statesmanship ;  hatred 
for  selfish  and  stupid  statesmanship,  yet  withal  impartiality,  though 
often  the  impartiality  of  a  just  judge  reviewing  careers  and  courses 
of  scoundrelism. 

I  have  succeeded  in  inducing  a  gentleman,  whose  ability  gives 
every  guarantee,  ^o  translate  this  book,  and  would  most  heartily 
commend  it  to  every  young  man,  whether  he  call  himself  a  student 
or  not,  who  desires  a  clear  idea  of  that  political  development  in 
modern  Europe  which  has  brought  on  the  amazing  events  of  these 
latter  years. 

To  general  readers  it  will  give  what  they  most  wish  to  know ;  for 
students  it  will  serve  to  bind  together  and  bring  into  proper  rela- 
tions what  they  may  secure  by  special  studies. 

ANDREW  D.  WHITB. 
BERLIN,  My  8,  1881. 


CONTENTS. 


FIRST  PERIOD.     1816-1830. 

POLICY    OF    THE    RESTORATION. — STRUGGLES    FOR    A    CONSTI- 
TUTION.  CONGRESSES. 

PAGE 

§  1.  GERMANY. — AUSTRIA. — PRUSSIA 1 

§  2.  ITALY. — REVOLUTION  IN  NAPLES  AND  PIEDMONT. — CONGRESSES  OF 

TROPPAU  AND  LAIBACH 23 

§  3.  SPAIN   AND  ITS  AMERICAN   COLONIES. — PORTUGAL  AND  BRAZIL. — 

THE  CONGRESS  OF  VERONA  AND  FRENCH  INTERVENTION 42 

§  4.  GREAT  BRITAIN 62 

§  6.  GREECE. — TURKEY. — RUSSIA 70 

§  6.  FRANCE,  AND  THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  BOURBONS 90 


SECOND  PERIOD.     1830-1848. 

THE  JULY  REVOLUTION,  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES  FOR  EUROPE. 

§  7.  FRANCE,  AND  THE  "  GREAT  WEEK  " 102 

§  8.  THE  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  IN  BELGIUM,  ENG- 
LAND, GERMANY,  SWITZERLAND,  ITALY,  AND  POLAND 112 

§  9.  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL 143 

§  10.  ENGLAND 149 

§  11.  TURKEY  AND  EGYPT 155 

§  12.  GERMANY. — AUSTRIA. — PRUSSIA 159 

§  13.  SWITZERLAND  AND  THE  SONDERBUND 169 

§  14.  FRANCE  UNDER  Louis  PHILIPPE 172 


viii  CONTENTS. 


THIRD  PERIOD.     1848-1863. 

THE    FEBRUARY    REVOLUTION    AND   ITS   CONSEQUENCES. — THE 
SECOND    EMPIRE    AND    ITS    ASCENDENCY    IN    EUROPE. 

PAGE 
§  15.  THE   FEBRUARY    REVOLUTION,  THE    FRENCH    REPUBLIC,  AND   THE 

EMPIRE 186 

§  16.  ITALY 202 

§  17.  REVOLUTIONS  IN  GERMANY,  AUSTRIA,  AND  PRUSSIA 212 

§  18.  THE  CRIMEAN  WAR 253 

§  19.  ITALIAN  WAR 270 

§  20.  EXTRA-EUROPEAN  COUNTRIES.  .  .  292 


FOURTH  PERIOD.     1864-1869. 

PRUSSIA   USURPS   THE    SUPREMACY    IN   GERMANY. 

21.  SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN 300 

22.  WAR  IN  GERMANY  AND  ITALY. — AUSTRIA'S  EXIT  FROM  GERMANY. 

— DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CONFEDERATION. — FORMATION  OF 

A  NORTH  GERMAN  CONFEDERATION  UNDER  PRUSSIAN  SUPREMACY.  .  326 

23.  THE  LUXEMBURG  NEGOTIATIONS. — FRENCH  PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR. 

— THE  NORTH  GERMAN  CONFEDERATION  AND  THE  SOUTH  GER- 
MAN STATES 369 

24.  AFFAIRS  IN  OTHER  COUNTRIES. — THE  VATICAN  COUNCIL  . .  .  394 


FIFTH  PERIOD.     1870-1875. 

WAR    BETWEEN    GERMANY    AND    FRANCE. THE    ESTABLISH- 
MENT   OF    THE    GERMAN    EMPIRE. STRUGGLE    WITH    THE 

VATICAN. 

§  25.  THE  FRANCO-PRUSSIAN  WAR 409 

§  26.  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE  AND  THE  HOHENZOLLERN  IMPERIAL  HOUSE..  460 

§  27.  THE  COMMUNE  AND  FRANCE 468 

§  28.  THE  NEUTRAL  STATES 476 

§  29.  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE  AND  THE  CULTURKAMPF 493 


CONTENTS.  ix 

SIXTH  PERIOD.     1876-1881. 

PAGE 

§  30.  TURKEY  AND  THE  RCSSO-TURKISH  WAR 605 

§  31.  RUSSIA 567 

§  32.  GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  IRELAND 576 

§  33.  AUSTRO-HUNGARY, 587 

§  34.  ITALY 593 

§  35.  SPAIN 599 

§  36.  BELGIUM,  SWITZERLAND,  HOLLAND,  DENMARK 604 

§  37.  FRANCE 611 

§  38.  GERMANY 630 

§  39.  SOUTII  AMERICA 652 

INDEX..  ,.  659 


POLITICAL  HISTORY 


OF 


RECENT  TIMES. 


FIKST  PEKIOD.     1816-1830. 

VOLICY  OF  THE  RESTORATION.— STRUGGLES  FOR  A  CONSTITU- 
TION.— CONGRESSES. 


GERMANY. AUSTRIA. PRUSSIA. 

THE  battle  of  Waterloo  had  been  fought.  For  the  second  time 
the  Parisians  had  been  compelled  to  see  the  victorious  allies  with- 
in their  walls — for  the  second  time  peace  had  been  dictated  to 
them ;  and  the  man  who  had  filled  two  decades  with  his  military 
genius  and  his  ambition,  who,  not  content  with  the  splendid  crown 
of  France,  had  stretched  forth  his  insatiable  hands  after  a  con- 
tinental empire,  now  lay  condemned  to  powerlessness,  on  the  rock 
of  St.  Helena.  But  at  the  very  time  when,  to  the  relief  of  the 
Bourbons,  the  light  of  the  great  Corsican's  life  went  out  upon  that 
world-renowned  island,  in  both  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  pop- 
ular outbreaks  against  the  restored  princes  and  their  mediaeval 
governments  flamed  up  like  a  monstrous  funeral  pyre,  a  clear  sign, 
had  one  been  needed,  that  the  day  of  freedom  had  not  broken 
with  Napoleon's  fall ;  that  in  his  fall  one  insolent  giant  had  but 
been  replaced  by  a  swarm  of  swaggering  pygmies.  Europe  was 
indeed  in  need  of  peace  after  the  enormous  strain  and  excitement 
of  so  many  years  of  war;  but  the  peace  with  which  the  returning 
rulers  blessed  their  people  was  such  as  to  bring  new  convulsions 
on  the  weary  region.  From  the  mouth  of  the  Tagus  to  the  Neva 

1 


2  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

and  the  islands  of  the  Grecian  Archipelago  all  was  effervescence 
and  fermentation,  and  hot  streams  of  national  exasperation  were 
poured  upon  those  feudal  dynasties  which  "  had  forgotten  noth- 
ing and  learned  nothing."  Promises  on  the  part  of  the  princes; 
unrestrained  devotion  and  satisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  people ; 
a  call  for  constitutional  freedom  ;  open  and  secret  reaction  ;  revo- 
lutions in  the  south;  intervention  of  the  areopagus  of  princes; 
abrogation  of  popular  rights :  this  is  in  brief  the  history  of  the 
years  1816-1830. 

One  might  have  believed  that  the  sovereigns  had  no  less  an 
aim  in  mind  than  to  give  to  the  world  a  new  Golden  Age.  For 
on  September  26th,  1815,  Alexander,  Czar  of  Russia,  Francis,  Em- 
peror of  Austria,  and  Frederic  William  III.,  King  of  Prussia,  issued 
a  proclamation  wherein  they  announced  their  firm  resolve,  from 
that  time  forth,  to  adopt  the  Christian  religion  alone  as  their 
standard ;  to  rule  wholly  in  accordance  with  Christian  love  and 
peace,  as  well  within  their  respective  states  as  in  their  intercourse 
with  foreign  governments ;  to  afford  one  another  assistance  in  all 
cases,  and  to  regard  themselves  merely  as  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
Providence  appointed  to  rule  three  branches  of  one  and  the  same 
family.  Within  the  next  few  years  all  European  sovereigns,  with 
the  exception  of  the  King  of  England,  the  Pope,  and  the  Sultan, 
entered  this  holy  alliance.  It  was  essentially  the  work  of  Alexan- 
der, who  was  influenced  by  a  certain  religious  enthusiast,  Fran  von 
Krudener.  It  was  during  the  summer  of  1815,  in  Heilbronn, 
Heidelberg,  and  Paris,  that  she  aroused  him  to  the  formation  of 
such  a  league  by  personal  exhortations,  naming  him,  in  contrast 
with  the  "black  angel"  Napoleon,  the  "white  angel  of  peace" 
and  the  chosen  of  the  Lord. 

Alexander,  with  all  his  susceptibility  to  such  influences,  was  un- 
questionably the  most  important  and  influential  of  the  monarchs 
of  that  time ;  but  his  nature  was  not  of  a  greatness  calculated  to 
carry  out  successfully  and  to  the  advantage  of  Europe  the  part 
whioh  he  felt  himself  called  upon  to  play — the  Napoleon  of  peace. 
Of  a  yielding  disposition  and  excitable  temperament,  he  was  much 
inclined  toward  magnificent  creations  and  political  reforms,  and 
readily  inflamed  with  noble  ambitions.  He  was  full  of  genera} 
good  intentions,  but  energy  and  perseverance  failed  him,  formi- 
dable hinderances  frightened  him,  new  persons  rendered  him  un- 
true to  his  former  resolutions  and  principles ;  and  hence  he  easily 


PRINCE   METTERNICH.  3 

gave  the  impression  of  an  untrustworthy  man.  The  brilliant  suc- 
cesses of  the  last  years  of  the  war,  the  idolization  he  had  met  with 
in  Paris,  London,  and  Vienna,  had  changed  his  former  modesty 
into  inordinate  self-esteem,  and  the  pleasure  with  which  he  re- 
ceived the  homage  of  princes  and  diplomats  displayed  a  feminine 
vanity.  Napoleon,  in  comparing  the  times  of  Tilsit  and  Erfurt 
with  later  years,  found  in  him  a  "  Byzantine  Greek,"  and  named 
him  the  "  Talma  of  the  North." 

The  judgment  upon  Alexander  would  have  been  a  more  favor- 
able one,  if  it  had  not  been  that  in  all  important  questions  another 
name  was  coupled  with  his — the  name  of  a  man  who,  more  than 
he,  was  the  true  ruler  of  Europe.  That  man  was  Prince  Metter-  \ 
nich.  From  October  8th,  1809,  until  March  13th,  1848,  he  was 
minister  of  foreign  affairs  in  Austria;  and  after  1821,  when  he 
celebrated  his  Italian  triumphs,  he  also  sustained  the  rank  of  chan- 
cellor. He  was  frivolous  enough  to  wish,  in  the  midst  of  enter- 
tainments and  love  affairs,  to  take  into  his  hands  the  guidance  of 
Europe.  Not  content  to  rule  the  motley  empire  of  Austria  after 
his  very  simple  system,  he  wished  to  make  Germany  and  Italy  his 
prefectures,  to  treat  the  upward-striving  Prussia  as  his  vassal,  and 
to  take  the  lead  everywhere.  He  knew  how  to  conceal  his  limited 
knowledge  by  great  versatility  of  expression  in  speech  and  on  pa- 
per, to  cloak  his  mean  endowments  as  a  statesman  by  a  rigid  ad- 
hesion to  conservative  principles.  In  the  thirty-eight  years  of  his 
ministerial  activity  he  never  and  nowhere  showed  leading,  crea- 
tive thought ;  he  worked  everywhere  merely  for  the  law  of  iner- 
tia, of  inactivity,  and  made  himself  at  last  so  hated  and  despised 
that  in  1848  a  liberal  minister,  one  of  the  so-called  March  minis- 
ters, was  able  to  say,  with  universal  assent,  "  I  sum  up  the  whole 
disgrace  of  the  last  decades  in  the  name  Metternich."  Playing 
before  princes  "  the  submissive  courtier,  corrupting  diplomats  by 
his  fine-gentleman  bearing,  confounding  the  ambassadors  of  the 
lesser  states  by  condescension  and  princely  splendor,"  he  had  ex- 
alted himself  to  a  kind  of  oracle  of  whose  title  no  one  could  give 
a  satisfactory  account.  To  carry  conservatism  to  the  point  of  ab- 
surdity and  barbarous  harshness,  to  forbid  to  the  people  all  par- 
ticipation in  the  government,  and  reduce  them  to  a  tax-paying 
mass,  to  regard  the  princes  not  as  the  regents,  but  as  the  private 
possessors  of  their  states,  and  to  cause  them  to  govern  accordingly 
— these  were  the  principles  on  which  turned  the  whole  political 


4  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  KECEXT  TIMES. 

wisdom  of  a  man  who,  as  Napoleon  said,  mistook  intrigue  for 
statesmanship. 

How  convenient  for  him  must  have  been  the  phrases  of  tho 
Holy  Alliance,  speaking  to  the  nations  like  a  second  Gospel, 
proclaiming  the  infallibility  of  the  princes,  those  "  plenipoten- 
tiaries of  Providence!"  In  regard  to  his  own  people,  each  sov- 
ereign was  henceforth  to  wear  in  political  matters  the  same  halo 
as  the  Pope  in  matters  spiritual,  which,  however,  did  not  prevent 
the  English  diplomats  from  perpetrating  their  insular  witticisms 
on  the  "triune  monster"  of  the  Eastern  powers. 

In  his  disinclination  to  allow  his  enjoyable  life  to  be  disturbed 
by  political  innovations,  Metternich  was  in  complete  accord  with 
his  master,  the  "  good  "  Emperor  Francis.  The  latter  enjoyed  great 
popularity  in  Austria,  and  especially  in  Vienna.  He  passed  there 
for  a  good-natured,  benevolent  monarch,  who  readily  gave  audience 
to  each  of  his  subjects,  and  entered  into  the  details  of  their  wishes; 
and  he  was  master  of  the  Austrian  dialect  in  its  broadest  form. 
It  was  quite  a  different  story  when  he  saw  his  carefully  hedged 
state  threatened  with  innovations.  "  New  ideas  are  being  promul- 
gated of  which  I  cannot  and  will  not  approve.  Abide  by  the  old ; 
for  they  are  good,  and  our  fathers  have  prospered  under  them — 
why  should  not  we  ?  I  do  not  need  savants,  but  brave  citizens. 
It  is  your  duty  to  educate  the  young  to  become  such.  He  who 
serves  me  must  learn  what  I  command ;  he  who  cannot,  or  who 
comes  to  me  with  new  ideas,  can  go,  or  I  will  dismiss  him." 
With  this  address  to  the  professors  of  the  Laibach  Lyceum,  he 
openly  announced  himself  an  absolute  governor  whose  nod  was 
law.  He  was,  furthermore,  so  impressed  with  the  idea  of  unlim- 
ited authority  that  he  accorded  to  no  one  a  lasting  influence,  and 
least  of  all  to  those  who  had  the  best  right  to  it.  Distrustful  of 
himself,  he  was  more  so  of  others — of  each  superior,  powerful 
personage  —  a  thing  which  the  most  deserving  of  his  generals, 
Schwarzenberg  and  Radetzky,  and  the  most  distinguished  of  his 
brothers,  the  Grand-dukes  Charles  and  John,  were  compelled  to 
learn  by  bitter  experience.  Even  the  clergy  did  not  attain  under 
him  the  position  of  an  independent  power ;  they  were  the  assist- 
ants of  the  Imperial  power,  but  not  its  rivals.  Metternich  was 
able  to  retain  his  post  for  so  long  a  time  by  the  fact  that,  owing 
to  the  very  formation  of  his  mind,  he  did  not  interfere  in  the  em- 
peror's favorite  department.  The  latter  had  no  inclination  but 


EMPEROR  FRANCIS— HIS  SYSTEM  OF  GOVERNMENT.          5 

for  the  minutiae,  the  details  of  government ;  while  the  former 
showed  a  dislike  for  details,  and  did  not  busy  himself  with  the 
actual  administration. 

Austria  must  make  herself  felt,  not  by  her  military  strength, 
but  through  the  skill  of  her  diplomats  and  the  omnipresence  of 
her  police  and  her  spies.  This  was  Metternich's  chosen  field, 
while  the  emperor  found  his  pleasure  in  the  details  of  the  police 
system,  which  was  developed  under  him  into  a  system  of  espio- 
nage of  the  most  unworthy  sort  This  was,  however,  admirably 
adapted  to  that  patriarchal  system  in  accordance  with  which  the 
government,  so  far  from  denying  its  Oriental  views,  even  dared  to 
inculcate  in  its  subjects  the  doctrine  that  the  sovereign  "  has  full 
power  over  their  lives  and  property."  No  less  care  was  exer- 
cised in  shutting  up  Austria  against  other  lands.  The  influx  of 
foreign  intellects  and  intellectual  products  was  guarded  against 
like  the  smuggling  in  of  the  cattle  plague.  Study  in  foreign 
universities  was  forbidden.  The  entrance  into  Austrian  schools 
of  foreign  teachers,  and  of  scholars  over  ten  years  of  age,  was 
forbidden,  and  even  for  younger  children  special  permission  had 
to  be  obtained.  The  imparting  of  private  instruction  was  ren- 
dered very  difficult,  permission  being  granted  by  the  police  only 
under  oppressive  conditions,  and,  even  then,  revocable  every  six 
years.  All  political  literature,  as  well  as  modern  histories,  was 
subjected  to  strict  censorship,  with  a  view  to  police  prohibition. 
For  Austria,  the  German  movement  in  the  province  of  philoso- 
phy and  theology,  the  progress  in  history  and  the  natural  sci- 
ences, did  not  exist.  What  was  there  permitted  and  pursued  was 
the  study  of  Oriental  languages  and  literature,  a  little  poetry,  and 
by  preference  music,  in  order  to  charm  the  excited  spirits  into  a 
soft  world  of  sense,  and  to  rock  the  empire  into  an  Epimenidean 
sleep  of  years.  And  as  for  popular  instruction,  scarcely  three- 
fifths  of  the  children  of  school  age  attended  school,  and  those 
who  attended  were,  with  their  teachers,  confined  to  a  mechanical 
drill  from  which  the  why  and  wherefore  were  carefully  excluded. 
The  object  was  not  to  produce  savants,  but  subjects  and  officials 
trained  to  blind  obedience.  For  this  purpose  no  guard  and  over- 
seer could  be  more  effective  than  the  clergy.  Upon  their  religious 
certificate  depended  every  advance  in  the  gymnasiums  and  uni- 
versities, and  confession  was  exacted  from  teachers  and  scholars 
six  times  yearly.  It  will  readily  be  understood  that  the  Protes- 


6  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

tants  were  much  oppressed — hardly  tolerated.  Upon  purchasing 
a  house  —  upon  assuming  a  trade  —  they  were  obliged  to  apply 
for  a  dispensation.  To  enter  the  military  academy  in  Vienna- 
Neustadt  they  must  abjure  their  religion. 

As  to  material  interests  the  situation  was  not  much  better. 
There  was  scarcely  a  country  in  which  business  and  industry 
were  at  so  low  an  ebb  as  in  Austria.  Almost  nothing  had  been 
done  to  unfetter  the  land  and  establish  better  relations  between 
the  tillers  of  the  soil  and  its  owners;  and  rich  Austria,  which  un- 
der favorable  agricultural  laws  and  business  conditions  could  have 
earned  an  enormous  income  from  its  grain  export,  produced  scarce- 
ly enough  for  its  own  needs.  The  favorable  situation  on  the  Adri- 
atic Sea,  with  the  ports  of  Venice  and  Trieste,  was  sadly  misused  ; 
the  development  of  a  prosperous  merchant  marine  was  hindered ; 
and  a  good  navy  was  looked  upon  as  useless  furniture,  so  that 
merchants  were  compelled  to  place  their  ships  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Turkish  fleet  against  the  insolence  of  the  Barbary 
States.  It  was  with  a  doubtful  pride  that  the  authorities  could 
point  to  their  German  Austria  as  the  land  where,  rather  than  in 
Italy,  Spain,  Germany,  or  France,  the  "  old  Europe  "  was  still  to 
be  found. 

In  its  internal  political  development,  also,  Austria  sought  to  re- 
main as  far  behind  as  possible.  In  the  year  1816  and  the  follow- 
ing years,  in  order  to  satisfy  in  some  measure  the  requirements  of 
the  Act  of  Confederation,  parliamentary  representation  had  been 
introduced  into  the  Germano-Slavonic  provinces,  or  been  re-estab- 
lished there.  Since,  however,  the  powers  of  these  assemblies,  of 
which  the  nobles  and  clergy  had  complete  control,  and  which  often 
began  and  ended  on  the  same  day,  were  limited  to  the  granting  of 
taxes  and  raising  of  recruits,  they  soon  sunk  to  a  mere  formality 
— to  expensive  "farces,"  as  Stein  said — which  might  just  as  well 
have  been  replaced  by  any  sort  of  decree-issuing  machine.  The 
nobility,  which  was  without  education  or  patriotism,  leading,  ac- 
cording to  the  expression  of  one  of  its  members,  a  "  polypus " 
life,  had  neither  the  will  nor  the  ability  to  play  a  part  in  politics; 
and  the  people,  growing  up  in  uncertain  striving  for  their  daily 
bread,  or  sunk  in  sybaritic  indulgence,  had  no  inclination  for  pub- 
lic affairs.  Yet,  even  in  Austria,  the  time  could  not  pass  wholly 
without  a  memento  mori.  The  emperor  and  his  Mctternich  had 
succeeded  in  lulling  all  the  German  provinces  to  sleep,  in  taming 


»  HUNGARIAN   DIET.— GERMANY.  Y 

the  obstinate  Diet,  and  in  leading  back  student-like  South  Ger- 
many to  a  quiet,  tradesmanlike  state  of  being ;  but  the  Hunga- 
rian heath,  they  found,  nourishes  wild  and  spirited  steeds.  For 
fourteen  years  the  Hungarian  Reichstag,  which  ought  constitution- 
ally to  have  assembled  every  three  years,  was  not  called  together ; 
and,  spite  of  all  opposition,  government  business  was  conducted 
by  commissioners  and  soldiers,  who  impressed  recruits  and  collect- 
ed the  taxes.  But  though  the  Hungarians  bent  before  superior 
force,  they  still  abode  by  their  protest.  At  last,  too,  the  arrears 
of  taxes  reached  a  serious  figure.  At  the  very  same  time — it  was 
in  the  year  1825 — there  was  every  reason  for  not  pushing  affairs 
to  an  extreme,  for  in  consequence  of  the  Grecian  war  of  indepen- 
dence there  was  fear  of  a  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  and 
hence  of  complications  on  the  lower  Danube.  Unless  the  object 
were  to  bring  about  an  open  revolt  in  Hungary,  the  dissatisfaction 
could  not  be  allowed  to  increase  further.  So  Metternich  himself 
advised  giving  way,  and  the  Hungarian  Reichstag  was  opened  in 
Presburg  in  September,  1825.  Here  bitter  complaints  about  the 
policy  of  the  Hapsburgs — their  inclination  toward  absolutism,  their 
disregard  of  constitutional  rights  —  soon  found  expression ;  and 
when  the  emperor  spoke  of  the  "  mad  endeavors  of  innovators 
and  of  punishment  of  the  disobedient,"  he  was  compelled,  in  or- 
der to  check  the  excitement  caused  thereby,  to  interpret  his  "  mis- 
understood words  "  into  a  recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  Reichs- 
tag. There  the  matter  rested  ;  and,  after  an  existence  of  almost 
two  years,  the  Reichstag  separated  without  having  effected  much 
more  than  the  sharper  definition  of  its  rights,  and  their  definite 
recognition  by  the  crown.  The  policy  of  suspense  and  passivity 
had  gained  the  victory. 

Another  field  of  activity  presented  itself  to  Metternich  in  Ger- 
many. Here,  owing  to  late  events,  several  hundred  independent 
states  had  been  mediatized — absorbed  in  their  neighbors — and  a 
league  of  thirty-nine  sovereign  states  founded.  Great  hopes  at- 
tached themselves  to  this  transformation.  The  need  born  of  long 

O 

oppression  had  once  more  given  the  name  "  father-land  "  a  mean- 
ing —the  exaltation  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  war  of  freedom,  the 
victory  won  by  the  common  efforts  of  all  German  peoples,  had 
awakened  their  national  feeling  and  roused  them  to  a  conscious- 
ness of  their  natural  union.  Princely  proclamations,  ministerial 
explanations,  and  the  judgment  of  the  foremost  patriots,  all  seem- 


8  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

ed  to  show  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  formation  of  a  united 
"father-land,"  strong  without,  free  within.  As  to  the  details  of 
the  national  structure  there  were  differences  of  opinion. 

The  first  thing  to  be  considered  was  the  interior  structure  of 
the  individual  states.  From  the  Lake  of  Constance  to  the  Baltic 
Sea  resounded  the  demand  for  a  constitution.  Even  the  articles 
of  confederation  had  been  compelled  to  take  notice  of  this,  and  in 
the  13th  article  was  the  following:  "In  all  countries  of  the  Con- 
federation there  will  be  [originally,  "  shall  be"]  a  constitution 
with  representation."  In  this,  however,  nothing  was  said  about 
the  when  and  how,  and  a  broad  field  left  to  the  ill-will  of  individ- 
ual sovereigns.  A  beginning  in  the  path  of  progress  was  made 
by  Charles  Augustus,  Grand-duke  of  Saxe-Weimar,  who  had  up 
to  that  time  been  known  as  the  Maecenas  of  Germany's  greatest 
poets.  In  full  harmony  with  the  Estates  of  the  land  he  granted, 
in  May,  1816,  a  constitution,  which  contains  all  the  essential 
points  of  modern  state  life  —  viz.,  representation  of  all  citizens, 
right  of  voting  taxes,  freedom  of  the  Press.  But  among  all 
the  north  German  princes  he  stood  alone.  In  the  north  the 
aristocracy  was  still  too  powerful,  and  with  too  slight  a  compre- 
hension of  the  times  to  yield  any  of  its  old  privileges,  or  toler- 
ate any  other  sort  of  representation  of  the  estates  than  one  in 
which  there  was  no  semblance  of  a  proper  representation  of  the 
middle  and  lower  classes,  one  in  which  the  different  estates,  still 
in  part  divided,  debated  as  "little  chambers,"  the  nobles  having 
the  preponderance.  Outside  of  Weimar  there  was  not  in  all 
north  Germany  a  constitution  granting  representation  in  which 
the  people  as  such,  and  not  the  separate  estates,  were  represented. 
In  Saxony,  Mecklenburg,  Hanover,  Brunswick,  Oldenburg,  the 
aristocratic  system  was  in  force  as  well  after  the  Act  of  Confed- 
eration as  before  it. 

The  comical  element  among  these  medieval  forms  was  repre- 
sented in  the  seventy-year-old  Elector  William  I.  of  Hesse,  who 
had  been  in  banishment  from  1806  to  1813,  and  who  had  been 
one  of  those  whose  lands  were  converted  into  the  kingdom  of 
Westphalia.  Upon  his  return  he  struck  out  those  years  com- 
pletely, and  set  everything  so  exactly  upon  the  footing  of  the 
year  1806  that  he  even  recalled  to  their  former  barracks  the  regi- 
ments furloughed  in  November  of  that  year,  and  censured  the 
commandant  of  Hanau  because  he  had  not  delivered  the  quarter 


SOUTH  GERMANY.  9 

ly  report  of  the  fortress  since  that  time.  The  soldiers  once  more 
wore  cues  and  powder,  the  pensioned  officials  were  reinstated, 
the  new  laws  abolished,  and  the  purchasers  of  the  crown-lands 
disposed  of  by  the  Westphalian  Government  were  compelled  to 
restore  the  same  without  compensation ;  and  yet  he  offered  his 
people  a  constitution  which  was  not  among  the  worst,  and  which 
included  representation  of  the  whole  people.  Since,  however, 
owing  to  his  notorious  avarice,  he  wished  to  have  free  scope  in 
financial  matters,  would  not  consent  to  a  separation  of  the  public 
purse  from  his  private  one,  and  would  grant  no  right  to  levy 
taxes,  the  negotiations  miscarried,  the  delegates  were  sent  home, 
and  Hesse  remained  without  a  constitution. 

Matters  took  another  form  in  south  Germany,  where  the 
princes,  in  order  to  amalgamate  the  old  and  the  new  parts  of 
their  lands,  and  to  break  the  opposition  of  the  mediatized  nobles, 
took  the  lead  in  the  introduction  of  liberal  constitutions.  They 
were  led  to  this  action  furthermore  by  the  consideration  that 
through  the  means  of  liberal  constitutions  they  could  the  more 
readily  escape  the  ascendency  and  consequent  oppression  of  the 
great  powers;  and  they  moved  all  the  more  emphatically  upon 
the  path  of  liberalism,  since  the  reactionary  system  was  in  force 
with  the  great  powers  of  Germany.  So  King  Maximilian  of  Ba- 
varia, in  the  year  1818,  granted  a  constitution,  which  Stein  greet- 
ed as  a  significant  advance  in  the  constitutional  career.  In  August 
of  that  year  Grand-duke  Charles  of  Baden  gave  a  still  more  liberal 
one,  in  order  to  outbid  the  hated  Bavaria,  which  would  fain  round 
out  its  own  dominions  by  the  possession  of  the  Maine  and  Tauber 
districts.  In  the  following  year,  1819,  the  contest  over  a  con- 
stitution came  to  an  end  in  Wiirtemberg.  In  that  state  King 
Frederic  had  taken  the  initiative,  but  had  died  during  the  con- 
flicts that  arose.  His  son  William  resumed  the  negotiations  im- 
mediately upon  his  accession,  and  after  a  struggle  of  three  years 
with  the  Estates,  which  showed  no  wisdom  or  enlightenment  in 
the  whole  matter,  agreed  with  them  upon  a  constitution.  This 
constitution  was  the  more  readily  accepted,  since  at  that  time  the 
storm  of  the  diplomatic  conference  at  Carlsbad  threatened  to 
break. "  In  consequence  of  these  precedents  Hesse-Darmstadt  was 
also  forced  to  yield  to  the  pressure  of  the  people  (December, 
1820).  In  Nassau,  after  the  death  of  the  prince,  the  constitution 
given  in  1814  was  as  far  as  possible  neutralized  by  the  bureau- 

1* 


10  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

cratic  minister  Marschall.  It  was  not  until  1818  that  the  first 
parliament  (which,  by  the  way,  Stein  was  obliged  to  leave),  was 
opened. 

Before  the  ill-will  and  the  illegal  measures  of  the  east  and  north, 
the  aspirations  after  freedom  had  taken  refuge  in  the  south  Ger- 
man chambers,  and  had  there  made  themselves  a  place.  The  ques- 
tion was,  whether  the  position  could  be  maintained,  whether  new 
alliances  could  not  be  formed,  whether  Prussia  could  not  be  drawn 
into  the.  liberal  current.  King  Frederic  William  III.  had,  in  his 
decree  of  May  22d,  1815,  expressly  promised  a  general  representa- 
tion of  the  people,  and  set  the  limit  of  time  within  which  a  com- 
mission of  delegates  and  royal  officials  should  meet  to  draw  up 
a  constitution.  The  time  elapsed,  but  the  commission  was  not 
called  together,  for  the  king  was  no  longer  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  during  the  last  three  years  had  led  him  to  victory.  In  po- 
litical matters  Frederic  William  III.  proved  himself  a  man  of  wa- 
vering and  undecided  character.  He  had  no  comprehension  of  the 
aspirations  of  a  new  period,  but  saw  in  each  movement  of  the  peo- 
ple, even  though  wholly  intellectual,  future  revolution.  He  loved 
to  bury  himself  in  theological  studies  and  fashions.  He  possessed 
all  the  virtues  of  a  simple,  honorable  father  of  a  family,  but  was 
not  richly  enough  gifted  for  the  government  of  a  great  kingdom ; 
he  felt  no  call  to  set  himself  at  the  head  of  the  new  Germany,  to 
compel  the  second-rate  German  states — Bavaria,  Saxony,  etc. — 
into  his  orbit,  and  to  leave  Austria  no  other  choice  than  either  to 
abdicate  in  Germany,  or  to  break  completely  with  her  former  pol- 
icy. Instead  of  this  he  gave  himself  up  more  and  more  to  the 
extreme  reactionary  party,  and  sought  the  advice  of  his  most  pli- 
ant courtiers,  such  as  Prince  Wittgenstein.  In  his  chancellor,  von 
Hardenberg,  he  found  a  minister,  but  no  character.  Although 
Hardenberg  was  inclined  toward  a  constitutional  system,  yet  at 
the  Congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  he  allowed  himself  to  be  brought 
over  to  the  party  of  the  Berlin  nobles  and  the  Austrian  policy  by 
Prince  Metternich,  who  knew  no  more  terrible  spectre  than  a  lib- 
eral Prussia.  Under  such  conditions  nothing  else  could  be  ex- 
pected than  that  the  king,  out  of  good  nature  and  thankfulness 
toward  his  self-sacrificing  subjects,  should  promise  a  constitution, 
but  that  the  fulfilment  of  his  promise  should  be  constantly  post- 
poned, and  finally  wholly  abandoned.  On  this  point  Bishop  Eylert 
expresses  himself  in  the  naivest  manner  in  his  defence  of  the  the- 


REACTION   IN   PRUSSIA.  11 

ological  sovereign :  "  The  king  has  acted  like  a  wise  father,  who, 
touched  by  the  devoted  love  of  his  children  upon  his  birthday  or 
his  recovery  from  illness,  is  in  a  kindly  humor,  and  consents  to 
their  wishes ;  but  afterward,  upon  consideration,  he  modifies  his 
assent,  and  asserts  his  natural  authority." 

Between  the  22d  of  May  and  the  1st  of  September,  the  limit 
set  for  the  meeting  of  the  commission,  appeared  Privy-councillor 
Schmalz's  denunciation.  Although  a  brother-in-law  of  the  noble 
Scharnhorst,  this  man  in  a  badly-written  pamphlet  reproached  the 
German  patriots  with  revolutionary  machinations,  and  attributed 
to  them  the  most  atrocious  plans  for  the  overthrow  of  all  the  ex- 
isting states  and  the  attainment  of  German  unity.*  With  these 
plans  he  connected  the  Tugendbund  (league  of  virtue),  to  which 
in  the  time  of  need  all  the  great  men  of  Prussia  had  belonged. 
Enthusiasm  and  exalted  sentiment  on  the  part  of  the  people,  who 
had  achieved  so  much  in  the  war  of  freedom,  he  utterly  denied. 
He  ascribed  all  that  had  then  been  accomplished  solely  to  the 
command  of  the  king.  His  subjects  simply  yielded  him  a  natu- 
ral obedience,  and  hastened  to  arms,  "  as,  at  the  alarm  of  fire,  from 
the  commonest  feeling  of  civil  duty,  one  hastens  to  help  in  extin- 
guishing the  conflagration."  And  this  man  and  privy-councillor, 
over  whose  pamphlet  the  court  and  the  whole  noble  party  raised 
a  cry  of  triumph,  received  from  the  king  the  red  order  of  the 
eagle — from  the  same  king  from  whose  eyes  tears  had  streamed 
when,  in  the  spring  of  1813,  Scharnhorst  led  him  to  a  window  of 
the  palace  in  Breslau,  pointed  out  the  troops  of  volunteers  that 
were  pouring  in,  and  asked  him  whether  he  was  now  convinced 
that  the  enthusiasm  and  self-sacrifice  of  his  people  were  real.  A 
significant  result  of  the  bestowal  of  this  order,  which  is  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  beginning  of  the  reaction  in  Prussia,  was  that  the 
constitutional  commission  was  not  summoned,  and  the  project 
was  postponed.  It  can  readily  be  understood  how  stirred  those 
men  must  have  been  who  had  raised  Prussia  out  of  her  abasement 
to  a  noble  height.  Bliicher  stormed  about  "scoundrels"  in  his 
free-and-easy  fashion.  Gneisenau  urged  the  chancellor,  behind 
whose  back  the  order  had  been  granted,  to  protest  against  it  while 
there  was  yet  time. 

If  gray-haired  men  did  not  restrain  their  indignation,  what  was 
then  to  be  expected  of  the  young  ?  They  had  founded  the  most 
ardent  hopes  on  Prussia's  pledge  and  on  the  opening  of  the  Diet 


12  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

— to  be  deceived  in  the  latter  case,  as  they  had  been  in  the  former. 
The  Austrian  delegate,  Count  Buol-Schauenstein,  opened  the  Diet 
at  Frankfort,  November  5th,  1816,  with  a  beautiful  speech  full  of 
promises,  all  of  which  were  followed  by  no  one  satisfactory  act; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  by  such  acts  as  called  down  the  heartiest 
curses  upon  a  system  which  spoke  constantly  of  the  exalted  posi- 
tion of  princes  and  of  their  rights,  but  never  of  the  rights  of  the 
people.  The  first  year  of  its  activity  soon  showed  that  the  Diet, 
itself  still  in  the  dark  as  to  its  own  powers,  was  a  dam  against  the 
liberal  stream  of  the  second  decade ;  that  at  least  in  every  ques- 
tion of  importance,  whether  in  the  intellectual  or  material  sphere, 
whether  political  or  social,  it  would  not  agree  with  the  popular 
sentiment.  The  postponement  of  decision  in  questions  where  the 
delegates  had  received  no  instructions  recalled  too  vividly  the  dolce 
far  niente  of  the  old  Ratisbon  Diet.  This  lamentable  condition  of 
affairs  was  keenly  felt,  especially  in  student  circles — in  the  newly 
founded  Burschenschaft  (students'  league).  At  the  general  cele- 
bration of  the  German  Burschenschaft,  to  which  the  branch  in 
Jena  invited  the  branches  in  the  other  institutions,  this  sentiment 
received  expression  in  a  way  which  in  point  of  definiteness  left 
nothing  to  be  desired.  The  meeting  took  place  October  18th, 
1817,  at  the  historically  famous  Wartburg,  near  Eisenach,  and 
was  to  celebrate  at  the  same  time  the  battle  of  Leipzig  and  the 
jubilee  of  the  Reformation.  About  500  young  men  from  all  parts 
of  Germany  met  together,  and  Professors  Kieser,  Fries,  and  Oken, 
from  Jena,  also  took  part.  The  whole  character  of  the  proceed- 
ings was  earnest  and  religious;  hymns  were  sung  at  the  opening 
and  the  close ;  the  addresses  spoke  of  the  disappointment  of 
German  hopes,  of  the  political  oasis  of  Weimar,  of  true  endurance 
in  the  strife.  Toward  evening  an  afterpiece  was  enacted.  A  few 
students  remained  behind,  and  in  memory  of  Luther's  deed  of 
December  10th,  1520,  in  token  of  "fierce  hatred  toward  all  ras- 
cals and  knaves  in  the  father-land,"  held  a  critical  auto-da-fe  of 
several  "lampoons"  in  which  absolutism  was  defended,  and  sus- 
picion thrown  on  the  call  for  constitutions.  In  addition  to  the 
insignia  of  a  "  slavish  and  unnatural  time  " — a  periwig,  a  corpo- 
ral's staff,  and  a  pair  of  stays — the  writings  of  un-German  men — 
such  as  the  pamphlet  of  Schmalz,  the  police  codex  of  Kamptz, 
Kotzebue's  "  German  History,"  and  others — were,  after  an  intro- 
ductory address,  cast  into  the  fire. 


STOURDZA'S  MEMORIAL  ON  GERMANY.  13 

Scbmalz  bad  already  shown  that  Berlin  privy-councillors  were 
not  to  be  trifled  with.  Privy-councillor  von  Kamptz  wished  to 
distinguish  himself  also,  and,  in  bis  indignation  at  the  slight  that 
had  been  put  upon  his  codex,  composed  a  special  address  of  ex- 
postulation, and  wrote  the  Grand- duke  of  Weimar  a  shameless 
letter,  full  of  reproaches  for  not  keeping  better  order  in  his  do- 
minions. Pressure  was  exerted  upon  the  liberal  prince  from  all 
sides ;  it  was  not  alone  Austria  and  Prussia,  even  France  and  Rus- 
sia sent  notes,  ambassadors,  and  spies  to  Weimar  and  Jena,  in  or- 
der to  compel  the  grand-duke  to  take  measures  against  the  Press, 
the  professors,  and  the  students.  Such  a  quadruple  alliance  could 
not  be  wholly  without  effect :  the  government  was  obliged  to  con- 
sent to  a  few  repressive  measures. 

An  article  written  by  a  young  Moldavian  bojar,  Alexander 
Stourdza,  added  new  material  to  the  general  agitation.  At  the 
command  of  Emperor  Alexander,  he  had  composed  a  memorial 
on  the  situation  in  Germany,  which  he  presented  to  the  princes 
and  diplomats  assembled  at  the  Congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in 
the  autumn  of  1818.  The  immediate  cause  of  this  congress  was 
the  relation  of  the  four  great  powers  to  France ;  it  was  to  con- 
sider the  proposal  to  make  an  end  of  the  occupation  at  once,  af- 
ter three  years  instead  of  after  five,  and  to  withdraw  the  foreign 
troops  from  French  barracks.  But  such  a  convenient  opportu- 
nity of  having  the  leading  members  of  the  Holy  Alliance  together 
could  not  be  allowed  to  pass  without  considering  European  poli- 
tics in  general,  i.  e.,  affairs  in  Germany,  and  we  have  already  seen 
how  Metternich  made  use  of  Hardenberg's  presence  to  bring  him 
to  book  about  his  Prussian  constitution.  In  such  circles  Stourd- 
za's  memorial,  which  held  before  the  princes  the  Gorgon-head  of 
a  German  revolution  in  case  the  strongest  measures  were  not 
adopted  against  the  Press  and  the  universities,  was  a  welcome 
novelty.  They  decided  to  carry  out  Stourdza's  proposition,  but 
for  this  purpose  they  preferred  to  assemble  a  purely  German  con- 
gress, to  which  the  other  German  states  should  also  be  invited, 
not  an  international  one ;  and  so  they  separated,  to  meet  the  next 
year  in  Carlsbad.  In  the  following  year  the  diplomats  had  already 
prepared  to  make  a  journey  to  the  Bohemian  health  resort,  when 
news  reached  them  than  which  nothing  could  have  been  more  ac- 
ceptable. 

Stourdza's  article,  which  was  nothing  else  than  the  open  inter- 


14  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

ference  of  Russia,  still  further  increased  the  excitement  in  Ger- 
many. The  young  men  in  Jena  gnashed  their  teeth  with  rage. 
Two  students  of  the  place,  Counts  Bochholz  and  Keller,  challenged 
the  bojar  as  the  enemy  of  the  German  youth.  The  latter  now 
found  the  climate  of  Weimar  too  sultry  for  his  health,  exchanged 
it  for  Dresden,  and  declared  that  he  was  not  really  the  composer 
of  the  article;  he  had  thought  it,  written  it,  and  completed  it  at 
Alexander's  command.  After  this  modest  acknowledgment  the. 
students  replied  that  they  could  not,  of  course,  demand  further  sat- 
isfaction from  a  "  writing  and  acting  machine."  But  a  new  oppo- 
nent appeared  upon  the  board.  In  the  summer  of  1817  the  Rus- 
sian Government  had  sent  State-councillor  Augustus  von  Kotzebue 
to  Weimar,  in  order  to  obtain  regular  information  regarding  the 
spirit  and  doings  of  the  liberal  party.  Already  ill  thought  of  as 
the  author  of  several  frivolous  writings,  this  Russian  spy,  who 
published  a  periodical,  the  Literary  Weekly,  drew  general  hatred 
upon  himself  by  his  attacks  upon  the  men  and  principles  of  the 
national  party,  by  the  raillery  which  he  showered  upon  the  polit- 
ical students,  and,  finally,  by  his  open  approval  of  Stourdza's  arti- 
cle. Then  Professor  Luden,  of  Jena,  succeeded  in  getting  posses- 
sion of  one  of  Kotzebue's  despatches  to  the  Russian  Government, 
which  he  printed  without  delay  in  his  journal,  Nemesis.  The 
consequences  were  a  suit  on  Kotzebue's  part,  and  a  Russian  note 
about  the  "  insolence  of  the  Press  in  Weimar,"  but  at  the  same 
time  a  publicity  unwelcome  to  Kotzebue.  All  eyes  were  now 
turned  on  him ;  in  him  were  hated  reaction,  the  interference  of 
foreign  powers,  treason  against  the  most  sacred  sentiments.  The 
question  was  asked,  whether  for  one  month  a  German  spy  would 
dare  to  do  in  France  or  Russia  what  this  German -Russian  had 
been  doing  with  impunity  for  more  than  a  year  in  the  very  heart 
of  Germany,  under  the  eyes  of  the  grand-duke,  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  excited  Burschcnschaft  in  Jena.  Men  re- 
called the  deed  of  the  eighteen-year-old  Frederic  Staps,  of  Naum- 
burg  —  how  at  Schonbrunn,  October  12th,  1809,  after  Austria's 
overthrow,  he  made  an  attempt  upon  Napoleon,  in  whom  he  saw 
the  Attila  of  Germany.  And  were  the  purposes  of  the  reaction- 
ary governments,  those  "plenipotentiaries  of  Providence,"  of  men 
like  Kotzebue,  Kamptz,  Schmalz,  and  the  like,  toward  the  people 
one  jot  better?  Kotzebue  had  won  his  suit  against  one  Nemesis, 
would  he  also  win  it  against  the  other? 


KOTZEBUE'S  MURDER.  15 

A  special  branch  of  the  Burschenschaft  was  the  society  of  the 
"Uncompromising,''  whose  members  sought  to  carry  out  uncom- 
promisingly whatever  they  recognized  as  true  and  right.  To  this 
belonged  Charles  Sand,  of  Wunsiedel,  an  honest,  morally  irre- 
proachable young  man ;  a  zealous  but  not  prominent  member  of 
the  league,  inclined  to  religious  enthusiasm,  and  of  a  brooding 
disposition  withal.  The  two  brothers  Follenius,  one  of  whom 
was  privat-docent  at  Jena,  and  the  soul  of  the  society,  exerted  a 
decided  influence  over  him.  It  had  become  his  fixed  idea  that 
something  great  must  be  done,  if  the  father-land  were  not  to  go 
to  pieces;  and  it  became  daily  clearer  to  him  that  this  must  be 
wrought  by  him,  that  he  must  give  himself  as  an  offering  for  the 
father-land.  Kotzebue  appeared  to  him  the  person  most  worthy 
of  hatred,  the  one  who  had  done  the  greatest  injury  to  the  aspir- 
ing freedom  of  Germany.  He,  the  spy,  the  traitor,  the  frivolous 
mocker,  the  personification  of  servility  and  every  tendency  hostile 
to  the  rights  of  the  people,  appeared  to  him  the  fittest  victim  for 
the  goddess  of  revenge — to  be  forfeit  to  the  vehmic  tribunal  of 
the  people.  His  resolve  was  taken.  He  had  earlier  felt  the 
strength  within  him,  had  occasion  offered,  to  raise  his  hand  against 
Napoleon's  life,  and  he  had  not  in  the  mean  time  grown  weaker. 

Without  giving  any  one  the  slightest  indication  of  his  inten- 
tions, he  travelled  in  March,  1819,  from  Jena  to  Mannheim,  where 
Kotzebue  had  been  living  since  the  end  of  the  previous  year,  fur- 
ther residence  in  Weimar  having  become  quite  impossible.  Sand 
reached  Mannheim  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  March  23d,  pre- 
sented himself  at  Kotzebue's  house  about  eleven,  and  made  an  ap- 
pointment to  come  between  four  and  five  in  the  afternoon.  He 
returned  punctually,  and  was  ushered  into  a  room.  Kotzebue  ap- 
peared shortly.  The  first  salutations  had  hardly  been  exchanged, 
when,  with  the  cry,  "  Take  that,  thou  traitor  to  the  father-land  !" 
Sand  thrust  a  dagger  into  his  heart,  following  this  by  two  thrusts 
more.  Then  he  stabbed  himself  in  the  breast,  ran  down  the 
stairs,  shouted  to  the  passers-by,  "  Long  live  my  German  father- 
land !"  knelt  down  and  thrust  the  knife  a  second  time  into  his 
breast,  with  the  words :  "  I  thank  thee,  God,  for  this  victory !" 
Taken  in  charge  by  the  watch,  who  had  been  summoned  to  the 
spot,  he  was  carried  to  a  hospital  and  soon  afterward  to  prison. 
There  he  recovered  from  his  wounds,  and  was  subjected  to  a 
searching  examination.  But  diligently  as  they  sought  to  discoy* 


16  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

er  a  far-reaching  conspiracy — of  at  least  300  young  men,  as  in 
the  case  of  Mucius  Scaevola — no  trace  was  found  of  complicity 
or  cognizance  on  the  part  of  any  one.  They  had  to  content 
themselves  with  the  blood  of  this  one  theological  student.  May 
20th,  1820,  Sand,  who  gloried  in  his  deed  to  the  last,  was  behead- 
ed in  Mannheim — admired  by  many,  pitied  by  still  more,  hated 
by  but  few.  He  had  done  a  deed  of  which  Gorres,  at  that  time 
still  liberal,  said  that  though  disapproved  of  by  all  Germany,  its 
motives  were  approved.  In  two  ways  it  was  a  political  error:  the 
reaction,  which  he  imagined  he  could  combat  and  destroy,  was  not 
to  be  checked  by  the  death  of  a  single  man,  whoever  he  might  be, 
it  was  in  fact  strengthened  and  encouraged  to  more  vehement  as- 
saults ;  and  even  if  it  could  have  been  overcome  by  the  downfall  of 
a  single  individual,  that  individual  was  in  any  case  not  Kotzebue, 
but  was  to  be  sought  for  in  a  quite  different  quarter.  The  exact 
opposite  of  that  which  Sand  had  designed  came  to  pass.  And 
when  in  Schwalbach,  soon  after  his  attempt,  July  1st,  1819,  a 
young  apothecary,  Charles  Lohning,  attempted  to  assassinate  State- 
councillor  von  Ibell,  one  of  the  principal  tools  of  the  reaction  in 
Nassau,  it  was  merely  pouring  oil  upon  the  flames. 

At  that  very  time  William  von  Humboldt  was  busy  draughting 
a  constitution  for  Prussia,  regarding  which  he  was  in  consulta- 
tion with  Stein,  both  by  letter  and  by  word  of  mouth.  Then  the 
news  of  Kotzebue's  assassination  reached  Berlin.  "  Now  the  con- 
stitution is  impossible,"  were  Hardenberg's  first  words.  The  king 
ordered  funeral  honors  to  the  murdered  man.  The  harvest  of  the 
Berlin  privy-councillors  was  ripe.  Metternich  did  not  cease  harp- 
ing on  the  two  assassinations  and  the  bugbear  of  the  revolution, 
until  he  completely  drove  all  idea  of  a  constitution  out  of  the 
Prussian  king's  mind,  influenced  him  to  a  common  campaign 
against  constitutional  governments,  and  excited  him  against  all 
prominent  men  of  the  national  part}7.  By  this  Metternich  gained 
further  a  special  advantage  for  Austria.  In  assigning  to  Prussia 
the  principal  r6le  in  the  persecution  of  the  "  demagogues  " — in 
torpid  Austria  there  were  no  "demagogues"  to  molest — he  com- 
pelled her  to  lose  the  position  of  preference  which  she  had  hith- 
erto enjoyed  in  public  opinion. 

Blow  followed  blow.  In  July,  1819,  the  places  for  gymnastic 
exercise  were  closed.  Jahn,  torn  from  his  dying  child,  was  sent 
to  Spandau,  later  to  Kiistrin  ;  the  three  Bonn  professors — Arndt 


CARLSBAD  DECREES.  17 

and  the  brothers  Welker  —  were  imprisoned,  and  their  papers 
seized.  Many  other  arrests  of  teachers  and  students  took  place. 
In  Berlin  a  committee  of  investigation  was  formed,  to  which 
Prince  Wittgenstein,  the  reactionary  minister  of  the  palace,  and 
Privy -councillor  Kainptz  belonged.  This  was  followed  by  the 
Carlsbad  decrees.  August  6th,  1819,  the  congress  of  ministers 
was  opened  in  Carlsbad.  At  this,  besides  Austria  and  Prussia, 
eight  inferior  states  were  represented,  according  to  invitation. 
Metternich  presided,  and  the  Austrian  court-councillor,  von  Gentz, 
draughted  the  protocol.  He  was  a  talented  man,  skilful  with 
tongue  and  pen  ;  earlier  inclined  to  liberal  views,  he  had  later,  in 
order  the  better  to  indulge  his  love  of  pleasure,  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  Metternich,  who  used  him  to  draught  protocols  at  most  of 
the  congresses,  to  write  newspaper  articles,  and  the  like.  What 
Gentz  thought  of  his  own  and  his  master's  system  is  shown  by 
a  saying  of  his  shortly  before  his  death,  in  1832  :  "It  still  bears 
under  Metternich  and  me."  From  such  leaders  nothing  else  was 
to  be  expected  than  that  which  actually  occurred.  The  resolu- 
tions concerned  principally  five  points :  the  freedom  of  the  Press 
was  restricted  by  censorship ;  a  central  commission  was  estab- 
lished at  Mayence  for  the  investigation  of  demagogical  intrigues ; 
the  Burschenschaft,  together  with  its  gymnastic  institutions,  was 
forbidden ;  the  universities  were  placed  under  the  inspection  of 
government  deputies  (curatorcs) ;  and,  finally,  it  was  decided  that 
all  German  governments  must  submit  to  the  conclusions  of  the 
Diet.  These  Carlsbad  decrees  were  only  to  take  effect  in  case 
they  were  confirmed  by  the  Diet  of  the  confederation  in  Frank- 
fort. That  body,  in  general  so  inactive,  very  readily  adopted 
them  in  its  sitting  of  September  20th,  1819,  sanctioning  them  at 
the  outset  for  five  years,  a  limit  which  was  constantly  extended. 
And  yet  this  was  not  enough  !  In  order  utterly  to  destroy  the 
last  bulwark  of  freedom — the  south  German  representant  consti- 
tutions— to  change  them  into  old-fashioned,  harmless  representa- 
tions of  the  estates,  and  to  do  away  with  the  publicity  of  their 
meetings,  new  conferences  of  ministers  were  opened  in  Vienna, 
November  25th.  The  conclusions  reached  by  them,  May  16th, 
1820,  were  confirmed  by  the  diet  of  the  confederation  on  June 
8th,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Vienna  Schlussakte"  and  received 
among  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  German  confederation.  It  is 
true  that  the  measures  intended  to  affect  the  character  of  the  south 


18  POLITICAL  HISTORY  'OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

German  parliaments  could  not  be  carried  through  on  account  of 
the  resistance  of  Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg;  yet  the  relation  of  the 
individual  governments  to  the  confederation  had  entirely  changed. 
Those  who  drew  up  the  Act  of  Confederation  at  the  Congress 
of  Vienna  had  directed  their  efforts  toward  giving  the  confed- 
eration as  little  power,  and  the  individual  governments  as  much 
power  as  possible ;  and  had  meant  in  any  case  to  leave  the  lat- 
ter free  and  sovereign  jurisdiction  over  their  own  internal  affairs. 
But  the  situation  had  been  changed  by  the  various  alliances,  con- 
gresses, and  conferences.  The  diet  of  the  confederation  was  now 
armed  with  supreme  power  in  all  questions  external  and  internal ; 
the  individual  governments,  on  the  other  hand,  had  to  follow  with- 
out variation  the  tune  set  at  Frankfort ;  and,  as  Austria  and  Prus- 
sia gave  the  key-note  there,  the  sovereignty  of  the  lesser  princes 
soon  appeared  to  be  in  a  very  critical  condition,  and  foreseeing 
rulers  were  already  forced  to  reconcile  themselves  to  the  thought 
of  mediatization. 

But  even  Prussia  did  not  stand  as  peer  by  the  side  of  over- 
bearing Austria.  Many  a  noble  heart  felt  itself  deeply  stirred  on 
seeing  the  country  of  Frederic  the  Great  degraded  into  a  vassal 
of  the  Hapsburgs  and  a  subordinate  of  Metternich.  There  were 
still  sober,  intelligent  men  in  the  ministry,  who  wished  to  throw 
aside  the  Carlsbad  decrees,  indict  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs 
for  his  part  in  them,  and  under  a  liberal  banner  make  head  against 
'reactionary  Austria.  But  the  king  did  not  support  them,  and  so 
William  von  Humboldt,  von  Boyen,  the  minister  of  war,  and  von 
Be}  me,  high  chancellor,  were  compelled  to  hand  in  their  resigna- 
tions, and  leave  the  field  to  Wittgenstein  and  Kamptz.  There- 
upon the  Prussian  government  adopted  the  sternest  measures  of 
censorship.  The  Carlsbad  decrees  were  insultingly  promulgated 
upon  the  18th  of  October,  the  anniversary  of  the  Wartburg  fes- 
tival. Measures  were  also  taken  against  the  professors.  De 
Wette,  professor  of  theology  in  Berlin,  had  written  Sand's  mother 
a  consolatory  letter,  in  which  he  spoke  of  her  son's  deed,  in  so 
far  as  its  subjective  motives  were  concerned,  as  a  beautiful  sign 
of  the  times ;  for  this  he  was  deprived  of  his  position,  and  had 
finally  to  remove  to  Basle.  Gorres,  who,  in  the  year  1819,  had 
escaped  arrest  by  flight,  also  lost  his  place.  Arndt  remained  sus- 
pended, and  only  received  his  papers  and  letters  twenty  years  later 
from  the  government  of  Frederic  William  IV.  Jahn  was  acquit- 


KING   WILLIAM   OF   WURTEMBERG.  19 

ted  after  several  years'  detention,  but  placed  under  police  super 
vision.  At  the  same  time,  the  ministry  commenced  a  campaign 
against  red-black-gold  pipe-heads,  tassels,  and  ribbons ;  busied  it- 
self for  weeks  with  the  form  of  students'  caps  and  coats ;  made 
the  clergy  police  servants  by  virtue  of  their  office  ;  and  in  a 
cabinet  order  of  the  year  1821  actually  forbade  the  ambiguous, 
revolutionary -sounding  names,  "  Protestant  "  and  "Protestant- 
ism." The  censors  could  no  longer  allow  those  words  to  stand 
in  any  publication,  but  were  obliged  to  substitute  "  evangelical." 
The  question  of  a  constitution  was  settled  by  one  quick  stroke. 
Instead  of  a  representation  of  the  whole  country,  provincial  par- 
liaments were  instituted  by  a  royal  patent  of  June  5th,  1823. 
These  had  merely  an  advisory  voice,  and  could  only  advise  when 
the  ministers  asked  their  advice.  They  were  to  discuss  mere- 
ly the  affairs  of  their  respective  provinces,  not  of  the  whole  king- 
dom, and  were  so  composed  that  the  aristocratic  clement  had  a 
great  preponderance.  In  this  way,  it  was  claimed,  Article  13  of 
the  Act  of  Confederation  was  fully  carried  out.  If  a  proof  were 
still  needed  that  Germany  is  not  the  home  of  revolution,  one 
might  surely  bring  forward  the  fact  that  such  an  unheard-of  breach 
of  trust  had  been  committed  against  the  German  people — in  other 
states  as  well  as  in  Prussia — and  yet  the  people  had  let  it  pass. 

Prussia  had  cast  herself  unreservedly  into  the  arms  of  Metter-' 
nich's  system ;  but  south  Germany,  with  its  representative  con- 
stitutions, was   more  coy.     King  William  of  Wurtembcrg  was 
the  soul  of  the  opposition.     In  the  prime  of  his  manhood,  heart- 
ily concerned  for  the  welfare  of  his  people,  accessible  to  the  influ- 
ences of  modern  thought  and  feeling,  he  would  not  be  dictated  \ 
to  in  the  government  of  his  land.     He  was  by  nature  too  much  I 
of  a  soldier  to  become  the  prefect  of  the  government  offices  at  j 
Frankfort.    His  effort  was  to  influence  the  smaller  states  to  enter 
into  a  political  and  military  alliance,  in  order  to  deprive  the  great 
powers  of  their  preponderance  and  hold  the  balance  against  them. 
But  in  view  of  the  position  of  north  Germany,  and  the  perpetual 
jealousies  of  the  various  governments,  this  was  almost  an  impos- 
sibility.   Yet  for  a  long  time  he  maintained  the  unequal  strife,  in 
which  he  was  ably  supported  by  his  delegate  to  the  Diet,  the  keen 
and  critical  Baron  von  Wangenheim.     Both  were  determined  op- 
ponents of  the  whole  system  of  the  Vienna  and  Carlsbad  con- 
gresses.    To  avert  the  threatened  evil,  King  William  applied  per- 


20  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

sonally  to  his  brother-in-law,  Czar  Alexander.  He  also  appealed 
to  England,  which  had  defended  the  cause  of  freedom  in  the 
European  congresses,  and  whose  sovereign  had  hence  passed  in 
the  eyes  of  Prussia  and  Austria  for  a  crowned  Jacobin,  his  land, 
like  Spain,  for  a  hot-bed  of  revolution.  When,  in  consequence  of 
the  resolutions  adopted  at  the  Congress  of  Verona,  King  William 
reproached  the  congressional  powers  with  wishing  to  wield  the 
same  might  "  which  Napoleon  arrogated  in  Europe ;"  and  when, 
in  the  diet  of  the  confederation,  Wangenheim  assisted  with  all  his 
eloquence  the  gentry  and  prelates  of  Holstein,  who  were  there  to 
accuse  the  King  of  Denmark  of  infringement  of  the  constitution, 
and  even  proposed  that  a  definite  short  period  should  be  assigned 
for  the  introduction  of  the  promised  constitution — Austria  wish- 
ing to  see  the  accusers  repulsed  and  referred  to  the  good-will  of 
the  Danish  king — Metternich's  patience  was  exhausted.  He  de- 
nounced Wangenheim  as  a  foe  of  Austria's  German  policy,  even 
of  the  Holy  Alliance  itself,  and  demanded  his  recall.  As  this  de- 
mand was  not  at  once  acceded  to,  the  Austrian  ambassador  left 
Stuttgart,  and  the  Prussian  and  Russian  ambassadors  followed 
his  example.  Without  the  support  of  the  south  German  states, 
nothing  was  left  for  Wurtemberg,  as  a  small  state,  but  to  yield. 
King  William  wrote  penitential  letters  to  his  brother-in-law,  to 
Francis,  and  to  Frederic  William,  and  recalled  Wangenheim  from 
Frackfort.  In  the  following  summer  (1824)  he  sent  his  minister, 
Maucler,  to  Johannisberg.  Metternich  was  there  holding  a  court 
of  princes  and  diplomats,  and  revelling  in  the  thought  that  the 
Diet  had  been  purified  by  the  removal  of  all  liberal  delegates,  and 
restored  to  its  primary  intention — according  to  which  it  was  to 
be  a  "  permanent  congress  of  ministers,"  an  "  international  union 
of  sovereign  princes,"  a  mere  princes'  council  "  at  whose  purely 
'diplomatic  transactions  the  princes  alone  should  represent  their 
subjects,  since  the  latter  ought  to  stand  in  no  closer  political  con- 
nection with  the  confederation  than  with  any  foreign  land."  So 
the  Diet  had  become  a  holy  alliance  in  miniature,  a  simple  tool  of 
Prince  Metternich,  who  openly  announced,  as  the  principle  of  his 
policy,  "  that  at  no  point  in  Europe  must  the  status  quo  be  dis- 
turbed, and  that  divinely  appointed  majesty,  protected  by  relig- 
ion and  historical  right,  must  be  defended  at  any  price  :  ;-.iinst 
the  assaults  of  innovators."  Here  was  proclaimed  in  the  most 
absolute  and  objectionable  manner  the  principle  of  intervention. 


KING  LOUIS  OF  BAVARIA.  21 

And  Metternich's  proteges,  such  as  Charles  of  Brunswick  and  the 
blood-thirsty  Miguel  of  Portugal,  were  certainly  pretty  specimens 
of  a  "  divinely  appointed  majesty." 

Metternich  now  had  an  easy  game  in  Germany.  His  proposal 
to  prolong  the  Carlsbad  resolutions  was  accepted  by  the  diet  of 
the  confederation  (1824),  and  the  Mayence  commission  of  inves- 
tigation was  lucky  enough  to  discover  a  revolutionary  league  of 
youths  and  men  who  wished  to  establish  a  German  republic,  or 
to  erect  again  the  German  empire  under  William  of  Wurtem- 
berg.  After  this  the  hated  commission  pursued  its  work  more 
industriously  than  ever,  and  was  supported  therein  by  Prussia  in 
a  way  than  which  nothing  could  be  more  acceptable  to  Austria. 
Enthusiastic  youths  were  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  terms 
of  thirteen  to  fifteen  years  !  These  revolutionary  associations 
were  the  natural  consequences  of  the  Carlsbad  decrees,  and  their 
prosecution  and  punishment  was  a  new  sowing  of  the  dragon's 
teeth.  In  south  Germany  there  were  also  disturbances  bearing 
the  stamp  of  the  new  regime.  In  Baden  the  new  grand-duke  ap- 
peared to  be  working  directly  for  the  subversion  of  the  constitu- 
tion. He  would  allow  no  interference  in  military  matters,  and,  in 
defiance  of  the  Chambers,  allowed  himself  many  liberties  with  the 
constitution.  In  Bavaria,  under  Maximilian,  the  government  had 
carried  things  to  a  point  where  the  people  patiently  endured  every- 
thing. A  new  era  appeared  to  have  commenced  after  his  death, 
when  his  son  Louis  mounted  the  throne.  Like  his  neighbor  in 
Wurtemberg,  at  the  time  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  he 
had  been  the  exact  opposite  of  his  father.  He  had  shown  every- 
where genuine  German  sympathies;  had  associated  in  old  German 
costume  with  the  artists  in  Italy  as  one  of  themselves;  had  drunk 
to  the  unity  of  Germany;  had  sung  a  merry  good-luck  to  the  re- 
volted Greeks  (1821),  "spite  of  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,  and 
the  raging  of  all  hell."  As  an  art-loving  prince,  he  strove  to  ren- 
der Munich  a  metropolis  of  art  and  science.  In  1826  he  trans- 
ferred the  university  from  Landshut  to  the  capital,  and  called  thith- 
er famous  men,  like  Schelling,  Schubert,  Oken,  and  Gorres.  But, 
as  might  have  been  expected,  this  rage  for  reforms  and  new  insti- 
tutions soon  fell  lame.  Side  by  side  with  the  splendor  of  the 
colleges  and  academies  was  experienced  an  enormous  degenera- 
tion of  the  public  schools,  and  little  money  was  to  be  had  for  the 
repair  of  roads  and  other  means  of  communication.  Louis  was 


22  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

too  much  of  a  romanticist  to  take  pleasure  in  actual  governing; 
and  his  ministers,  who  were  in  dangerous  alliance  with  the  clergy, 
readily  took  the  burden  from  him,  in  order  to  guide  the  car  of 
state  after  the  old  system. 

In  literature,  as  in  politics,  the  two  opposing  principles  made 
themselves  felt.  Upon  the  one  side  stood  romanticism  with  its 
mediaeval  forms  and  cloudy  images.  At  first  in  league  with  the 
advocates  of  freedom,  after  the  conquest  of  the  external  foe,  it 
drew  ever  nearer  and  nearer  to  political  reaction.  The  formerly 
honored  Gorres  went  over  to  it  openly,  and  wrote  indigestible 
books  in  behalf  of  romanticism  and  mysticism ;  while  Arndt  and 
Jahn,  with  whom  he  had  for  a  time  formed  a  triumvirate,  with- 
drew from  the  public  stage.  The  most  extreme  men  of  this 
school,  among  whom  were  Gentz  and  Frederic  Schlegel,  defended 
aristocracy  and  the  theory  of  the  "  grace  of  God  "  to  their  ulti- 
mate consequences.  In  matters  of  religion  they  accepted  domi- 
neering and  unctious  ultramontanism  and  pietism.  They  helped 
the  King  of  Prussia  to  carry  into  effect  the  union  of  Lutheranism 
and  Calvinism,  a  part  of  which  was  the  amende  (liturgy)  drawn 
up  by  himself  in  conjunction  with  Bishop  Eylert.  Against  this 
theological  production  the  opposition  of  the  theologian  Schleier- 
macher,  who  was  constantly  wavering  between  orthodoxy  and  ra- 
tionalism, availed  nothing.  Opposed  to  romanticism  stood  liber- 
alism, which,  presenting  itself  in  religion  as  rationalism,  in  poe- 
try as  young  Germany,  battled  against  outlived  conditions  and 
beliefs.  The  abandonment  of  the  irrational  hatred  of  France, 
which  dated  from  the  revolution  and  the  times  of  Xapoleon, 
belonged  to  this  tendency.  Men  would  no  longer  blind  them- 
selves to  the  good  resulting  from  that  period — the  idea  of  politi- 
cal equality,  and  the  rest.  Charles  Rotteck,  professor  of  history 
and  political  science  in  Freiburg,  and  one  of  the  most  prominent 
men  in  the  Baden  Chambers,  worked  in  the  service  of  liberalism 
as  an  historian.  By  his  history  of  the  world,  spread  abroad  in 
thousands  of  copies,  bearing  on  every  page  the  stamp  of  a  liberal 
man,  he  had  in  spite,  or  perhaps  on  account  of  his  one-sidedness, 
more  effect  in  awakening  political  consciousness  than  any  other 
historian,  even  than  one  so  much  his  superior  as  Schlosser. 

It  should  be  added  that  at  Berlin,  the  very  focus  of  mysticism, 
the  philosophy  of  Hegel  was  widely  diffused.  By  its  fundamen- 
tal principle  that  reason  is  the  only  source  of  knowledge,  and  that 


HEGELIAN  PHILOSOPHY.— ITALY.  23 

nothing  can  avoid  its  criticism,  it  set  itself  in  open  opposition  to 
pietism,  which,  averse  to  all  free  inquiry,  sought  to  forge  unen- 
durable fetters  for  the  new  age.  Much  as  Hegel  sought  to  re- 
main at  peace  with  the  powers  that  were,  his  system  was,  never- 
theless, of  a  sort  which  must  necessarily  break  the  way  to  a  freer 
political  development.  This  was  especially  shown  in  the  forties, 
when  his  disciples  overcame  the  clumsy  presentation  of  their  mas- 
ter— obtaining  thereby  great  influence  over  society — and  from  the 
premises  of  their  fundamental  principles  deduced  in  politics  also 
the  logical  consequences. 

Metternich  had  for  a  time  taken  pleasure  in  Heine,  reading 
his  witty,  slippery  poems  with  great  delight.  He  hoped  that 
the  Germans  would  so  bury  themselves  in  poetry  and  science  as 
to  lose  their  taste  for  political  promenades  and  rambles  for  a  long 
time  to  come.  There  he  was  to  find  himself  mistaken.  Although 
he  had  succeeded  in  driving  liberalism  out  of  the  field  of  active 
politics,  of  cabinets  and  congresses,  it  still  worked  in  silence,  con- 
stantly advancing,  and  counted  the  ablest  minds  among  its  fol- 
lowers. 


§  2. 

ITALY. REVOLUTION    IN    NAPLES    AND    PIEDMONT. CONGRESSES 

OF    TROPPAU    AND    LAIBACH. 

METTERNICH  regarded  Italy  as  well  as  Germany  as  his  especial 
province.  In  fact,  essentially  similar  conditions  existed  in  both 
countries.  Italy,  like  Germany,  was  a  conglomerate  of  numerous 
separate,  mutually  independent  states,  whose  princes,  exceedingly 
jealous  of  one  another,  had  estranged  their  people  by  their  resto- 
ration policy.  And  the  Italian  princes,  like  the  German,  now  had 
as  colleague  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  The  latter,  by  the  reacqui- 
sition  of  Milan  and  the  occupation  of  Venice,  had  appropriated 
a  choice  morsel  of  the  Napoleonic  inheritance ;  moreover,  he  was 
determined  to  substitute  his  influence  for  that  of  France,  and  from 
upper  Italy  to  rule  the  whole  peninsula.  In  order  to  attain  this 
end,  Austria  must  spread  the  principles  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  and 
here,  as  in  Germany,  carry  on  war  against  all  aspirations  after  free- 
dom, against  the  Press  and  against  constitutions;  she  must  repress 


24  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

with  all  her  power  any  longings  after  unity,  leaving  only  that  form 
of  unity  according  to  which  all  Italian  states  had  to  regard  them- 
selves as  the  vassals  of  Austria.  But  the  question  whether  Ger- 
man long-suffering  would  spread  its  infection  across  the  Alps, 
whether  the  inhabitants  of  Vesuvius  would  adapt  themselves  to 
the  old  feudal  relations,  as  did  the  dwellers  at  Konigstcin  and 
Brocken,  still  remained  to  be  answered.  Besides  the  readily  in- 
flammable temperament  of  the  southerners,  many  things  spoke 
against  it.  The  transition  from  the  French  rule  to  that  of  the  old 
dynasties  was  far  sharper  here  than  in  Germany.  There,  in  most 
of  the  states,  the  pre-existing  governments  had  maintained  them- 
selves under  Napoleon,  whereas  in  Italy  not  a  single  sovereign  had 
remained  upon  his  throne ;  further,  in  Italy,  as  the  result  of  the 
French  Revolution,  equality  of  all  classes  before  the  law,  religious 
liberty,  freedom  in  the  tenure  of  property,  and  the  prosecution 
of  all  industries,  had  been  introduced  everywhere ;  and  the  for- 
mer deficient  administration  of  justice  had  been  remedied  by  the 
Code  Napoleon.  A  multitude  of  abuses,  the  whole  littleness  of 
a  system  of  miniature  states,  the  unnatural  oppression  of  an  all- 
powerful  hierarchy,  had  been  done  away  with ;  and  the  return- 
ing royal  families  could  not  have  done  better  than  to  retain  the 
good  of  the  French  institutions,  under  which  the  majority  of  the 
people  were  prosperous,  and  upon  this  foundation  build  a  popu- 
lar structure.  Instead  of  this,  most  of  them  acted  like  the  Elector 
of  Hesse;  they  struck  a  couple  of  decades  out  of  their  memories, 
connected  themselves  immediately  with  the  old  conditions,  and  at 
the  most  allowed  such  institutions  to  stand  as  lent  more  power 
and  splendor  to  their  authority.  So  of  necessity  dissatisfaction 
soon  reached  a  high  point. 

There  was  no  lack  of  organization  among  the  different  ele- 
ments of  opposition ;  for  the  league  of  the  Carbonari  (charcoal- 
burners),  which  had  been  for  a  long  time  spread  over  the  whole 
peninsula,  had  definite  political  aims.  Taking  its  rise  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century  from  the  freemasons,  it  had  borrowed  from  them 
their  different  degrees,  their  ceremonies,  and  that  mystery  which 
exerts  so  powerful  an  attraction,  especially  upon  the  young.  At 
the  outset  striving  for  enlightenment  in  opposition  to  ecclesi- 
astical oppression,  it  soon,  chiefly  in  consequence  of  the  French 
Revolution,  entered  the  field  of  politics  and  began  to  labor  for 
freedom.  It  was  disinclined  toward  the  French  rule  as  the  rule 


CARBONARI.— POPE  PIUS  VII.  Ai>D  HIS  PRETENSIONS.      25 

of  stranger*,  and  disappointed  the  expectations  of  Murat  when, 
in  1815,  he  summoned  all  the  peoples  of  the  peninsula  to  the 
battle  for  Italy's  independence  and  unity.  It  did  nothing  for 
him  in  the  hope  of  better  attaining  its  end  with  the  Bourbons. 
The  end  sought  was  in  reality  the  same  thing  which  Murat  had 
already  proclaimed.  As  to  the  form  of  government  to  be  set 
up,  whether  it  should  be  a  constitutional  monarchy  or  a  republic, 
the  opinions  of  the  Carbonari  differed  widely.  In  the  year  1819 
it  was  estimated  that  there  were  about  60,000  members  in  all 
Italy.  Their  head  -  quarters  were  at  Naples.  They  constantly 
strove  to  strengthen  themselves  while  awaiting  from  France  the 
signal  to  strike. 

The  Carbonari  had  a  favorable  field  in  the  States  of  the  Church. 
There,  upon  the  return  of  the  captive  Pope,  Pius  VII.  (1814), 
everything  was  placed  once  more  on  the  old  footing,  and  un- 
bounded claims  set  up.  It  was  not  enough  to  demand  back  all 
the  parts  of  the  former  States  of  the  Church ;  Pius  even  believed 
that,  without  degenerating  into  the  comic,  he  could  advance  the 
claim  that  the  old  Holy  Roman  Empire,  with  all  its  filigree  work, 
be  restored ;  that  the  ecclesiastical  states  be  re-established  in  Ger- 
man v,  and  that  secularized  church  property  be  given  back.  One 
might  have  believed  himself  transported  into  the  times  of  the 
Augsburg  interim  and  the  Edict  of  Restitution  on  hearing  in  the 
nineteenth  century  such  pretensions  on  the  part  of  a  state  that 
could  not  go  without  crutches.  Iland-in-hand  with  such  assump- 
tions went  the  equipment  of  a  complete  establishment  to  combat 
heresy.  The  inquisition  was  restored,  and  in  1816  the  inquisitor 
of  Ravenna  condemned  to  death  a  Jew  who  had  apostatized  after 
conversion.  The  congregation  of  the  index  of  books  to  be  pro- 
hibited assembled  once  more,  and  by  way  of  prelude  forbade  all 
political  writings.  The  miracle-working,  eye-\vinking  madonnas 
again  gave  audiences,  and  2436  convents,  whose  support  was  a 
burden  upon  the  state,  were  at  once  called  into  existence.  By 
a  decree  of  August  7th,  1815,  the  order  of  Jesus  was  reinstituted ; 
and,  despite  all  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  people,  it  forced 
its  way  once  more  into  Spain,  Switzerland,  and  Germany.  Car- 
dinal Pacca  abolished  the  French  institutions  in  a  manner  so 
sweeping  and  unreasoning  that  even  vaccination  and  street-lamps 
were  not  exeepted.  All  the  higher  positions  in  the  administra- 
tion and  on  the  bench  fell  once  more  into  the  hands  of  prelates, 

2 


26  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

under  whose  rule  begging  and  robbery  increased  alarmingly. 
AVhole  communities  pursued  highway-robbery  as  their  profession, 
and  once  the  names  of  fifty-seven  men  guilty  of  both  robbery  and 
murder  were  posted  at  the  same  time.  Agriculture,  commerce, 
and  industry  were  neglected.  The  attempted  remedies  of  the 
more  liberal  Cardinal  Consalvi  met  with  insuperable  opposition 
from  Pacca's  party.  In  spite  of  this  failure  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  its  own  country,  the  Curia  sought  to  extend  its  gov- 
ernment over  other  lands,  and  to  this  end  concluded  concordats 
with  both  Italian  and  foreign  states.  In  Naples  so  many  conces- 
sions were  made  to  the  clergy  that  they  really  formed  a  state 
within  a  state.  It  was  not  much  better  in  the  duchy  of  Modena, 
which,  like  Parma,  lay  wholly  under  Austrian  influence.  But 
while  in  Parma  the  Arch-duchess  Marie  Louise,  Napoleon's  wife 
(perhaps  more  correctly  the  Austrian  general,  Count  Neipperg), 
ruled,  relatively  speaking,  with  the  greatest  possible  mildness, 
Duke  Francis  of  Modena  found  his  pleasure  in  the  most  sense- 
less, hardly  endurable  despotism.  Grand-duke  Ferdinand  III.  of 
Tuscany,  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father  Leopold,  wielded 
the  mildest  and  most  enlightened  sceptre.  Bent  upon  making 
his  capital,  Florence,  the  centre  of  the  intellectual  movement,  he 
strove  for  the  greatest  possible  independence  from  Austria,  and 
permitted  the  free  introduction  of  foreign  papers  and  books. 
Nevertheless,  there,  too,  the  French  institutions,  even  the  best  of 
them,  were  done  away  with ;  but  although  they  were  replaced  by 
the  earlier  institutions  of  Leopold,  yet  those  were  something 
much  better  than  was  to  be  found  in  the  States  of  the  Church, 
Naples,  or  Sardinia. 

Austria  sought  to  keep  its  subjects  at  Milan  and  Venice  in  good- 
humor  by  other  means.  The  fostering  and  advancement  of  the 
material  interests,  and  a  well-administered  government,  were  the 
principles  of  her  rule  ;  she  also  permitted  the  clergy  and  nobles 
no  ascendency,  and  bestowed  the  offices,  with  the  exception  of 
the  highest,  on  natives.  But  in  both  of  the  separately  admin- 
istered countries  the  central  congregations  were  a  poor  substi- 
tute for  a  national  representation ;  for  their  selection  was  wholly 
dependent  upon  the  government,  and  their  sphere  of  activity 
scarcely  extended  beyond  the  composition  of  petitions.  In  ac- 
cordance with  the  wishes  of  the  people,  an  archduke  was  appoint- 
ed viceroy,  and  held  his  court  in  Milan.  But  the  jealous  em  per- 


THE  AUSTRIAN  ADMINISTRATION  IN  MILAN  AND  VENICE.  27 

or  took  care  that  it  should  not  be  one  of  the  ablest  of  his  broth- 
ers who  filled  this  important  position,  and  that  he  should  be  al- 
lowed no  political  influence.  Archduke  Rainer  spent  there  thirty 
years  of  his  life  from  1818  on.  On  the  other  hand,  here,  as  in 
the  whole  empire,  the  police  system  showed  itself  as  powerful  as 
hated.  This  was  alone  sufficient  to  cause  all  liberal  and  intelli- 
gent men  to  hold  aloof  from  the  administration,  and  left  it  in  all 
local  questions  dependent  upon  unworthy  subjects.  If  the  lower 
classes  and  the  peasants  were  content  with  their  material  circum- 
stances, the  entire  cultivated  portion  of  the  population,  already  re- 
pelled by  the  difference  of  language,  felt  the  oppression  of  a  con- 
quered province,  and  nourished  no  less  hatred  against  Austria 
than  formerly  the  states  of  the  old  Lombard  League  had  cherish- 
ed against  the  rule  of  the  Ghibellines. 

Austria  had  to  fear  nothing  so  much  as  that  the  other  Italian 
states  might  yield  to  the  pressure  of  the  Carbonari,  and  grant  rep- 
resentant  constitutions,  and,  in  general,  more  liberal  institutions. 
In  that  case  it  was  impossible  that  the  "  poison  of  freedom  "  should 
not  penetrate  into  Milan  and  Venice  as  well,  rendering  the  popu- 
lation still  harder  to  control,  and  leaving  the  system  of  Metternich 
no  other  way  to  maintain  itself  than  by  a  display  of  overwhelm- 
ing military  strength.  In  order  to  prevent  this  danger,  Metternich 
concluded  with  Ferdinand  IV.  of  Naples — who,  after  his  return, 
had  named  himself  Ferdinand  I.,  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies — the 
secret  treaty  of  June  12th,  1815,  in  which  the  latter  bound  him- 
self to  introduce  no  constitution  into  his  land,  to  permit  no  insti- 
tutions which  were  more  liberal  than  those  of  Lombardy,  to  make 
those  his  example  in  everything,  and,  when  possible,  even  to  re- 
main a  couple  of  degrees  below  the  Milan  thermometer.  Noth- 
ing was  easier  for  the  old  king  than  to  carry  out  these  promises, 
as  far  as  he  was  concerned.  He  was  a  weak,  ignorant  man,  whol- 
ly dependent  upon  his  surroundings,  and  bestowed  most  confidence 
upon  the  man  who  confirmed  him  most  in  his  conviction  of  di- 
vine appointment,  and  supported  him  most  in  the  practice  of  his 
absolutism.  When  he  returned  to  Naples  after  the  fall  of  Murat, 
he  abolished  everything  pertaining  to  the  French  regime  which 
was  inconvenient  to  him,  and  proclaimed  Naples  and  Sicily  one 
kingdom,  under  the  name  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies. 
Since  one  half  of  his  realms  could  not  have  a  constitution  and  the 
other  half  none,  a  wished-for  opportunity  was  afforded  to  repeal 


28  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

the  liberal  Sicilian  Constitution  of  1812,  granted  tinder  the  com- 
manding influence  of  Lord  Bentinck,  the  English  general,  and  to 
re-establish  an  unlimited  monarchy.  With  the  acceptance  of  the 
concordat,  the  whole  school  system  was  transferred  to  the  control 
of  the  Jesuits,  and  set  back  a  century.  On  the  other  hand,  brig- 
andage prospered  so  well  that  in  1817  about  30,000  men  pursued 
this  profession,  and  the  government  found  itself  obliged  to  con- 
clude formal  treaties  with  the  individual  brigand  chiefs,  in  order 
to  drive  out  the  brigands  by  their  chiefs — the  devil  by  Beelzebub. 
But  the  most  foolish  thing,  under  the  circumstances,  was  the  in- 
troduction of  dissatisfaction  among  the  soldiers  by  the  slights  put 
upon  Mu rat's  officers,  the  contemptuous  treatment  of  the  army  in 
general,  and  the  insult  to  the  national  spirit  in  intrusting  an  Aus- 
trian general  —  Count  Nugent  —  with  the  military  organization. 
But,  although  every  effort  was  made  to  keep  liberals  out  of  the 
army,  the  government  always  had  to  fall  back  on  them  at  last, 
and  set  them  in  the  highest  places.  One  of  the  ablest  of  the 
liberal  leaders — the  Calabrian  republican,  William  Pepe,  who  all 
his  life  had  done  nothing  but  plan  conspiracies — was  sent  into 
the  provinces  to  organize  the  militia.  Pepc  sought  to  make  them 
not  merely  good  soldiers,  but  also  zealous  Carbonari.  All  looked 
on  him  as  the  head  of  the  conspiracy,  which  was  already  so  wide- 
spread in  the  land  that  there  was  scarcely  need  of  an  occasion 
for  outbreak.  But  occasion  was  not  wanting.  News  came  that 
a  revolution  had  broken  out  in  Spain,  and  that  the  king  had  been 
compelled  to  accept  the  constitution  of  1812. 

July  2d,  1820,  Lieutenant  Morelli,  of  the  cavalry  regiment  Bour- 
bon, stationed  in  the  town  of  Nola,  called  upon  his  soldiers  to  en- 
dure no  longer  the  disgrace  of  their  country,  but  to  imitate  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Spanish  army.  The  soldiers  shouted  their  assent,  a 
part  of  the  inhabitants  joined  them,  and  under  the  tri-colored  ban- 
ner of  the  Carbonaria  (black,  rose-color,  and  sky-blue)  the  crowd 
of  soldiers,  monks,  and  citizens  moved  toward  Avellino.  The  col- 
onel at  that  place — De  Conciliis — joined  Morelli,  and  caused  the 
Spanish  Constitution  to  be  proclaimed,  the  militia  streaming  in 
from  all  sides.  The  procession  at  once  set  out  for  Naples.  There 
the  greatest  confusion  prevailed  on  the  report  of  Morelli's  revolt. 
Pepe,  as  the  most  popular  man,  was  commissioned  to  suppress  the 
insurrection  ;  but  out  of  distrust  the  commission  was  immediate- 
ly revoked.  Thereupon  Pepe,  with  two  regiments  of  cavalry 


WILLIAM  PEPE.— A   CONSTITUTION   IN  NAPLES.  29 

which  had  attached  themselves  to  him,  went  over  to  the  rebels 
at  Avcllino,  and  was  placed  by  them  at  the  head  of  the  under- 
taking. On  the  evening  of  his  departure  five  Carbonari  ap- 
peared In  the  palace,  and  demanded  in  the  name  of  the  nation 
the  proclamation  of  the  constitution.  King  Ferdinand  replied 
that  in  a  week  he  would  publish  the  principles  of  a  constitution, 
and  in  the  mean  time  named  his  eldest  son,  the  Prince  of  Cala- 
bria, his  vicegerent.  But  the  trick  was  of  no  avail.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day,  July  7th,  the  prince  was  compelled  to  proclaim  the 
Spanish  constitution,  and  on  the  same  evening  the  king  ratified 
it.  Thereupon  Pepe  presented  his  conditions:  he  demanded  of 
the  king  a  formal  oath  to  the  constitution,  the  establishment  of 
a  junta  of  fifteen  persons  to  prepare  for  the  introduction  of  the 
constitution,  and,  as  security  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  royal  prom- 
ises, his  own  appointment  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  whole 
army.  Everything  had  to  be  granted.  On  July  9th,  at  the  head 
of  the  revolted  troops  and  a  vast  concourse  of  people,  William 
Pepe  made  his  entrance  into  Naples,  while  the  Prince  of  Cala- 
bria, his  brother,  the  Prince  of  Salerno,  and  the  whole  court, 
decked  with  the  colors  of  the  Carbonari,  appeared  on  the  bal- 
cony of  the  palace.  The  king  was  sick  abed  with  vexation  and 
distress,  and  hoped,  under  pretence  of  sickness,  to  escape  the  oath. 
But  on  July  13th  he  was  compelled  to  swear  to  the  constitution 
upon  the  Bible  before  a  great  assembly ;  and  after  the  oath  had 
been  recited  he  added  the  words :  "  Almighty  God,  whose  all- 
seeing  eye  reaches  the  soul  and  the  future,  if  I  lie  or  should 
break  my  oath,  send  down  at  once  the  lightning  of  thy  revenge 
upon  me !"  Here  and  there  tears  of  joy  were  shed ;  the  princes 
embraced ;  ecstasy  and  noisy  jubilation  took  possession  of  all  the 
streets,  and  it  was  called  a  beautiful  day.  And  yet  this  was  noth- 
ing but  a  farce,  such  as  twenty-eight  years  later  was  enacted  in 
many  a  capital  city  of  Germany  with  no  less  outlay  of  art ! 

A  new  ministry  and  a  junta  were  at  once  formed,  and  for  the 
most  part  friends  of  Murat  were  chosen  for  both.  October  1st 
the  national  parliament  was  opened.  It  advised  certain  changes 
in  the  Spanish  constitution,  did  away  with  feudal  rights,  ordained 
a  more  equitable  distribution  of  taxes,  and  introduced  improve- 
ments in  all  departments  of  the  administration.  By  January  30tb, 
1821,  the  parliament  had  completed  its  work  :  the  new  constitution 
was  sworn  to  by  the  prince-regent,  and  a  permanent  committee 


30  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES.  ' 

of  seven  members  was  left  behind  in  the  name  of  the  dissolved 
parliament.  In  the  mean  time,  of  course,  anarchy  had  at  first, 
ruled  in  the  capital  and  the  provinces ;  the  number  of  the  Car- 
bonari rose  to  300,000 ;  even  women  were  admitted,  and  founded 
the  lodge  of  le  Giardiniere ;  but  quiet  and  moderation  soon  re- 
turned, for  the  chiefs  of  the  Carbonari  wished  to  give  Austria  no 
pretence  for  intervention,  and  succeeded  in  making  their  follow' 
ers  take  this  into  consideration.  This  wise  tact  was  more  than 
outweighed  by  the  terrible  blunder  in  Sicily.  The  news  of  the 
revolution  reached  Palermo  from  Naples  July  14th.  It  was  the 
festival  of  Saint  Rosalie,  and  the  streets  swarmed  with  people. 
It  was  at  once  agreed  not  to  accept  the  Spanish  constitution, 
but  to  set  up  once  more  their  own  constitution  of  1812,  and  to 
make  themselves  as  independent  of  Naples  as  possible.  "  Hurrah 
for  the  constitution  !  Hurrah  for  independence !"  was  the  watch- 
word shouted  by  a  thousand  throats.  It  did  not  stop  there.  The 
populace  stormed  Fort  Molo,  possessed  themselves  of  the  store  of 
weapons  there,  and  committed  excesses  against  persons  and  build- 
ings. The  Neapolitan  troops  were  at  once  sent  against  the  riot- 
ers. The  latter  opened  the  prisons,  released  3000  galley-slaves 
and  other  prisoners,  and  dispersed  the  troops.  Thereupon  the 
principal  officials  fled  to  the  main-land,  their  palaces  were  burnt 
down,  and  whoever  could  not  flee  was  mercilessly  murdered.  In 
all  about  4000  men  were  killed.  A  provisory  junta  of  twenty 
members,  mostly  nobles,  was  formed,  and  emissaries  sent  out  in 
every  direction,  in  order  to  spread  the  revolt  over  the  entire  isl- 
and, and  array  the  whole  population  capable  of  bearing  arms  un- 
der their  banner.  Voluntarily  or  under  compulsion  most  com- 
munities joined  them.  The  town  of  Caltanisctta,  which  offered 
resistance,  was  reduced  to  a  heap  of  ashes ;  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren were  massacred.  Only  Messina,  Catania,  Syracuse,  and  Tra- 
pani  were  able  to  hold  out  against  the  power  of  the  junta. 

A  deputation  of  the  junta  appeared  in  Naples  and  demanded  a 
separate  parliament,  a  separate  constitution,  and  a  union  of  the 
two  states  under  one  king ;  in  other  woi'ds,  a  personal  union. 
The  deputies  were  at  first  arrested,  then  sent  back  with  the  an- 
swer that  Sicily  should  have  a  separate  parliament  in  case  the 
majority  of  the  communities  declared  in  its  favor.  It  was  hoped 
that  jealousy  of  Palermo  would  excite  opposition  to  the  junta. 
At  the  same  time  Floristan  Pcpc,  the  brother  of  the  commander- 


COUNTER  MEASURES  OF  AUSTRIA.  31 

in-chief,  was  sent  to  Sicily  with  6000  men  to  subdue  the  island. 
After  a  fight  of  several  days,  he  compelled  the  inhabitants  of 
Palermo  to  capitulate  on  the  promise  that  the  decision  as  to  the 
separation  or  union  of  the  two  kingdoms  should  be  left  to  the 
representatives  of  Sicily.  But  Parliament  pronounced  the  treaty 
void,  and  recalled  Floristan  Pepe.  His  place  was  filled  by  Gen- 
eral Colletta,  who  kept  the  people  of  Palermo,  already  disarmed 
by  Pepe,  in  submission ;  did  away  with  their  junta ;  introduced 
the  Neapolitan  constitution,  and  issued  writs  for  the  elections  to 
the  common  parliament.  Except  the  officials  no  one  appeared 
at  the  polls,  and  those  who  were  elected  would  accept  no  certifi- 
cate. Sicily  remained  subdued  under  the  strong  military  force 
stationed  there ;  but  this  very  subjugation  was  wrong  in  itself, 
and  under  the  existing  circumstances  it  was  a  political  error.  It 
is  true  that  the  Neapolitans  had  for  a  long  time  been  accustomed 
to  regard  Sicily  as  a  subject  land,  a  mere  prefecture,  but  there 
was  no  ground  for  such  belief — both  kingdoms  had  equal  rights 
in  relation  to  one  another;  and  it  least  of  all  became  the  men 
who  stood  forth  in  Naples  in  behalf  of  freedom  to  rule  in  Sicily 
as  despots.  And  how,  at  a  time  when  they  must  be  prepared  for 
the  armed  intervention  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  could  they,  for  a 
question  in  any  case  secondary,  not  only  put  themselves  to  the 
necessity  of  retaining  in  Sicily  the  troops  which  they  could  so 
well  use  elsewhere,  but  also  render  it  impossible  to  summon 
thence  a  single  man,  much  less  a  contingent  of  enthusiastic  fight- 
ers for  freedom  ?  XVas  that  not  to  conjure  up  new  dangers  ?  to 
play  into  the  hands  of  the  foe?  to  set  up  for  the  court,  which 
looked  upon  this  family  quarrel  with  a  satisfied  mien,  a  ladder  to 
its  second  restoration  ? 

That  the  revolution,  if  not  suppressed,  would  not  stop  at  Na- 
ples, but  would  traverse  the  whole  peninsula,  and  knock  very  audi- 
bly at  the  gates  of  Milan,  was  plain.  Metternich's  programme  was 
quickly  made  out.  His  Carlsbad  laurels  were  not  yet  faded,  and 
he  already  planned  to  pluck  still  fresher  leaves  in  Naples.  He 
announced  to  the  Italian  princes  that  Austria  would  uphold  the 
existing  order  in  all  Italy.  In  Lombardy  and  Venetia  he  forbade 
participation  in  the  Carbonaria  under  pain  of  death.  He  carried 
on  a  war  of  extermination  against  the  rising  literature  that  made 
the  new  birth  of  Italy  its  aim ;  suppressed  all  liberal  journals ;  and 
imprisoned  the  talented  young  Silvio  Pellico  as  a  contributor  to 


32  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

the  Conciliatore.  The  garrisons  in  Fcrrara  and  Comacchio  were 
put  upon  a  war  footing;  strong  bodies  of  troops  were  collected; 
and  by  this  means  a  dam  was  opposed  to  the  agitation  in  all  up- 
per and  middle  Italy.  All  defensive  measures  had  been  taken ; 
but  he  did  not  yet  have  the  courage  to  assume  the  offensive  and 
seek  the  revolution  at  its  crater,  or  at  least  he  was  not  willing  to 
undertake  it  alone.  Hence  he  summoned  a  congress  of  monarchs 
and  ministers  to  meet  at  Troppau,  in  Austrian  Silesia,  in  order  to 
obtain  from  the  potentates  of  Europe  an  authorization  to  intervene. 
In  the  latter  half  of  October,  1820,  the  mouarchs  of  the  three 
eastern  powers,  the  fathers  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  appeared  there, 
and  also  the  delegates  of  France  and  England.  At  the  outset 
Czar  Alexander  played  the  prude,  and  vented  the  opinion  that 
the  Neapolitans  could  be  influenced  in  a  friendly  way  to  change 
their  constitution  —  he  could  see  no  ground  for  armed  interfer- 
ence. England,  in  any  case  disinclined  toward  meddling  with 
the  internal  affairs  of  an  independent  state,  agreed  with  him ; 
and  France  was  too  jealous  of  the  increasing  influence  of  Austria 
in  Italy  not  to  look  with  great  disfavor  on  the  overstepping  of 
the  Lombard  boundaries  by  her  armies.  Metternich  was  in  great 
embarrassment :  Troppau  appeared  to  be  no  Carlsbad.  He  could 
only  rely  upon  Prussia;  but  her  alliance  was  as  valueless  in  Italy 
as  it  was  invaluable  in  Germany.  In  this  dilemma  he  received 
intelligence  of  the  insubordination  of  the  guard  regiment  Seme- 
noff  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  by  means  of  his  ambassador  at  the 
Russian  court  was  in  possession 'of  the  news  before  Alexander 
himself.  This  outbreak  among  the  soldiers  had  not  the  slightest 
connection  with  the  revolutions  in  Spain  and  Italy ;  but  what  of 
that  ?  He  hurried  at  once  to  Alexander,  reported  to  him  the  oc- 
currence, and  pictured  to  his  imagination  the  spectre  of  a  military 
conspiracy  spread  over  all  Europe.  The  Czar,  since  his  residence 
in  Warsaw,  full  of  gloomy  forebodings,  allowed  himself  to  be  sur- 
prised by  the  adroit  chancellor,  and  the  three  eastern  powers,  as 
"the  centre  of  the  union  of  the  European  states,"  formed  a  coali- 
tion against  the  "tyrannical  might  of  rebellion  and  crime."  Af- 
ter the  treaty  had  been  already  signed,  it  was  laid  before  the 
representatives  of  England  and  France,  who  were  not  greatly  edi- 
fied by  what  had  been  done  behind  their  backs.  At  the  same 
time,  a  new  congress  in  Laibach  was  agreed  upon,  to  which  the 
King  of  Naples  was  also  to  be  invited. 


THE  TROPPAU  RESOLUTIONS.— CONGRESS  AT  LAIBACH.     33 

The  excitement  caused  in  Naples  by  these  Troppau  resolutions 
was  immense.  It  was  clear  that  these  founders  of  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance looked  upon  themselves  as  the  dictatory  triumvirate  of  Eu- 
rope, and  tolerated  no  constitution  which  did  not  bear  the  stamp 
of  the  grace  of  God.  Metternich  went  still  farther,  and  categori- 
cally announced  in  Laibach  to  the  Russo-Grecian  diplomat  Capo- 
distria,  that  Austria  would  rather  make  war  on  the  King  of 
Naples  than  tolerate  the  introduction  of  a  constitution  in  his 
kingdom,  even  if  that  constitution  were  according  to  his  wishes. 
When  the  royal  message  concerning  these  resolutions  was  read  in 
Naples,  Parliament  hall  and  gallery  uttered  the  same  cry :  "  Con- 
stitution or  death!"  and  it  found  a  thousand -fold  echo  in  the 
streets.  In  Parliament  the  question  was,  whether  the  king  should 
be  allowed  to  go  to  Laibach,  and  whether  they  should  consent  to 
a  change  in  the  constitution  in  the  direction  of  conservatism,  as 
France  advised.  If  they  did  not  wish  the  latter,  they  should  also 
have  refused  to  let  the  thoroughly  hypocritical  king  go.  They  re- 
solved, however,  that  the  constitution  should  remain  unchanged, 
and  that  the  king  should  go,  in  order,  as  he  announced  in  a  mes- 
sage to  Parliament,  to  represent  the  Spanish  constitution  at  Lai- 
bach. They  even  declined  the  king's  proposition  that  four  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  should  accompany  him  as  witnesses  and  ad- 
visers, and  in  their  address,  with  more  than  childlike  trustfulness, 
gave  as  the  reason  :  "  Since  the  heart  of  the  son  of  Charles  III.  is 
naturally  a  temple  of  truth."  So  the  "  true  "  king  departed,  vis- 
ited his  colleague,  the  despotic  Francis  IV.,  in  Modena,  and  on  his 
arrival  in  Laibach  sent  off  his  attendant,  the  Duke  of  Gallo,  to 
Gorice,  since  in  such  secret  discussions  no  strangers  are  needed. 
The  king's  first  letter  from  Laibach  to  his  son  does  not  contain  a 
syllable  about  the  object  of  his  journey,  but  speaks  of  the  pleasure 
he  experiences  in  the  fact  that  his  hunting -hounds  are  better 
than  those  of  the  Russian  Emperor. 

In  January,  1821,  the  congress  was  opened  at  Laibach,  in  Car- 
niola.  Besides  the  emperors  of  Austria  and  Russia  and  their 
diplomats,  the  ambassadors  of  Prussia,  England,  France,  and  the 
Italian  states  were  present.  Before  the  commencement  of  the 
session  the  three  eastern  powers  had  already  agreed  that  Austria 
should  send  an  army  to  Naples  for  the  suppression  of  the  rev- 
olution, and  that  in  case  of  necessity  a  Russian  army  should  fol- 
low. The  ambassadors  of  Sardinia,  Rome,  Tuscany,  and  Modena 

2* 


34  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

gave  in  their  adhesion,  and  no  attention  was  paid  to  the  repeat- 
ed objections  of  England  and  France.  King  Ferdinand,  with  his 
"  temple  of  truth,"  was  very  ready  when  Metternich,  by  way  of 
supplement,  laid  the  resolutions  before  him,  to  break  his  oath  to 
the  constitution,  and  represent  himself  as  having  acted  under 
compulsion.  He  merely  took  the  precaution  to  purchase  indul- 
gence for  such  perjury  by  gifts  to  San?  Annunziata  in  Florence. 
The  Duke  of  Gallo  was  at  once  recalled  to  Laibach,  and  inform- 
ed that  he  must  set  out  for  Naples  immediately.  There  he  was 
to  announce  that  the  revolutionary  tribunals  must  disband,  and 
submit  to  the  king;  that  10,000  Austrians  would  occupy  the 
country  until  its  complete  pacification,  and  that,  in  case  of  pro- 
longed resistance,  100,000  Russians  and  Austrians  would  follow 
them,  and  remain  for  three  years  at  the  cost  of  the  land.  King 
Ferdinand  further  said  to  him,  privately,  that  he  agreed  com- 
pletely with  all  the  conclusions  of  the  great  powers.  Six  days 
after  the  duke's  departure,  February  5th,  the  Austrian  general, 
Frimont,  crossed  the  Po  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  occupation, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  month  stood  at  the  Neapolitan  frontier. 

At  Naples,  on  the  reception  of  the  news  from  Laibach,  all  was 
fire  and  flame.  Young  and  old,  rich  and  poor,  hurried  to  arms ; 
and  when,  at  a  great  fraternization  meeting,  it  was  asked  which 
of  the  generals  would  be  the  Miltiades,  one  of  the  enthusiasts 
cried,  "  All  will  be  Miltiades' !"  Parliament  did  not  declare  the 
king  a  perjured  traitor,  as  Pope  demanded,  but  a  captive  —  his 
letter,  which  he  had  given  to  Gallo,  written  under  compulsion. 
It  further  placed  the  Prince  of  Calabria  at  the  head  of  the  army, 
as  if  the  son  would  best  conduct  the  war  against  his  father. 
There  was  no  lack  of  enthusiasm,  speeches,  and  processions;  but 
money,  weapons,  magazines,  good  soldiers  —  in  short,  all  that  is 
needful  for  the  conduct  of  a  war — were  lacking.  Officers  had 
long  since  been  commissioned  to  purchase  in  England  100,000 
muskets,  but  the  regent  had  always  contrived  to  delay  their  jour- 
ney. Now  it  became  evident  what  folly  had  been  committed  in 
Sicily.  Naples'  best  battalions  were  there;  and  in  Naples  itself, 
in  spite  of  all  the  warlike  talk,  not  more  than  25,000  regular 
troops,  with  2000  horses,  could  be  brought  together;  and  these 
were  in  part  ill-armed  and  unreliable — no  match  for  the  compact 
mass  of  43.000  Austrians.  Furthermore,  they  were  under  two 
generals  bitterly  hostile  to  one  another.  Pepe,  with  12,000  men, 


BATTLE  OF   RIETL— REACTION   IN   NAPLES.  35 

mostly  militia,  was  to  hold  the  Abruzzia  border,  and  in  case  of 
need  fall  back  on  the  Volturno,  where  his  party  foe,  Carrascosa, 
was  stationed  with  the  second  army  corps.  On  March  7th  Pepe 
attacked  the  Austrian  advance  under  Count  Wallmoden,  at  Rieti. 
At  first  he  drove  them  back  from  their  position  of  vantage,  but 
was  compelled  to  command  a  retreat  when  the  enemy  brought 
up  re-enforcements  from  Vicenti,  and  fell  upon  his  right  flank 
with  superior  numbers.  There  was  a  cry  of  treason,  and  the  re- 
treat quickly  turned  into  a  rout  so  complete  that  no  further  stand 
was  attempted.  The  militia  advancing  to  join  them  were  carried 
along,  and  on  the  following  morning  Pepe  had  scarcely  2000  men 
left.  These  melted  away  like  early  snow.  Thereupon  Carrascosa 
was  obliged  to  fall  back  across  the  Volturno.  The  battalions  of 
the  guards  refused  obedience,  the  militia  disbanded,  and  Carras- 
cosa's  own  life  was  endangered  by  his  followers.  He  and  Pepe 
reached  the  capital  with  a  few  officers.  There  Parliament  framed 
an  address  to  the  king,  who  was  awaiting  results  in  Florence,  ex- 
pressing their  readiness  to  alter  the  constitution,  and  the  wish  that 
strangers  might  not  come  between  king  and  people,  which  was,  of 
course,  too  late.  With  a  protest  against  the  infringement  of  pop- 
ular rights,  moved  by  the  patriotic  Poerio,  the  last  session  of  Par- 
liament, at  which  only  twenty-six  members  were  present,  came  to 
an  end  on  March  19th.  On  March  21st  the  Austrians  entered 
Capua,  and  on  the  23d,  Naples.  Pepe  succeeded  in  escaping  on 
a  Spanish  vessel,  to  plunge  into  new  adventures.  Carrascosa  and 
several  members  of  Parliament  had  also  fled. 

On  the  9th  of  May  Ferdinand  returned  to  his  capital,  and  was 
received  with  loud  rejoicings  by  the  lower  classes.  The  appoint- 
ment of  Prince  Canosa,  whom  he  had  earlier  been  compelled  to 
dismiss  under  foreign  pressure  on  account  of  his  outrageous  po- 
lice administration,  led  men  to  expect  the  most  terrible  deeds  of 
vengeance.  In  order  to  clip  the  wings  of  the  spirit  of  freedom, 
the  strictest  censorship  was  introduced ;  the  works  of  Voltaire, 
Rousseau,  and  others  were  publicly  burnt,  and  a  special  commission 
established  for  the  suppression  of  books.  The  Jesuits  were  re- 
called; all  public  schools,  as  well  as  the  universities,  were  closed, 
the  teachers  discharged,  and  the  whole  system  of  instruction 
changed  in  the  interests  of  the  hierarchy.  The  sternest  measures 
were  adopted  against  the  Carbonari.  The  whole  league  was  out- 
lawed ;  a  few  members  with  Dared  backs,  hung  with  the  ribbons 


36  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

and  other  insignia  of  their  order,  aud  set  on  donkeys,  were  led 
through  the  streets  and  flogged  in  the  public  squares.  Many 
escaped  the  royal  wrath  by  fleeing  to  the  forests  and  mountains, 
to  enter  upon  a  robbers'  life  and  come  later  to  the  gallows.  Mu- 
rat's  officers  were  for  the  most  part  dismissed  ;  prominent  generals 
and  members  of  Parliament,  like  Colletta,  Poerio,  and  Borelli,  were 
sent  to  the  fortresses  of  Graz,  Prague,  and  Brunn.  The  same 
course  was  pursued  in  Sicily.  Ten  thousand  Austrians  were  sent 
thither  at  the  end  of  May,  who  succeeded,  after  a  few  bloody  out- 
breaks of  popular  indignation,  in  restoring  quiet. 

All  Europe  was  astonished  at  such  a  result  after  the  boasting 
of  the  Neapolitan  orators  of  freedom,  and  cried  shame  at  the 
empty-headedness  of  the  leaders  and  the  cowardice  of  the  army. 
And  yet  Naples'  chances  were  by  no  means  bad,  if  it  had  main- 
tained the  defensive  and  offered  a  long  resistance  ;  for  only  three 
days  after  the  fight  at  Ricti  the  mutiny  in  Piedmont  broke  out, 
delivering  that  state  into  the  hands  of  the  national  party,  and  seri- 
ously menacing  the  rear  and  flank  of  the  Austrians. 

After  Napoleon's  first  overthrow,  in  March,  1814,  King  Victor 
Emmanuel  had  returned  to  Turin,  having  tranquilly  slept  away 
the  time  of  the  French  dominion,  a  full  eight  years,  in  the  island 
of  Sardinia,  among  the  atrocious  feudal  conditions  which  were 
still  widely  prevalent  there.  He  was  a  man  of  great  goodness 
of  heart  and  weakness  of  head,  and  so  broken  by  age  and  infirm- 
ities that  he  would  fain  toss  through  this  earthly  sea  under  no 
other  sail  than  vows  and  pilgrimages.  The  Vienna  congress  en- 
larged his  kingdom  by  the  territory  of  the  Genoese  republic. 
He  had  scarcely  reached  Turin  when  he  was  surrounded  by  the 
Piedmontese  nobles.  They  had  withdrawn  into  their  castles 
before  the  free  ideas  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  now  repre- 
sented the  foreign  rule  in  the  blackest  colors,  while  they  could 
not  praise  enough  the  blessings  of  the  good  old  times.  By  a 
royal  edict  all  French  laws  and  institutions,  whatever  they  might 
be,  were  at  once  abolished,  and  in  their  stead  was  sought  out,  like 
a  wonder-working  relic,  the  constitution  of  1770,  with  its  intoler- 
ance, its  caste  distinctions,  its  wheel  and  quartering,  and  by  its 
tangle  of  antiquated  laws  an  incomparable  chaos  was  introduced. 
Suits  which  had  been  decided  before  the  French  courts  of  final 
appeal  were  reopened,  and  business  thus  made  the  prey  of  a  de- 
pressing uncertainty.  Cloisters  which  had  been  turned  into  fac- 


RESTORATION  IN  SARDINIA.— CHARACTER  OF  PEOPLE.     37 

tories  were  given  back  to  the  Capuchins;  famine  was  remedied 
by  processions  and  crowns  of  thorns.  The  Jesuits  again  gained 
possession  of  the  schools,  and  the  most  talented  professors  of  the 
University  of  Turin  had  to  give  up  their  positions.  In  the  grand 
opera-house  the  queen,  who  was  her  husband's  master,  permitted 
only  the  nobility  to  attend  the  representations,  and  to  them  places 
were  assigned  according  to  the  length  of  their  pedigrees.  In  Tu- 
rin, as  in  Hesse-Cassel,  the  soldiers  of  1800  were  called  back,  as 
though  the  commanders  could  regulate  the  very  calendar.  They 
even  wanted  to  tear  down  the  splendid  bridge  which  Napoleon 
had  built  over  the  Po  at  Turin,  and  no  passes  were  given  for  the 
road  over  Mont  Cenis,  in  order,  forsooth,  that  this  Napoleonic 
work  might  fall  into  decay.  The  department  officials,  in  their 
Francophobia,  threw  the  furniture  of  their  predecessors  out  of  the 
windows,  and  the  royal  gardener  was  too  good  a  legitimist  not  to 
root  out  and  destroy  all  French  plants  in  the  botanical  gardens. 

A  deep  gulf  was  formed  between  government  and  people  by 
a  restoration  which  proceeded  in  such  a  way  against  men  and 
things.  The  neighborhood  of  France  and  Switzerland  had  kept 
alive  a  freer  spirit  in  this  land.  The  first,  men  of  young  Italy, 
like  Victor  Alfieri  and  the  unfortunate  Pellico,  were  born  Pied- 
montese.  The  people  of  this  race  showed  more  industry,  energy, 
and  spirit — in  general,  a  firmer,  erecter  bearing  than  the  other 
Italians,  and  had  ambition  enough  to  wish  to  take  the  first  place 
in  Italy.  The  young  men,  even  members  of  the  nobility,  were 
eager  for  a  free  Italy,  were  in  correspondence  with  the  opposi- 
tion in  France  and  with  the  Spanish  cortes,  and  thirsted  for  a 
war  with  Austria.  Secret  engagements  were  entered  into  with 
the  malcontents  at  Milan,  and  a  plan  of  action  arranged.  The 
Austrians  were  to  be  ejected  from  Milan,  Lombardy  united  with 
Sardinia,  a  strong  north  Italian  kingdom  formed,  and  in  this  way 
the  foundation  laid  for  a  united  Italy.  The  revolutions  in  Spain 
and  Naples  raised  hopes  to  the  highest  pitch.  Could  there  have 
l>een  a  more  promising  time  for  carrying  out  the  national  plans 
than  those  February  days  of  1821,  when  the  Austrians  moved 
toward  Naples?  What  more  was  needed  than  an  energetic  as- 
sault upon  their  uncovered  flank  and  Milan  was  free,  and  the 
kingdom  of  north  Italy  a  fact?  Charles  Albert,  the  twenty-two- 
year -old  prince  of  Savoy  -  Carignan,  a  collateral  branch  of  the 
reigning  family,  was  looked  upon  as  the  natural  leader  both  of 


38  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

the  enthusiastic  young  men  and  the  reformers.  He  had  been  ed- 
ucated as  a  commoner,  was  possessed  of  good  parts,  railed  at  the 
absurdity  of  the  reaction,  associated  much  with  the  reformers,  had 
a  large  following  among  the  soldiers,  and  hated  Austria  as  well 
as  the  best.  Owing  to  the  childlessness  of  the  king  and  his 
brother  Charles  Felix,  Duke  of  Genevois,  he  was  the  heir  pre- 
sumptive. He  could  never  forgive  the  Vienna  Cabinet  for  hav- 
ing wished  to  deprive  him  of  this  right  and  confer  it  upon  the 
king's  daughter,  the  Duchess  of  Modena.  The  eyes,  not  of  Pied- 
mont alone,  but  of  all  Italy,  were  upon  him ;  and  no  one  had 
another  plan  than,  when  the  time  came  to  strike,  to  set  the  prince 
at  the  head  of  the  movement,  to  call  Victor  Emmanuel  to  the 
throne  of  upper  Italy,  and  to  compel  him  to  a  war  with  Austria. 
There  were  only  a  few  who  held  a  different  opinion  of  the  Prince 
of  Carignan,  and  believed  that  they  already  discerned,  side  by  side 
with  liberal  ideas,  a  tendency  to  dissimulation,  fickleness,  and  mys- 
ticism. 

At  the  moment  of  action  the  heads  of  the  conspiracy  found 
that  they  could  not  depend  upon  him.  He  communicated  their 
preparations  to  the  king,  and  urged  upon  him  military  precau- 
tions. The  leaders  despaired  of  the  possibility  of  striking,  since 
the  prince's  defection  would  necessarily  exert  too  disheartening  an 
influence  upon  the  soldiers,  and  gave  orders  to  undertake  nothing 
for  the  present.  But  the  ball  had  already  been  set  in  motion, 
and  could  not  now  be  checked.  In  Alessandria,  where  the  Car- 
bonari were  numerous,  Lieutenant -colonel  Ansaldi  and  Captain 
Count  Palma  had  gained  possession  of  the  citadel  in  the  night 
of  March  10th,  1821.  On  the  following  morning  they  formed  a 
provisional  junta,  proclaimed  the  Spanish  constitution,  and  called 
the  nation  to  arms  in  the  name  of  the  "  kingdom  of  Italy."  But 
neither  in  their  own  regiment,  the  Savoyard,  nor  among  the  loyal- 
minded  troops  elsewhere,  did  they  meet  with  an  enthusiastic  re~ 
ception.  Full  of  anxiety,  the  king  sought  to  appease  the  soldiers 
by  amnesties  and  increase  of  wages.  On  the  llth  of  March 
Captain  Ferrero,  with  a  company  of  soldiers,  stationed  himself 
before  the  gates  of  Turin,  by  the  church  of  Saint  Salvario,  in 
the  hope  of  drawing  over  people  and  army  to  the  revolution. 
The  troops  sent  out  against  him  neither  attacked  him  nor  joined 
him,  and  the  people  streamed  out  from  curiosity,  wishing  to  know 
how  the  matter  would  develop  before  they  chose  sides.  Only  a 


ABDICATION   OF   THE   KING.— CHARLES  ALBERT.  39 

few  students  attached  themselves  to  Ferrero,  and  with  these  he 
retired  to  Alessandria.  In  the  night  St.  Marsan,  the  Sardinian 
representative,  returned  from  Laibach.  Having  ascertained  that 
the  intentions  of  the  allied  monarchs  were  serious,  he  had  prom- 
ised emphatically  for  the  king  that  he  would  not  consent  to  any 
change  in  the  government.  Reassured  by  his  report,  the  king 
promulgated,  on  March  12th,  two  edicts,  in  which  he  refused  to 
accept  the  constitution,  as  it  would  bring  the  Austrians  into  the 
country,  and  commanded  a  corps  of  troops  to  assemble  at  Asti. 
But  the  people  had  awakened  from  their  indifference  overnight, 
and  now  tore  the  placards  from  the  walls,  and  demanded  the 
Spanish  constitution.  The  officers  refused  to  shed  the  blood  of 
their  fellow-citizens,  and  by  mid-day  the  Italian  tricolor  was  wav- 
ing from  the  citadel  of  Turin.  Victor  Emmanuel  then  abdicated 
in  favor  of  his  brother,  Charles  Felix,  and  went  to  Nice.  Until 
the  new  king,  a  proud,  arbitrary  man,  who  was  at  that  time  with 
his  friend  and  adviser,  Duke  Francis  of  Modena,  returned  to  Tu- 
rin, Charles  Albert  was  to  assume  the  regency. 

A  very  pressing  question  was  presented  to  him  for  solution. 
Would  he  set  himself  at  the  head  of  the  revolution,  in  order,  as 
the  Carbonari  delusively  assured  him,  to  win  the  crown  of  Italy? 
He  was  too  well  acquainted  with  the  limited  resources  of  the  land 
not  to  know  that  this  meant  nothing  else  than  the  presence  of  the 
Austrians  in  Turin  within  a  few  days.  And  then  how  would  it 
be  with  his  right  of  succession  ?  Would  the  Holy  Alliance  hesi- 
tate to  exclude  a  Carbonaro  forever  from  the  throne?  These 
were  very  practical  considerations,  which  the  prince  could  not 
fail  to  take  into  account.  The  means  he  adopted  to  extricate 
himself  from  his  difficult  position  was  to  surround  himself  with 
a  veil  of  mystery,  and  seek  to  postpone  his  decision.  But  the 
people  were  pressing,  the  soldiers  were  becoming  unmanageable, 
and  definite  threats  were  uttered  in  the  Carignan  palace.  Then 
he  called  an  assembly  of  thirty  notables,  accepted  the  constitution 
on  their  written  demand,  set  up  a  provisional  junta,  and  formed 
a  new  ministry.  At  the  same  time,  however,  he  declared  that  he 
would  not  consider  this  constitution  binding  without  the  consent 
of  the  king,  and  forbade  the  soldiers  to  wear  the  Italian  colors. 
This  bred  such  bitterness  among  the  revolutionary  party  that  they 
spoke  of  seizing  him  as  a  hostage,  or  even  murdering  him.  At 
the  same  time,  the  Austrian  ambassador  was  obliged  to  leave,  while 


40  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

Milanese  deputies  deceived  the  Turiners  with  hopes  of  an  uprising 
of  their  countrymen. 

Then  Chevalier  Costa,  whom  the  prince  had  sent  to  Modena 
with  a  letter  to  the  king,  returned  with  the  announcement  that 
the  severest  measures  were  to  be  resorted  to.  The  prince  was 
commanded  to  join  General  la  Torre  at  Novara,  with  the  troops 
who  were  still  faithful.  While  apparently  making  preparations 
to  resist,  he  fled  secretly  to  Novara,  protested  against  the  compul- 
sion that  had  been  put  upon  him,  laid  down  the  regency,  and  call- 
ed on  all  the  troops  to  return  to  the  royal  standard.  By  his  flight 
the  revolutionary  party  got  all  the  power  into  its  hands.  Santa- 
rosa,  who  had  just  been  named  minister  of  war  by  the  prince,  as- 
sumed a  sort  of  dictatorship.  He  hoped  in  vain  for  a  revolution 
in  Milan  and  France.  On  the  news  of  the  defeats  in  Naples,  his 
generals  deserted  him.  At  length,  with  3000  men,  he  marched 
against  Novara,  in  the  expectation  that  la  Torre's  troops  would  go 
over  to  him.  The  latter  had  already  been  joined  by  the  Austrian 
general,  Bubna,  and  on  April  8th,  before  Novara,  a  few  cannon- 
shots  and  a  charge  from  the  Austrians  scattered  the  little  revolu- 
tionary band  in  wild  flight — which,  as  far  as  panic,  fright,  and 
fleetness  of  foot  are  concerned,  did  not  yield  to  the  catastrophe 
of  Rieti.  La  Torre  entered  Turin  on  the  10th  of  April.  On  the 
llth  he  entered  Alessandria,  and  the  determined  Ansaldi,  not  sup- 
ported by  the  soldiers,  had  to  yield.  The  insurgents  crossed  the 
French  frontier,  or,  like  Santarosa,  sailed  for  Spain  to  fight  for  a 
similar  cause  on  a  different  battle-field.  Twelve  thousand  Aus- 
trians occupied  the  country,  and  had  to  be  maintained  at  its  ex- 
pense. Under  their  protection  Charles  Felix  returned  to  Turin,  and 
brought  the  whole  government  machine  back  into  the  old  grooves. 
Many  persons  were  condemned  by  special  tribunals  and  military 
commissions,  although  only  two  officers  were  actually  put  to  death. 
The  reaction  was  not  so  bloody  as  in  Naples,  inasmuch  as  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  revolution  had  not  been  so  great.  The  Prince  of 
Carignan  had  lost  credit  with  both  parties  by  his  undecided  con- 
duct, and  had  to  hear  once  more  Austria's  designs  against  his  suc- 
cession. From  Novara  he  had  repaired  to  Modena,  and  there 
Charles  Felix  had  refused  to  receive  his  visit.  lie  sought  and 
found  an  advocate  in  France :  under  the  Duke  of  Angouleme  he 
made  the.  campaign  against  Spain,  where,  in  the  ranks  of  his  foes, 
he  met  many  of  his  old  Piedmontcse  friends. 


AFFAIRS  IN   ITALY   DURING  THE   THIRD   DECADE.         41 

No  one  could  have  been  prouder  than  Metternich  after  these 
successes.  At  the  close  of  the  Laibach  congress  he  is  reported  to 
have  said  to  the  Russian  Emperor,  with  a  triumphant  air,  much 
as  though  the  matter  in  hand  were  a  boar-baiting:  "There,  see 
what  a  revolution  is  when  it  is  taken  in  time !"  He  forthwith 
had  a  conspiracy  ferreted  out  in  Milan,  and  cast  many  esteemed 
men  into  prison.  Two  years  later  about  forty  of  these  prisoners 
were  conveyed  to  the  prisons  of  Spielberg  and  Laibach,  after  hav- 
ing publicly  stood  in  the  pillory  in  Milan.  This  latter  disgrace 
forever  alienated  from  Austria  the  hearts  of  the  Lombard  nobili- 
ty, many  members  of  which  were  among  the  unfortunates.  Sev- 
eral of  the  prisoners  died  in  prison ;  others  carne  out  with  sickly 
bodies ;  some  fell  a  prey  to  insanity ;  only  one,  Felice  Foresti, 
came  again  to  the  light  of  day  with  strength  of  mind  and  body 
unbroken.  The  work  of  Silvio  Pellico  on  his  Spielbcrger  impris- 
onment made  remarkable  developments  regarding  a  system  which 
bowed  even  such  a  spirit  as  his,  and  threw  him  into  the  arms  of 
mysticism. 

In  Italy,  also,  the  Holy  Alliance  had  conquered ;  the  Austrian 
influence  had  shown  itself  so  strong  that  now  the  whole  peninsula 
looked  not  unlike  a  Hapsburg  province.  There  were  two  princi- 
pal causes  which  had  led  to  such  a. disgraceful  result — the  lack  of 
systematic  co-operation,  and  the  slight  participation  on  the  part  of 
the  people,  proceeding  from  the  fact  that  they  still  stood  on  too 
low  a  plane  of  culture.  Only  the  few  cultivated  men  had  origi- 
nated the  whole  movement ;  the  mass  followed  the  one  whom 
they  saw  develop  the  greatest  strength. 

Anachronistic  conditions  throve  luxuriously  through  the  whole 
of  the  third  decade.  The  outlook  was  best  in  Tuscany,  where 
Leopold  II.  mounted  the  throne  in  1824,  and  carried  out  a  work 
of  great  material  benefit  in  the  draining  of  the  Maremme ;  albeit 
in  intellectual  matters  he  felt  himself  much  restricted  by  the  Aus- 
trian dogmas.  In  Sardinia  everything  was  administered  quite  to 
Metternich's  satisfaction ;  the  government  was  given  over  to  the 
most  absolutist  nobles  and  priests,  while  Charles  Felix  dragged 
out  his  existence  in  idleness  and  pleasure-seeking.  If  any  one 
spoke  to  him  of  business,  he  gave  as  an  answer,  "  I  am  not  a  king 
to  let  myself  be  bothered."  It  was  still  worse  in  Naples.  January 
4th,  1825,  the  hypocritical  Prince  of  Calabria  ascended  the  throne 
as  Francis  I.,  and  his  government  was  such  that  Chateaubriand 


42  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

said  it  was  sunk  to  the  lowest  stage  of  conteraptibility.  Every- 
thing went  to  ruin  amid  luxurious  banquets  and  shameless  balls, 
sale  of  offices  and  persecution  of  secret  societies.  The  throne  was 
not  supported  by  its  own  army,  but  by  6000  men  of  the  Swiss 
guard,  whose  enlistment  and  maintenance  was  a  costly  matter. 
The  Romish  court  under  Leo  XII.  (1823-1829)  was  travelling 
backward  in  close  competition  with  Naples.  The  exclusion  of 
laymen  from  all  civil  dignities,  the  unconditioned  supremacy  of 
the  priests  in  the  government,  in  the  administration  of  justice,  in 
the  schools — this  whole  "  theocratico-Turkish  system  "  was  more 
vexatious  than  ever,  and  bred  in  the  people,  honey-combed  by  the 
Carbonari,  nothing  but  hatred  and  contempt  As  early  as  this 
no  less  a  man  than  General  Bernetti  said  that,  in  case  he  lived  to 
old  age,  he  held  it  possible  that  he  might  witness  the  downfall  of 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope. 


§3. 

SPAIN    AND    ITS   AMERICAN    COLONIES. PORTUGAL    AND    BRAZIL. 

THE    CONGRESS    OF    VERONA    AND    FRENCH    INTERVENTION. 

SPANISH  affairs  resembled  in  essentials  those  of  Germany.  The 
Spaniards  had  fought  an  heroic  fight  against  Napoleon's  am- 
bition, and  had  conquered  at  last  by  the  help  of  the  Russian 
campaign  of  1812.  After  shaking  off  the  foreign  yoke,  they  did 
not  wish  to  resume  the  old  native  one.  Their  strength  and  self- 
confidence  had  grown  in  the  fight;  they  felt  themselves  entitled 
to  take  part  in  the  administration  of  the  country  by  a  constitu- 
tion and  a  parliament,  and  to  stamp  upon  this  administration  no 
one-sided  monarchical  character,  but  a  popular  one.  In  this  they 
showed  the  same  disposition  as  the  German  warriors,  when  they 
marched  home  across  the  Rhine.  But  in  what  circles  in  Spain 
did  those  aspirations  rule?  The  mass  of  the  people  were  indif- 
ferent ;  they  had  fought  against  the  foreign  rule ;  after  this  was 
driven  out,  they  willingly  returned  into  the  old  conditions.  Only 
a  small  party  of  high-minded,  educated  men  followed  the  new 
flag,  just  as  was  the  case  in  Italy.  They  were  not,  however,  com- 
pelled to  begin  by  fighting  for  a  constitution,  for  they  already 


FERDINAND  VII.— ABOLITION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION.      43 

had  one.  In  the  midst  of  the  war  against  the  French  the  Cen- 
tral Junta  had  convened  the  Cortes  at  Cadiz  ;  and  in  the  year  1812 
the  new  constitution,  the  same  one  which  met  with  so  much 
favor  in  Naples  and  Piedmont,  had  been  proclaimed  and  put  in 
force.  It  certainly  had  an  outspoken  democratic  character,  and 
any  sort  of  a  bargain  with  the  king,  who  returned  from  his  French 
captivity  in  1814,  was  precluded  by  the  provision  that  no  changes 
were  to  be  made  in  it  for  eight  years. 

Ferdinand  VII.  was  a  thoroughly  unprincipled  man ;  devoid  of 
all  higher  interests ;  an  adept  in  dissimulation  ;  distrustful  of  every 
one  who  showed  any  power,  even  of  his  favorites ;  cowardly  to 
servility  when  others  had  the  upper  hand ;  cruel  in  the  extreme 
when  he  could  play  the  master.  He  belonged  to  the  worst  class 
of  Bourbons.  He  trod  Spanish  soil  once  more  in  March,  1814, 
but  went  first  to  Valencia  instead  of  to  Madrid,  where  he  would 
have  had  to  come  at  once  to  an  understanding  with  the  Cortes. 
Not  merely  his  own  following,  like  the  gloomy  Don  Carlos,  his 
brother,  and  the  reactionary  Elio,  captain-general  of  Valencia,  but 
even  sixty-nine  members  of  the  Cortes,  counselled  him,  in  a  me- 
morial drawn  up  by  Rosales,  a  lawyer  (later  Marquis  of  Mataflori- 
da),  to  a  coup  d'etat.  Accordingly,  in  a  manifesto  of  May  4th,  1814, 
he  declared  the  constitution  of  1812  repealed  and  the  Cortes  dis- 
solved, and  promised  instead  a  cortes  regularly  assembled  after 
the  old  manner,  security  of  person  and  property,  and  freedom  of 
the  Press.  In  spite  of  these  promises,  the  members  of  the  re- 
gency, four  ministers,  several  members  of  the  Cortes,  and  other 
distinguished  men,  about  seventy  in  all,  were  arrested  by  General 
Eguia,  who  had  entered  Madrid  on  the  night  of  May  10th,  and 
were  later  sentenced  to  an  imprisonment  of  several  years  or  to 
banishment.  The  Atalaya,  a  clerical  sheet,  shamelessly  demand 
ed  "  the  gallows  without  right  or  sentence  "  for  the  liberals.  And 
what  opinion  was  the  king  justified  in  forming  of  the  disposition 
of  the  people  when,  three  days  later,  they  thronged  around  his 
carriage  in  Aranjuez,  and  even  drew  it  into  the  capital  ?  From 
whom  the  rejoicings  that  greeted  him  there  proceeded  was 
shrewdly  indicated  by  one  of  his  companions,  to  whom  the  king 
said :  "Do  you  see  how  the  people  cheer  me?  how  the  handker- 
chiefs wave  from  every  window?"  "Yes,"  was  the  answer;  "but 
few  cambric  ones." 

The  king  did  not  really  purpose  to  establish  even  the  old  cortes, 


44  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

which  would  have  surpassed  in  servility  the  chambers  of  nobles 
and  prelates  in  north  Germany.  He  was  completely  in  the  hands 
of  the  most  extreme  men  among  the  clergy  and  of  a  few  courtiers, 
some  of  whom  were  of  the  lowest  extraction  and  most  limited 
education.  These,  in  conjunction  with  some  ladies,  constituted 
the  Camarilla,  that  "government  of  ratets-de-chatnbre"  under 
which  Spain  was  condemned  to  sigh  both  before  and  after  Fer- 
dinand. It  was  from  such  an  atmosphere  that  the  restoration 
decrees  proceeded  which  introduced  the  strictest  censorship,  and 
the  exemption  of  nobles  and  clergy  from  taxation,  reinstated  the 
monastic  orders,  the  Jesuits,  and  the  inquisition  with  its  torture, 
and  took  back  for  the  Church,  without  compensation,  its  secular- 
ized property.  Even  men  like  Calvo  de  Rosas,  who  had  been 
among  the  most  heroic  defenders  of  Saragossa — generals  who  had 
performed  wonders  of  daring  in  the  war  for  freedom — were  cast 
into  prison.  Whoever  belonged  to  the  Constitutionalists  or  the 
Josefinos  (partisans  of  King  Joseph  Bonaparte),  was  not  sure  of 
his  life  for  an  instant  while  the  "Serviles"  triumphed.  This 
nauseous  rule  of  caprice  lasted  for  six  year*,  in  which  time  agri- 
culture and  other  industries  reached  such  an  ebb,  the  treasury  was 
so  empty,  that  beggary  and  robbery  throve  apace,  bare-footed  offi- 
cers begged  an  alms,  and  at  the  port  of  Ferrol  three  naval  officers 
died  of  starvation.  At  the  same  time,  this  senseless  hierarchy 
was  making  a  show  of  fitting  out  expeditions  to  reduce  the  re- 
volted South  American  colonies  to  their  old  bondage.  But  the 
monarchy,  which  in  the  sixteenth  century  ruled  the  seas,  had  no 
longer  a  fleet,  and  was  obliged  to  purchase  from  the  Emperor  of 
Russia,  from  whom  Ferdinand  expected  all  sorts  of  benefits,  a 
couple  of  rotten  ships  of  the  line.  In  the  opinion  of  the  English 
ambassador,  the  wretched  administration  of  the  finances,  under 
which  a  debt  of  about  825,000,000  (two  milliard  reals)  had  been 
incurred  in  five  years,  made  a  revolution  almost  a  necessity.  And 
yet  this  system  of  terrorism,  under  which  in  1816  there  were  al- 
ready more  than  50,000  political  prisoners,  still  continued. 

The  patriots  of  1812  could  no  longer  endure  in  patience  the 
pain  and  need  of  their  country,  and  their  rage  discharged  itself, 
in  the  years  1814  to  1819,  in  nine  attempts  at  revolution,  which, 
as  the  work  of  individuals  and  representing  little  force,  collapsed 
like  riots,  and  were  suppressed  with  small  trouble.  The  well- 
known  guerilla  leader,  Mina,  raised  the  standard  of  insurrection 


RAPHAEL  RIEGO  RAISES  THE  BANNER  OF  REVOLUTION.   45 

in  Parapeluna  in  1814,  but  was  forced  to  flee  to  France.  In  the 
following  year,  in  monkish  Galicia,  General  Diaz  Porlier  issued 
a  call  to  freedom,  and  expiated  his  act  upon  the  gallows.  In 
1816  War-commissioner  Richard  formed  a  plan  to  murder  the 
king,  was  betrayed,  tortured,  and  hung.  General  Lacy  headed  a 
rising  in  Catalonia  in  1817,  and  was  taken  and  shot  on  the  island 
of  Majorca.  Colonel  Vidal  originated  a  conspiracy  in  Valencia  at 
the  end  of  the  year  1818.  With  twelve  accomplices,  he  fell  into 
the  bands  of  the  blood-thirsty  Elio,  who  hung  some,  shot  others, 
and  tortured  to  death  a  woman  that  had  but  just  given  birth  to 
a  child. 

These  outbreaks  were  like  the  hydra's  heads.  As  often  as 
they  were  put  down  with  torrents  of  blood,  with  dungeons  and 
torture,  ''Vy  sprung  up  anew  through  the  efforts  of  the  free- 
masons, who  were  spread  over  the  whole  land.  A  favorable  field 
seemed  to  be  offered  at  Cadiz,  where  for  years  an  expeditionary 
corps  had  been  assembling  destined  for  Buenos  Ayres.  The  ha- 
tred toward  these  American  campaigns,  and  an  epidemic  which 
broke  out  among  the  men,  afforded  great  assistance  to  the  con- 
spirators. Count  Abisbal,  their  commander,  after  wavering  for 
some  time  between  the  role  of  a  rebel  and  that  of  a  traitor,  at 
length,  in  July,  1819,  assumed  the  latter,  and  arrested  his  own 
officers.  The  government  thought  it  necessary  to  ship  such  un- 
reliable troops  all  the  more  quickly.  The  command  to  embark 
came.  It  was  to  the  soldiers  as  if  "  they  were  consigned  to  death 
more  in  order  to  relieve  the  court  from  care  than  to  effect  the 
reconquest  of  America,  which  had  already  become  impossible." 
They  would  not  be  led  to  the  slaughter.  Among  those  who  were 
to  be  shipped  first  was  the  battalion  Asturias,  stationed  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Las  Cabezas  de  St.  Juan. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  New -year's -day,  1820, 
Raphael  Riego,  the  commander  of  this  battalion,  proclaimed  the 
constitution  of  1812  in  the  presence  of  his  soldiers;  then,  after 
capturing  the  new  commandant,  Count  Calderon,  and  his  whole 
head-quarters  by  a  sudden  move,  he  marched  on  Cadiz  with  four 
battalions.  Through  the  fault  of  the  less  energetic  Colonel  Qui- 
roga,  who  was  to  assume  the  command  of  the  "  national  army," 
the  attempt  to  surprise  this  important  city  miscarried.  The  num- 
bers of  the  insurgent  force  rose  to  5000.  By  the  precautions  of 
the  new  commandant,  Freire,  further  attempts  to  gain  possession 


46  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

of  Cadiz  were  frustrated,  and  so  the  impatient  Riego  determined 
to  revolutionize  Andalusia  with  1500  men.  Pursued  by  the  royal 
general,  Jose  O'Donnell,  received  with  indifference  by  the  people, 
and  gradually  deserted  by  his  soldiers,  he  was  forced  to  flee  into 
the. Sierra  Morena,  where  the  little  company  completely  disband- 
ed. In  Cadiz  the  case  of  the  insurgents  seemed  altogether  lost. 
Owing  to  the  shameful  treachery  of  General  Freire,  who  prom- 
ised the  citizens  the  proclamation  of  the  constitution  of  1812, 
and,  when  they  had  joyfully  assembled,  let  his  soldiers  loose 
among  them  to  hew  them  down,  the  hopes  of  the  constitutional- 
lets  had  sunk  to  a  low  point.  But  in  Madrid  almost  at  that  very 
moment  everything  was  already  won. 

On  the  news  of  Riego's  outbreak  the  insurrection  had  gone  the 
round  of  the  provinces.  General  Mina  came  back  from  France 
to  Navarre,  and  was  received  with  loud  rejoicings  by  the  soldiers. 
Nowhere  could  the  royal  generals  any  longer  count  upon  their 
troops.  In  Ocanna,  three  hours  from  Aranjuez,  Count  Abisbal 
called  upon  his  brother's  battalion  to  restore  the  constitution,  and 
set  himself  at  their  head.  As  soon  as  the  rebellion  reached  the 
neighborhood  of  the  capital,  the  government  completely  lost  its 
senses.  Madrid  was  in  a  state  of  violent  commotion.  Ferdinand 
thought  a  partial  surrender  would  suffice,  and  on  March  6th  prom- 
ised to  convene  the  old  cortes — the  same  promise  which  he  had 
made  May  4th,  1814,  and  not  kept.  His  throne,  perhaps  his  life, 
was  lost  if  he  did  not  yield  completely.  So  at  last,  on  March 
7th,  he  signified  his  intention  of  confirming  the  constitution  of 
1812.  On  the  9th  of  March  members  of  the  city  council  and 
resolute  leaders  of  the  people  made  their  way  into  his  palace, 
and  forced  him  to  take  the  oath.  Until  the  meeting  of  the  Cor- 
tes the  suspected  king  was  furnished  with  a  provisional  junta. 
This  body  at  once  abolished  the  Camarilla  and  the  inquisition, 
released  the  political  prisoners,  established  freedom  of  the  Press, 
caused  the  army  to  swear  fidelity  to  the  constitution,  and  so  took 
almost  the  whole  power  of  the  state  into  its  own  hands.  March 
12th  a  constitution-festival  took  place.  Processions,  illuminations, 
and  bull-fights  seemed  likely  to  have  no  end.  The  country  seemed 
mad  with  joy.  The  revolution  was  victorious.  The  council  of 
state,  the  ministry,  all  higher  offices  in  the  army  and  on  the 
bench,  were  filled  by  friends  of  the  constitution,  and  in  part  by 
men  who  were  brought  back  from  exile  or  out  of  prison.  Tho 


SALE  OF  MONASTIC  PROPERTY.  47 

Cortes  was  opened  by  the  king  on  July  9th,  and  he  then  publicly 
repeated  his  oath. 

In  a  land  where  the  highest  strata  of  society  were  scarcely 
affected  by  education,  and  where  the  common  people  were  still 
completely  in  the  leading-strings  of  the  priests,  the  Cortes  had  a 
difficult  position.  The  hardest  task  was  the  regulation  of  the 
finances,  e  pecially  since  the  peasants,  as  had  been  the  case  three 
centuries  earlier  in  Germany,  had  adopted  the  deluded  notion  that 
with  the  new  era  all  tithes  and  taxes  were  to  be  remitted.  No 
minister  of  finance  could  manage  without  inroads  upon  the  church 
domains ;  hence  several  monastic  orders,  among  others  the  Jesuits, 
were  abolished,  and  the  lands  of  the  suppressed  cloisters  declared 
state  lands,  and  offered  for  sale.  This  aroused  the  hostility  of 
the  clergy,  and  especially  of  the  bishops.  The  Pope  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  Jesuits  in  a  personal  letter  to  the  king,  and  the  latter 
refused  to  sanction  the  law  regarding  convents,  but  was  unable  to 
persist  in  his  refusal.  Soon  afterward  lie  was  forced  to  dismiss 
his  father-confessor,  to  declare  the  appointment  of  the  royalist 
General  Carvajal  as  commandant  of  Madrid  a  mistake,  and  to 
return  from  the  Escurial  to  Madrid.  On  the  way  he  was  stir- 
rounded  by  wild  crowds ;  and,  as  he  stood  upon  the  balcony  of 
his  palace,  they  raised  upon  their  hands  the  son  of  the  Lacy  who 
had  been  shot,  and  cried,  "  Long  live  the  avenger  of  bis  father !" 
The  k'ng  was  in  a  position  like  that  of  Louis  XVI.  after  his  pas- 
sage from  Versailles  to  Paris.  Full  of  rage  over  his  disgrace,  he 
turned  his  eyes  toward  foreign  help,  for  what  was  being  done  for 
him  in  Spain  was  by  no  means  sufficient  to  restore  his  absolute 
sceptre — neither  the  appearance  of  the  "  Army  of  Faith,"  under 
Merino,  a  parish  priest,  and  other  party  leaders;  nor  the  institu- 
tion of  a  "  regency  during  the  captivity  of  Ferdinand ;"  nor  yet 
the  revolt  of  the  guards,  who  attempted,  July  7th,  1822,  by  a  bold 
stroke,  to  set  up  again  the  absolute  monarchy,  but  were  defeated. 
It  had  been  hard  enough  for  the  king  to  place  at  the  head  of  a 
new  ministry  the  leader  of  the  Moderados,  the  eloquent  but  liter- 
ary, rather  than  practical,  Martinez  de  la  Rosa,  whom  the  Exal- 
tados  (radicals)  named  "Rosie,  the  pastry-cook."  But  now,  after 
the  unsuccessful  attempt  of  his  guards,  he  had  to  accept  an  Exal- 
tados  ministry,  receive  in  his  palace  the  originator  of  the  whole 
revolution,  Riego,  now  president  of  the  Cortes,  and  act  out  a  the- 
atrical reconciliation.  Thereupon  General  Elio,  in  Valencia,  was 


48  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

condemned  to  be  strangled — the  only  sacrifice  of  life  exacted  by 
the  revolution.  The  new  ministers  took  active  measures  against 
the  rebellion  on  the  Pyrenean  frontiers,  which  the  "Army  of 
Faith"  and  the  "  Regency,"  with  Marquis  Mataflorida  at  their 
head,  maintained,  and  sought  to  fan  into  a  counter  -  revolution. 
The  able  General  Mina  was  intrusted  with  the  chief  command. 
He  marched  with  the  constitutional  forces  to  Lerida,  in  Catalo- 
nia, proceeded  against  the  royalists  with  draconic  severity,  capt- 
ured the  fortress  of  Urgel,  where  the  "  Regency  "  held  its  court, 
and  chased  the  "  Regency  "  and  its  abettors  over  the  French  fron- 
tiers. So  this  pale  ray  of  hope  also  vanished  from  the  king's 
sight.  It  remained  to  be  seen  what  effect  the  letter  would  pro- 
duce which  he  had  written  to  King  Louis  XVIII.  of  France,  July 
22d,  1822,  to  solicit  his  armed  support. 

Louis  and  his  minister  Villele  thought  best  not  to  hurry  them- 
selves in  fulfilling  this  request.  Even  if  the  danger  from  a  con- 
flagration so  near  at  hand  was  uncomfortably  great,  and  if  a  war 
to  maintain  the  interests  of  legitimacy,  and  above  all  in  behalf  of 
a  Bourbon  king,  did  accord  very  well  with  their  system,  yet,  on 
the  other  hand,  they  considered  what  drains  upon  the  French 
treasury  this  war  would  cause,  and  how  by  that  means  the  revo- 
lution might  be  stifled  in  Spain  to  break  out  in  France.  The  fidel- 
ity of  the  soldiers  was  still  doubtful ;  in  consideration  of  the  part 
played  by  Spain  in  the  Napoleonic  war,  the  result  seemed  uncer- 
tain ;  and  hence  Villele  deemed  it  best  "  to  let  the  volcano  quiet- 
ly burn  out."  The  royalists  did  not  agree  with  him,  and  averred 
that  nothing  could  be  more  desirable  for  the  Bourbons  than  a 
war  in  order  to  attach  the  army  to  them,  and  to  show  that  vic- 
tory was  possible  without  Napoleon. 

According  to  the  agreement  entered  into  at  Laibach,  the  con- 
gress of  Verona  met  in  October,  1822.  The  mouarchs  of  the 
eastern  powers  and  of  Italy,  with  the  exception  of  the  Pope,  again 
appeared  in  person ;  France  was  represented  by  its  foreign  minis- 
ter, Matthew  Montmorency,  and  by  Viscount  Chateaubriand,  the 
well-known  author  and  legitimist.  The  political  negotiations,  the 
special  subject  of  which  was  Spain,  were  conducted  side  by  side 
with  "  Babylonish  festivities,"  after  the  manner  of  the  Vienna 
congress.  The  wishes  of  the  eastern  powers  and  of  Montmorency 
harmonized.  The  former  did  not  wish  to  let  France  interfere  for 
herself,  but  as  commissioned  by  the  Holy  Alliance ;  and  the  latter 


CHATEAUBRIAND'S  FANTASIES.  49 

wished  that  France  should  carry  on  the  war,  but  only  under  the 
firm  name  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  on  whose  material  assistance  it 
might  rely  in  case  of  need.  It  was  resolved  to  demand  of  the 
Spanish  government  in  an  identical  note  the  alteration  of  the  con- 
stitution in  the  direction  of  conservatism,  and  the  reinstatement 
of  the  king  in  his  rights.  In  case  this  was  rejected,  France  was 
to  march  into  Spain.  The  English  delegate,  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington, declared  that  his  government  would  never  consent  to  an 
armed  intervention.  England's  foreign  minister,  Canning,  even 
threatened  to  recognize  the  independence  of  the  South  American 
States  (the  former  Spanish  colonies) ;  but  all  his  representations 
were  treated  as  waste  paper  by  the  overbearing  congress. 

Louis,  not  very  well  pleased  with  the  warlike  longings  of  his 
minister,  recalled  "the  unlucky  Matthew,  who  is  always  making 
stupid  blunders,"  to  Paris,  dismissed  him,  and  made  Chateaubriand 
minister  of  foreign  affairs.  But  he,  too,  returned  with  martial 
ideas — converted  principally  by  the  Emperor  Alexander — and  went 
into  plans  and  fantasies  regarding  the  historical  conduct  of  hia 
office,  as  though  the  matter  in  hand  were  the  composition  of  an 
epic  poem.  "To  accomplish  in  six  months  what  Napoleon  could 
not  do  in  seven  years"  was  undoubtedly  an  aim  and  a  success  of 
which  none  but  a  poet  could  boast.  The  war  was  determined 
upon  ;  the  sending  of  French  notes  to  Madrid  was  only  a  formal- 
ity, and  in  the  speech  from  the  throne,  January  28th,  1823,  Louis 
announced  that  "  100,000  Frenchmen  stand  ready  to  maintain  a 
descendant  of  Henry  IV.  upon  the  Spanish  throne." 

The  Veronese  notes  of  the  three  eastern  powers  had,  in  the 
mean  time,  reached  Madrid,  and  raised  a  mighty  storm  of  indig- 
nation in  the  Cortes  and  on  the  streets.  Their  arrogant  language 
was  repaid  in  similar  coin ;  all  interference  was  resented,  and  the 
Russian  ambassador,  who,  with  the  others,  demanded  his  pass,  was 
informed  that  of  course  one  could  not  expect  from  a  "  Calmuck  " 
the  enlightenment  of  a  civilized  European.  At  the  same  time,  the 
ministers  were  fully  conscious  of  their  critical  position,  and  turned 
to  England  with  imploring  words,  and  to  France  with  peaceful 
ones.  Both  in  vain  !  In  the  one  case  matters  had  already  gone 
too  far,  in  the  other  there  was  no  intention  of  going  beyond  words 
or  engaging  in  a  war  with  the  whole  continent  on  Spain's  behalf. 
Deserted  by  all  the  powers,  even  by  its  former  defenders,  ham- 
pered by  embarrassed  finances,  the  Cortes  resolved  to  carry  on  a 

3 


50  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

guerilla  warfare  against  the  invading  French,  to  give  up  Madrid, 
and  transfer  the  government  to  Seville.  In  spite  of  all  opposition, 
in  spite  of  carefully  nursed  gout  confirmed  by  the  royal  physician, 
Ferdinand  was  obliged  to  depart  with  the  Cortes  on  March  20th, 
while  a  few  wild  fellows  already  cried,  "Death  to  the  king!" 

April  7th,  the  Duke  of  Angouleme,  who  was  accompanied  by 
several  generals  trained  in  Napoleon's  school,  crossed  the  border 
stream  Bidasoa  with  95,000  men,  21,000  of  whom  were  mounted. 
He  did  not  spare  his  gold  in  that  beggarly  country,  winning  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  by  bribery,  and  the  population  by  generous  pay- 
ment for  supplies.  He  despatched  General  Molitor  against  Bal- 
lesteros.  The  latter  had  been  detailed  to  protect  Aragon,  but 
could  not  prevent  Molitor  from  entering  Saragossa — whose  resist- 
ance to  Napoleon's  soldiers  has  become  world-renowned — on  April 
26th,  amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  population.  General  Moncey's 
part  was  to  drive  the  resolute  Mina  out  of  Catalonia.  The  duke 
himself  advanced  against  Madrid,  and  the  first  French  entered  the 
capital  May  23d.  Count  Abisbal,  who  had  been  intrusted  with 
the  defence  of  Madrid,  won  by  bribery,  sought  to  bring  over  citi- 
zens and  soldiers  to  the  French,  but  had  to  flee  before  the  com- 
mon execration.  A  regency  with  the  Duke  of  Infantado  at  its 
head  was  to  rule  the  country  on  absolute  principles  until  the  king 
was  freed ;  at  which  the  populace  manifested  its  pleasure  by  plun- 
dering the  houses  of  the  constitutionalists.  The  French  at  once 
set  out  in  forced  marches  for  Andalusia,  to  attack  Seville,  driving 
the  few  Spanish  troops  before  them.  They  reached  Seville  June 
21st.  There  the  Cortes  had  begun  its  sessions  April  23d,  and 
spent  the  time  until  June  1 3th  in  useless  discussions.  On  the  ap- 
proach of  the  French  they  retired  to  Cadiz,  carrying  the  unwill- 
ing king  with  them.  The  enemy  speedily  followed,  and  appeared 
before  Cadiz  on  the  23d.  In  the  northern  provinces  generals  Mo- 
rillo  and  Ballestcros  had  already  yielded.  Outside  of  Catalonia 
and  Cadiz  everything  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  Duke  of  Angouleme  an  assault  was  made,  and  Cadiz 
attacked  by  land  and  water.  The  contest  was  very  unequal.  The 
garrison  numbered  about  12,000  men,  whose  courage  and  fidelity 
were  somewhat  doubtful ;  the  defences  were  in  miserable  condi- 
tion, and  the  fleet  numbered  only  one  ship  of  the  line,  and  a  few 
gun-boats.  On  August  21st  the  peninsula  of  Trocadero,  command- 
ing the  entrance  to  the  inner  harbor,  was  taken  by  the  besiegers. 


SURRENDER  OF  CADIZ,  AND  SUBJUGATION   OF  ALL  SPAIN.   51 

On  this  occasion  the  quondam  Carbonaro-prwce,  Charles  Albert, 
of  Carignan,  casting  his  whole  past  overboard,  rendered  valuable 
assistance  to  the  French.  When,  on  September  20th,  Fort  St. 
Petri  and  the  Island  of  Leon  were  captured,  citizens  and  soldiers 
urged  surrender.  Negotiations  were  opened,  but  the  duke  per- 
sistently refused  to  treat  with  any  but  a  free  king.  In  order  to 
overcome  the  last  resistance,  4,000,000  francs  were  applied  to- 
ward bribing  prominent  persons.  The  Cortes  at  once  declared  it- 
self disbanded,  and  the  king  free.  To  give  the  king  opportunity 
for  a  new  breach  of  faith,  he  was  caused  to  sign  a  declaration  in 
which,  "  of  free-will  and  under  guarantee  of  the  royal  word,"  he 
promised  general  amnesty,  a  liberal  constitution,  and  recognition 
of  the  public  debt.  October  1st,  the  king  repaired  to  the  French 
camp  at  Puerto  St.  Maria.  Generals  Valdes  and  Alava  had  ac- 
companied him  in  a  small  boat  as  far  as  the  shore,  but,  in  spite 
of  all  his  entreaties  not  to  refuse  their  true  service  in  that  stormy 
time,  did  not  land  with  him.  Vexed  at  being  thus  foiled  of  his 
vengeance,  he  cried  after  them  from  the  shore :  "  Villains,  you 
are  lucky  in  escaping  me  !" 

After  the  surrender  of  Cadiz  the  other  fortified  places  were 
also  compelled  to  capitulate.  Barcelona,  in  Catalonia,  was  one  of 
the  last.  There  Mina  fought  for  the  honor  of  Spain  with  good 
success.  For  two  months,  with  but  few  troops,  he  held  in  check 
29,000  French  and  royalists  by  a  harassing  guerilla  warfare,  and 
then,  severely  wounded,  threw  himself  into  Barcelona.  There  he 
was  enclosed  by  land  and  sea.  He  held  out  for  four  months,  and 
on  November  1st  concluded  a  treaty  with  General  Moncey,  where- 
by the  honor,  freedom,  and  property  of  the  troops  and  citizens 
under  his  command  were  secured.  After  the  surrender  he  betook 
himself  to  England,  whither  several  generals  and  members  of  the 
Cortes  had  already  fled  from  Cadiz  and  other  places. 

The  Spanish  revolution  had  stood  its  fire  test  in  scarcely 
more  glorious  fashion  than  that  of  Naples.  It  had  afforded 
the  Duke  of  Angouleme  occasion  to  esteem  himself  one  of  the 
greatest  of  generals,  and  led  M.  de  Chateaubriand  to  consider 
himself  a  statesman  of  transcendent  ability.  Canning,  in  or- 
der to  explode  this  swindle,  reminded  them  that  all  acquainted 
with  the  facts  knew  Spain  to  be  a  "Western  Turkey."  What 
now  followed  marked  the  result  of  the  revolution  as  a  terrible 
one.  Nobles,  priests,  and  people  united  in  bringing  to  prison  and 


52  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECEXT   TIMES. 

the  scaffold  thousands  of  Negros  (constitutionalists).  In  Madrid, 
Saragossa,  and  Seville,  notwithstanding  the  terms  of  capitulation, 
they  were  plundered  and  imprisoned  under  the  very  eyes  of  the 
French.  Riego,  who  had  given  the  signal  of  revolution,  was  one 
of  the  earliest  victims.  He  had  left  Cadiz  in  August,  with  a 
couple  of  thousand  men,  in  order  to  break  the  communications 
of  the  French  with  Madrid,  and  force  them  to  retreat  by  threat- 
ening their  rear.  After  a  good  deal  of  inarching  and  counter- 
marching, his  forces  were  scattered  by  the  enemy,  and  he  himself 
captured  in  a  farm-house  and  handed  over  to  the  Spanish  authori- 
ties. He  was  conveyed  to  Madrid  with  dreadful  maltreatment ; 
there  he  was  loaded  with  chains,  and  cast  into  a  disgusting  dun- 
geon ;  and  November  7th,  already  half  dead,  he  was  dragged  to 
execution. 

The  first  decree  which  Ferdinand  signed  declared  all  the  meas- 
ures of  the  constitutional  government  null  (abolition  of  the  clois- 
ters and  tbft  inquisition,  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  sale  of  the 
church  lands,  etc.),  and  confirmed  all  the  foolish  measures  of  the 
reactionary  junta.  This  was  too  much  even  for  the  Duke  of  An- 
gouleme.  He  indicated  to  the  king  his  dissatisfaction,  and  hast- 
ened back  over  the  Pyrenees  to  celebrate  (December  2d)  a  pom- 
pous entrance  into  Paris.  But  the  occupation  of  Spain  by  the 
French  troops  lasted  five  years  longer.  It  was  expensive  glory. 
This  military  promenade  had  cost  France  200,000,000  francs — 
and  what  had  been  won  by  it?  Louis's  counsels  were  utterly  un- 
heeded ;  and  Chateaubriand,  who  had  hoped  to  give  the  Spaniards 
a  suitable  constitution,  already  wished  to  lend  himself  no  longer, 
as  an  accessory  of  "stupidity  and  fanaticism,"  to  a  king  whom 
he  named  "an  odious  prince,"  one  "who  only  swore  to  the  con- 
stitution to  betray  it,  who  is  capable  of  burning  up  his  kingdom 
in  a  cigar,"  whose  government  was  "bloody,  avaricious,  fanatical, 
an  effete  despotism,  a  complete  anarchy  of  administration."  This 
"absolute-absolute"  king,  as  the  Madrid  populace  named  him, 
made  his  persecuting  father-confessor,  Victor  Sanz,  prime-minister 
as  well  as  confessor,  caused  112  men  to  be  executed  as  conspira- 
tors within  three  weeks,  and  threatened  with  his  bloody  decrees 
all  who  were  not  subservient  to  his  despotism.  And  yet  he  could 
not  satisfy  the  "  Apostolics,"  who  saw  Spain's  salvation  in  the  un- 
controlled supremacy  of  the  Church,  monastioism,  and  the  inquisi- 
tion. He  was  condemned  to  see  the  society  of  "The  Destroying 


DON  CARLOS.— REPEAL   OF  THE   SALIC   LAW.— ISABELLA.   53 

Angel "  disseminating  a  patnplilet  on  "  the  necessity  of  raising 
the  Infant  Don  Carlos  to  the  throne."  In  1827  Catalonia  re- 
sounded with  the  cry:  "Long  live  Don  Carlos!  Long  livo  the 
monks  and  the  holy  inquisition !"  and  the  Apostolical  insurrec- 
tion was  only  suppressed  by  bloody  severity.  Don  Carlos,  the 
king's  eldest  brother,  was  the  hope  of  this  Apostolical  junta,  whose 
influence  was  felt  in  the  whole  land.  This  ignoramus  was  sure 
of  the  throne  in  the  event  of  the  king's  dying  childless.  The 
latter's  third  wife  died  in  1829,  and,  lover  of  woman  that  he  was, 
he  married  in  the  same  year  the  youthful  Maria  Christina,  daugh- 
ter of  Francis,  King  of  Naples.  Out  of  love  to  her,  he  repealed ' 
the  law  of  succession  introduced  by  the  Bourbon  Philip  V.  in 
17 13,  in  accordance  with  which  females  could  only  inherit  the 
throne  in  case  of  the  total  extinction  of  the  male  line.  By  a  de- 
cree of  March,  1830,  called  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  he  established 
the  old  Castilian  law,  by  which  the  daughters  and  granddaughters 
of  a  king  take  precedence  of  his  brothers  and  nephews.  This 
soon  had  a  practical  bearing;  for  on  the  10th  of  October,  1830, 
Maria  Christina  presented  her  husband  with  a  daughter,  Isabella, 
who  was  presently  declared  successor  to  the  throne  and  Princess 
of  Asturias,  and  January  30th,  1832,  with  a  second  daughter, 
Louisa.  Don  Carlos's  party,  the  Apostolics  and  absolutists,  was 
considerably  disconcerted;  what  they  had  thought  they  held  in 
their  hands  was  now  only  to  be  obtained  by  a  revolution.  But 
they  were  determined  upon  even  this.  King  Ferdinand  VII.  died 
September  29th,  1833.  His  three-year-old  daughter  Isabella  was 
at  once  proclaimed  queen,  nnd,  according  to  the  king's  testament, 
her  mother  assumed  the  regency.  Whether  she  would  or  not,  she 
had  to  rely  upon  the  liberals,  the  opposing  party  denying  the 
legality  of  the  abolition  of  the  Salic  law,  and  holding  firmly  to 
Carlos,  the  king  of  their  fancy.  He  had  already,  before  his  broth- 
er's death,  protested  against  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  and  with- 
drawn to  the  court  of  his  congenial  nephew,  Don  Miguel  of  Port- 
ugal. Spain's  future  was  clearly  marked  out.  A  new  civil  war 
stood  before  the  door ;  here  Carlos,  there  Christina,  was  the  bat- 
tle-cry. Under  the  party  names  of  Carlists  and  Christines,  two 
political  principles  were  once  more  arrayed  against  one  another  to 
wage  a  war  to  the  knife. 

It  remains  to  narrate  in  a  few  words  another  important  event 
that  falls  in  the  reifjn  of  Ferdinand — the  divorce  of  the  American 


54  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

colonies  from  the  mother  country,  Spain.  These  provinces  were 
Mexico  and  Central  America ;  and  in  South  America,  Venezuela, 
New  Granada,  Ecuador,  Peru,  Chili,  and  the  states  of  La  Plata 
(Buenos  Ayres,  Uruguay,  and  Paraguay) ;  in  all,  a  territory  of 
about  4,000,000  square  miles,  with  a  population  of  17,000,000 
souls.  Bound  to  Spain  for  three  centuries,  their  treatment  at 
the  last  was  almost  the  same  as  under  Philip  II.  and  his  Alva. 
Jesuits  and  the  inquisition  were  here  all-powerful  in  church  and 
school ;  trade,  which  with  the  magnificent  products  of  these  rich 
lands  might  have  reached  an  amazing  development,  was  crippled 
by  the  prohibition  to  import  any  but  Spanish  wares,  or  to  deliver 
their  own  produce  to  any  but  Spaniards.  Offices  in  Church  and 
State  could  be  held  only  by  Spaniards  born  in  the  mother  country, 
to  the  exclusion  of  those  born  in  the  colonies,  the  Creoles,  not  to 
speak  of  the  natives  and  half-breeds,  who  formed  the  greater  part 
of  the  population.  The  viceroys  and  captain-generals,  who  were 
sent  out  from  Spain  with  their  whole  swarm  of  superior  ?:nd  in- 
ferior officials,  indulged  in  such  deeds  of  violence  and  extortion 
as  one  reads  of  in  the  times  of  the  Romish  proconsuls.  Napo- 
leon's summons  to  recognize  the  government  of  his  brother  Jo- 
seph met  with  as  little  response  in  the  colonies  as  in  Spain.  Jun- 
tas were  formed  everywhere,  which  governed  in  Ferdinand's  name. 
In  this  way  the  provinces  learned  the  possibility  and  expediency 
of  self-government.  To  bring  them  again  tinder  the  old  yoke 
was  an  impossibility.  Spain  must  either  grant  the  colonies  equal 
rights  with  the  mother  country,  similar  representation  in  the 
Cortes,  and  freedom  of  trade,  or,  in  her  financial  and  naval  impo- 
tence, must  be  ready  at  any  moment  to  have  them  torn  from  her. 
Neither  the  liberal  Cortes  of  1812  nor  the  restored  Ferdinand 
acquiesced  in  these  claims  of  the  colonies,  and  so  the  second  al- 
ternative happened. 

In  Mexico,  as  early  as  1810,  the  priest  Hidalgo  and  others  had 
gathered  bands  of  insurgents  against  the  Spaniards.  The  inde- 
pendence of  the  country  was  proclaimed  in  1821  by  Iturbide,  a 
descendant  of  the  old  imperial  house  of  Mexico;  and  in  1822, 
since  Ferdinand  would  not  accept  the  throne  of  the  Mexican  em- 
pire, its  complete  separation  from  Spain  was  pronounced,  and 
Iturbide  assumed  the  throne  under  the  title  of  Emperor  Augus- 
tine I.  A  republican  rising  overthrew  him,  and  Santa  Anna  pro- 
claimed the  republic  at  Vera  Cruz  in  1823.  Iturbide  had  to  flee 


INDEPENDENCE   OF   THE   SPANISH   COLONIES.— ENGLAND.   55 

to  Europe,  and  on  his  return  in  1824  he  was  shot.  Guatemala 
also  acquired  its  independence  in  1821,  and  founded  the  federal 
republic  of  Central  America.  The  liberation  of  north-western 
South  America,  where  outbreaks  had  occurred  as  early  as  1810, 
is  chiefly  connected  with  the  name  of  a  rich  Venezuelan  Creole, 
Bolivar,  who  had  acquired  an  education  by  a  long  residence  in 
Europe.  After  varying  fortunes  of  war,  Venezuela  and  New  Gra- 
nada were  united  in  1819;  to  them  Ecuador  joined  herself  in 
1822,  and  these  three  constituted  the  Republic  of  Colombia.  In 
Buenos  Ayres  the  Spanish  viceroy  was  deposed  in  1810,  and  in 
1819  the  Argentine  Republic  (United  States  of  La  Plata)  was 
founded.  The  neighboring  states  of  Paraguay  (for  a  long  time 
a  pattern  Jesuit  state)  and  Uruguay  became  independent  repub- 
lics; the  latter,  however,  not  until  1829,  after  an  intervening 
period  of  Brazilian  rule.  The  revolution  in  Chili,  which  had  be- 
gun in  1810,  was  assisted  from  Buenos  Ayres  by  the  sending  of 
General  San  Martin.  In  1818  Chili  became  independent,  and 
adopted  a  republican  constitution.  The  struggle  in  Peru  was  the 
longest.  There,  in  spite  of  the  help  of  the  Argentine  general,  San 
Martin,  and  the  Chilian  admiral,  Cochrane  (an  Englishman),  the 
land  was  not  finally  freed  before  the  energetic  interposition  of  Bol- 
ivar, and  the  battle  of  Ayacucho,  in  1824.  Then  the  republic  was 
proclaimed,  and  the  emancipation  of  all  South  America  had  been 
effected. 

What  had  failed  in  Spain  had  been  accomplished  in  the  col- 
onies; and  what  the  Holy  Alliance  had  successfully  attempted  in 
Spain  was,  to  their  regret,  impossible  on  the  other  side  of  the 
ocean.  The  three  eastern  powers,  who  believed  themselves  in- 
trusted with  the  suppression  of  rebellion  in  the  whole  world, 
wished,  after  the  restoration  of  Spanish  absolutism,  to  bring  back 
South  America  also  into  the  old  track.  This  was  scarcely  practi- 
cable without  the  co-operation  of  England,  as  the  greatest  mari- 
time power  of  Europe.  But  England's  trade  derived  great  ad- 
vantage from  the  independence  of  these  states ;  hence  it  was  de- 
termined not  to  see  its  protest  treated  as  waste-paper  this  time, 
and  announced  that  it  would  oppose  with  its  whole  power  any 
interference  with  the  Spanish  colonies.  France  would  have  liked 
to  establish  Bourbon  kingdoms  there — as  in  our  days  she  sought 
to  make  Mexico  a  vassal  empire — a  plan  which  foundered  on  the 
jealousy  of  the  other  powers.  "  In  order  to  maintain  the  mo- 


56  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

narchical  principle,  and  to  avoid  a  great  scandal,"  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance made  England  the  most  advantageous  propositions  with  re- 
gard to  its  trade  interests,  in  case  it  would  itself  undertake  the 
intervention.  Bat  Canning,  as  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  had  his 
own  way,  and  on  January  1st,  1825,  the  English  ministry  recog- 
nized the  independence  of  the  Spanish  colonies  in  South  America. 
The  Holy  Alliance  was  richly  indemnified  for  this  failure  in 
another  country.  In  Portugal,  as  well  as  in  Spain,  the  aspirations 
after  freedom  had  to  stand  the  test  of  a  bloody  war  with  absolut- 
ism. The  royal  family  bad  fled  to  Brazil  in  1807  upon  the  occu- 
pation of  the  land  by  Marshal  Junot  at  Napoleon's  command. 
Upon  the  overthrow  of  the  latter,  although  a  regency  had  been 
set  up,  all  the  power  was  in  the  hands  of  the  English  general, 
Beresford,  who  had  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  the  Pyrenean 
war.  As  cominander-in-chief  of  the  Portuguese  army,  he  made 
himself  much  hated.  The  military  budget  consumed  two-thirds 
of  the  revenue,  and  one-third  of  the  officers  were  English.  This, 
added  to  his  proud,  arbitrary  ways,  irritated  the  national  feelings 
too  much.  Since  the  eighteenth  century  England  had  been  ac- 
customed to  regard  Portugal  as  her  trade  domain,  and  to  enrich 
herself  from  the  people — intellectually  and  industrially  degener- 
ated through  the  unlimited  sovereignty  of  the  Jesuits  and  the 
wealth  which  the  East  Indies  and  Brazil  had  poured  into  the 
country — as  though  Portugal  were  an  English  province.  The 
hatefulness  of  this  foreign  rule  was  still  further  increased  by  the 
military  dictatorship  of  Beresford.  To  these  causes  of  discon- 
tent must  be  added  the  relations  of  the  Portuguese  to  their  sov- 
ereign. After  the  death  of  the  insane  Queen  Maria  in  1816,  the 
prince  regent,  her  son,  ascended  the  throne  of  Portugal  and  Brazil 
as  John  VI.  While  people  and  army  wished  the  royal  family  to 
return  once  more  to  Portugal  and  rule  the  colony  of  Brazil  from 
Lisbon,  the  court  had  quite  an  opposite  inclination.  The  king 
invited  the  leading  members  of  the  nobility  and  the  richest  n;or- 
chants  to  emigrate  to  Brazil,  and  wished  to  draw  money  and 
troops  from  the  mother  country  for  the  subjugation  of  Uruguay. 
All  of  these  circumstances  brought  about  in  1817  a  military  con- 
spiracy, which  cost  the  gallant  General  Frcire  and  eleven  of  his  • 
comrades  their  lives.  Hence  the  hatred  against  Beresford  grew 
still  more  intense,  and  when  the  conflagration  of  the  Spanish  rev- 
olution cast  its  sparks  into  neighboring  countries,  he  determined 


INSURRECTIONS.— KING  JOHN   IN   LISBON.  57 

on  a  journey  to  Brazil,  in  order  to  consult  personally  with  the 
king  respecting  the  measures  to  be  adopted.  Four  months  after 
his  departure,  Aug«st  24th,  1820,  the  city  of  Oporto  rose,  and 
formed  a  provisional  supreme  junta,  which  was  to  rule  in  the 
king's  name  until  the  Cortes  was  convened.  The  agitation  spread 
over  the  whole  country,  which,  like  Spain,  was  full  of  freemasons. 
Lisbon  joined  in  the  movement.  The  regency  was  deposed,  and 
the  two  juntas  of  Lisbon  and  Oporto  united  and  convoked  the 
Cortes,  in  order,  on  the  basis  of  the  Spanish  constitution,  to  frame 
a  constitution  adapted  to  Portuguese  circumstances.  In  the  mean 
time  Lord  Beresford  had  returned  from  Brazil,  but,  not  daring  to 
enter  the  harbor  of  Lisbon,  had  returned  to  England. 

King  John,  a  well-disposed  man,  readily  adapted  himself  to  this 
turn  of  affairs,  and  promised  to  return  to  Europe  in  case  the  res- 
olutions of  the  Cortes  harmonized  with  his  interests.  But  the 
waves  of  the  Portuguese  reaction  made  themselves  felt  even  in 
Brazil.  In  Rio  Janeiro  a  junta  was  formed ;  the  Portuguese  con- 
stitution, although  not  yet  completed,  was  sworn  to,  and  the  king, 
urged  thereto  by  the  army  and  by  his  ambitious  son,  Don  Pedro, 
had  to  leave  the  latter  behind  in  Brazil  as  viceroy,  while  he  em- 
barked with  the  rest  of  his  family  for  Lisbon.  He  reached  that 
city  July  3d,  1821,  but  was  not  allowed  to  disembark  until  he 
had  signed  the  preliminary  draught  of  the  decidedly  democratic 
constitution.  He  swore  to  the  constitution  October  1st,  1822, 
when  it  was  completed,  compelled  his  second  son,  Don  Miguel,  to 
do  the  same,  and  made  a  like  demand  upon  Don  Pedro.  From 
his  wife,  Queen  Carlotta,  he  met  with  the  most  determined  oppo- 
sition. She  was  a  sister  of  the  King  of  Spain,  dissolute  and  eager 
for  power,  and  she  left  nothing  untried  in  order  to  undermine  the 
new  constitutional  system.  This  had,  furthermore,  bitter  oppo- 
nents in  the  clergy,  and  no  hold  upon  the  ignorant  populace. 
Her  house  was  the  meeting-place  of  the  "  Cringers,"  as  the  reac- 
tionists were  then  called.  She  had  an  obedient  tool  in  her  con- 
genial son,  Don  Miguel,  whom  she  initiated  into  all  her  plans. 
Upon  her  refusal  to  take  the  oath,  she  was  banished  from  the 
country,  but,  as  she  represented  herself  to  be  sick,  she  was  placed 
temporarily  under  surveillance  in  the  pleasure  palace  of  Ramalhao. 
She  did  not,  however,  abandon  her  plans,  and  the  French  interven- 
tion in  Spain  gave  her  a  wished-for  opportunity  of  carrying  them 
out.  The  counter-revolution  which  was  attempted  by  Count 

3* 


58  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

Amarante  did  not  succeed;  but  in  May,  1823,  Don  Miguel 
brought  the  greater  part  of  the  Lisbon  garrison  over  to  his  side, 
compelled  the  Cortes  under  protest  to  disband  and  flee  to  Eng- 
land, and  caused  his  father  to  hold  an  entrance  into  Lisbon,  amid 
popular  cries,  "  Down  with  the  constitution  !  Long  live  the  abso- 
lute king!"  The  constitution  was  abolished,  Queen  Carlotta 
brought  back,  and  Don  Miguel  appointed  Commander-in-chief  of 
the  army.  But  since  John  did  not  subscribe  to  the  absolute  sys- 
tem of  his  spouse,  and  surrounded  himself  with  persons  who  be- 
longed in  no  way  to  her  coterie,  like  Count  Palmella,  Count  Sub- 
serra,  and  the  Marquis  of  Louie,  the  last-named  was  murdered  in 
one  of  the  royal  antechambers;  and  when  this  hint  was  not  at- 
tended to,  a  plan  was  formed  to  compel  John  to  abdicate  by 
means  of  a  palace  revolution,  and  to  put  Don  Miguel  in  his  place. 
April  30th,  1824,  the  latter  set  himself  at  the  head  of  the  troops, 
took  possession  of  the  palace,  made  his  father  prisoner,  and,  as  a 
preliminary  measure,  forced  absolutist  ministers  upon  him.  The 
English  ambassador  and  his  colleagues,  as  well  as  a  few  of  the  of- 
ficers, protested  against  this  coup  d'etat.  John  fled  to  an  English 
ship,  and  communicated  to  his  people  the  whole  state  of  the  case. 
The  coup  had  miscarried.  The  unsuccessful  Don  Miguel  had  to 
beg  his  father's  forgiveness,  and  was  banished  to  Vienna.  Car- 
lotta again  rescued  herself  by  an  attack  of  sickness,  and  was 
placed  under  state  surveillance. 

Soon  afterward  the  relations  between  Portugal  and  Brazil  were 
regulated.  The  English  trade  interests  and  the  wishes  of  the 
Brazilians  demanded  the  severance  of  Brazil  from  Portugal.  A 
treaty,  concluded  under  English  good  offices,  was  ratified  Novem- 
ber 15th,  1825,  in  accordance  with  which  King  John  declared  Bra- 
zil independent,  and  recognized  his  son  Don  Pedro  as  emperor  of 
that  country,  retaining  for  himself,  also,  the  title  during  his  life- 
time. In  a  secret  article  it  was  ordained  that  the  two  crowns 
should  never  be  united  upon  one  head. 

The  death  of  John,  which  took  place  on  the  10th  of  March, 
1826,  gave  rise  to  new  disturbances.  He  had  settled  nothing  with 
regard  to  the  succession,  but  had  named  his  daughter,  the  Infanta 
Isabella  Maria,  regent.  She  held  with  the  constitutional  party, 
and  with  it  recognized  Don  Pedro  as  King  of  Portugal,  while  the 
absolutist  party  sought  to  place  Don  Miguel  on  the  throne.  Ac- 
cording to  the  above-mentioned  secret  article,  Don  Pedro  could 


DON   MIGUEL,  KING   AND   TYRANT   OF  PORTUGAL.         59 

not  accept  the  throne.  However,  he  proclaimed  his  seven-year- 
old  daughter,  Maria  da  Gloria,  Queen  of  Portugal,  gave  the  coun- 
try a  liberal  constitution,  and  made  his  brother,  Don  Miguel,  his 
lieutenant.  Don  Miguel  was  to  rule  in  accordance  with  the  con- 
stitution, and  was  designated  as  the  future  husband  of  Maria  II. 
The  new  constitution  was  proclaimed  and  put  in  operation  in  Lis- 
bon by  the  regent  Isabella,  and  sworn  to  in  Vienna  by  Don  Mi- 
guel. At  the  same  time  Don  Miguel's  betrothal  with  his  niece 
took  place.  The  old  champions  of  the  reaction — the  Amarantes 
and  Abrantes — immediately  took  up  arms.  They  received  all  pos- 
sible support  from  the  Apostolic  junta  in  Spain,  and  made  several 
inroads  into  Portugal,  but  were  driven  back  by  generals  Saldanha 
and  Villaflor,  in  part  with  English  assistance.  Canning,  to  whom 
the  hard-pressed  Portuguese  government  had  turned,  influenced 
the  English  cabinet  to  send  ten  ships  of  war  and  twelve  regi- 
ments, under  General  Clinton,  to  Portugal,  and  to  frighten  Spain 
off  from  further  hostilities  by  a  threatening  communication. 

Don  Pedro  had  to  pay  dearly  for  the  incomprehensible  short- 
sightedness which  he  had  shown  regarding  his  brother.  This 
"Lisbon  Gutedel"  as  he  was  called  in  Vienna,  was  an  ignorant, 
hypocritical  man,  but  enjoyed  the  protection  of  Metternich,  who 
confirmed  him  in  his  intention  to  overthrow  the  constitution,  all 
oaths  to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding,  and  make  himself  absolute 
King  of  Portugal.  Not  alone  to  the  people,  but  even  to  kings, 
did  Metternich  deny  the  right  of  framing  a  constitution.  He 
found  the  Portuguese  prince  full  of  "  noble  sentiments,"  and 
affirmed  that  "  the  instruction  received  in  Vienna  had  had  the 
best  possible  effect."  Before  his  departure  Don  Miguel  made  a 
pilgrimage  to  Mariazell,  in  order  to  strengthen  himself  for  the 
bloody  work  before  him,  and  boastfully  named  himself  "  the  arch- 
angel Michael,  who  shall  bring  the  liberals  to  judgment  with  his 
trumpet."  At  his  landing  in  Lisbon,  February  22d,  1828,  he  was 
greeted  as  king  by  the  excited  populace.  February  24th  he  took 
the  oath  of  fidelity  to  their  majesties,  Don  Pedro  and  Donna  Ma- 
ria, before  the  Cortes,  yet  in  such  wise  that  no  one  heard  anything. 
His  mother  again  acquired  complete  control  over  him.  It  was 
said  that  she  forced  him  to  each  crime  —  when  he  needed  any 
spur  thereto — by  threatening  to  reveal  the  secret  that  he  was  not 
the  king's  son,  but  the  son  of  one  of  her  favorites.  All  the  con- 
stitutionalists were  deprived  of  their  offices,  and  a  ministry  of 


60  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

"Cringers"  formed;  the  Cortes  was  dissolved;  the  followers  of 
Don  Pedro  were  branded  as  freemasons;  the  old  Estates  of  the 
kingdom  were  convoked,  and  by  these  Don  Miguel  was  declared 
king  on  the  26th  of  June.  A  military  insurrection,  having  its 
origin  in  Oporto,  had  no  results,  owing  to  the  lack  of  a  good 
leader,  and  to  the  determined  course  of  the  usurper.  Those  who 
could  fled  to  England.  A  terrible  judgment  fell  upon  those  who 
remained  behind.  In  the  course  of  a  month  about  16,000  per- 
sons were  apprehended,  and  those  16,000  were  precisely  from  the 
better  classes.  The  property  of  those  who  were  arrested  and  of 
those  who  had  fled  was  confiscated.  The  prisons  were  not  large 
enough  to  contain  all  the  prisoners.  Don  Miguel  was  asked  what 
should  be  done.  "  Kill  them  !  kill  them  !  Send  the  rest  to  Af- 
rica !  I  need  room  for  still  more  criminals !"  was  the  answer. 

The  English  troops  were  very  burdensome  to  him.  The  con- 
stitutionalists and  the  English  merchants  resident  in  Portugal 
earnestly  besought  the  English  ministry  not  to  withdraw  them. 
Canning,  however,  stood  no  longer  at  the  helm  ;  and  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  who  in  general  sympathized  with  the  principles 
of  the  Holy  Alliance,  refused  the  request.  At  their  departure 
Don  Miguel  said  to  General  Clinton,  who  had  invited  him  to  at- 
tend a  review  before  the  embarkation  of  the  troops,  "You  and 
your  soldiers  may  go  to  the  devil !"  The  change  in  Englandls 
policy  was  shown  in  other  ways  also.  Don  Pedro,  who,  not 
supported  by  the  Brazilians,  had  to  stand  by  and  look  on  quiet- 
ly at  this  whole  usurpation,  had  sent  his  daughter,  the  young 
queen,  to  Europe  in  July,  1828.  Marquis  Barbacena,  to  whose 
care  she  had  been  intrusted,  learned  in  Gibraltar  of  the  usurpa- 
tion of  the  throne  by  Miguel,  and  conducted  Maria,  not  to  Vien- 
na, as  had  been  arranged,  but  to  England.  There  she  was  recog- 
nized as  queen,  but  not  treated  as  such.  Her  ambassadors  were 
not  received,  nor  were  the  3000  refugees  allowed  to  be  transport- 
ed to  Terceira,  in  the  Azores,  where,  under  the  command  of  the 
brave  Cabreira,  the  attempts  of  the  Miguelists  to  gain  possession 
of  the  island  had  been  repulsed.  Nevertheless,  3000  men  gradu- 
ally assembled  there  under  General  Villaflor.  Terceira  was  the 
point  of  gathering  for  the  Pedrists,  and  the  base  of  operations 
for  their  assaults  upon  the  tyrant;  and  in  1831  they  gained  pos- 
session of  the  other  islands  of  the  Azores  group. 

Queen  Maria  returned  to  Brazil  in  1829.     In  1830  Don  Pedro 


DON  MIGUEL  OVERTHROWN.  61 

fell  out  with  the  liberal  party,  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  six-year- 
old  son,  and  embarked  for  Europe  with  his  wife  and  daughter. 
He  repaired  to  Paris  and  London,  and  was  well  received  in  both 
places,  since  Miguel  had  finally  exhausted  the  forbearance  of  the 
French  and  English  governments  by  his  shameful  treatment  of 
their  subjects.  Yet  the  Prussian  Staatszeitung  wrote  that  he  was 
"  by  no  means  so  bad."  A  loan  was  negotiated,  ships  and  troops 
equipped,  and,  June  7th,  1832,  a  fleet  with  12,000  land -troops 
from  Terceira  arrived  at  Oporto,  and  Don  Pedro  took  possession 
of  the  city.  All  Miguel's  efforts  to  retake  it  were  fruitless  ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  Pedro  did  not  find  in  the  country  at  large 
the  support  he  had  hoped  for.  Then  an  experienced  English 
captain,  Charles  Napier,  entered  his  service,  and  undertook,  with 
General  Villaflor  (who  had  been  created  Duke  of  Terceira),  an  ex- 
pedition against  Algarvia,  the  most  southern  part  of  Portugal. 
Miguel's  fleet  was  defeated,  and  the  people  called  to  arms.  The 
two  generals  moved  on  Lisbon — Napier  by  sea,  and  Villaflor  by 
land.  "Miguel's  forces  were  compelled  to  retreat,  and  they  en- 
tered the  capital  July  24th,  1833,  amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  in- 
habitants, who  had  already  opened  the  prisons,  and  proclaimed 
Donna  Maria  queen.  Don  Pedro  held  his  entry  into  Lisbon,  and 
brought  his  wife  and  daughter  thither.  An  attack  by  Miguel's 
army,  under  General  Bourmont,  a  Frenchman,  was  repulsed.  Mi- 
guel took  np  a  strong  position  at  Santarem,  north  of  Lisbon.  The 
Spanish  general,  Rodil,  marched  into  Portugal  in  consequence  of 
the  quadruple  alliance  concluded  between  England,  France,  Maria 
Christina  of  Spain,  and  Pedro,  for  the  expulsion  of  both  pretend- 
ers— Don  Carlos  and  Don  Miguel — and  Miguel  was  again  defeated. 
May  26th,  1834,  he  signed  the  treaty  of  Evora,  whereby  he  relin- 
quished all  claims  upon  the  Portuguese  crown,  and  promised  to 
leave  the  land,  and  never  enter  it  again.  Scarcely  arrived  in  Italy, 
he  revoked  the  treaty,  and  thereby  lost  the  yearly  income  of 
375,000  francs  which  had  been  settled  upon  him.  After  various 
wanderings  in  Italy  and  England,  he  finally  settled  down  in  Ger- 
many, and  married  the  Princess  Lowenstein-Wertbeim-Rosenberg. 
He  died,  November  14th,  1866,  in  Klein -Henbach,  in  Bavarian 
Franconia. 

Don  Pedro  restored  the  constitution  he  had  formerly  granted. 
He  opened  the  Cortes  August  15th,  1834,  and  was  by  it  named 
regent  until  his  daughter  should  attain  her  majority.  All  mo- 


62  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

nastic  orders  and  cloisters  were  abolished,  and  their  estates  ap- 
propriated by  the  State ;  confiscated  property  was  restored,  and 
deprived  officials  reinstated.  He  died  in  the  same  year  (1834), 
after  declaring  his  daughter  Donna  Maria  of  age  in  the  event  of 
his  death.  The  fifteen-year-old  queen  married  Prince  August,  of 
Leuchtenberg,  in  January,  1835,  and,  as  he  died  in  March  of  the 
same  year,  she  took  Prince  Ferdinand  of  Coburg  as  her  husband 
in  April,  1836 ;  and  his  son  to-day  holds  the  throne  of  Portugal. 


GREAT    BRITAIN. 

No  land  offered  the  Holy  Alliance  such  an  unfavorable  rest  for 
its  lever  as  England.  Here  was  no  dynasty  to  rescue,  for  it  sat 
comfortably  upon  its  throne — no  constitution  to  repeal ;  for  that 
would  have  been  impossible,  even  for  a  political  Hercules,  after 
the  land  had  grown  up  for  centuries  with  parliament  and  consti- 
tution— no  revolution  to  crush  ;  for  although  occasional  outbreaks 
occurred,  yet  the  spirit  of  law  was  too  strong  among  all  classes, 
the  means  of  advancing,  spite  of  nobility  and  clergy,  still  farther 
along  the  way  of  reform  toward  the  freedom  before  them,  and 
giving  this  aristocratic  republic  with  a  crown  in  its  escutcheon 
constantly  more  of  a  democratic  character,  too  simple  and  numer- 
ous for  the  people  to  wish  to  tread  the  doubtful  path  of  revolu- 
tion. England  had  come  out  of  a  twenty  years'  war,  unshaken, 
comparatively  almost  without  loss.  As  formerly,  so  now  the  ban- 
ner of  the  great  Orange,  the  banner  of  1688,  still  waved,  its  mot- 
to :  The  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties  of  England.  Par- 
liament still  ruled ;  the  Press  was  free ;  and  the  hegemony  at  sea, 
after  the  annihilation  of  all  the  larger  fleets,  had  been  carried  to  a 
point  never  reached  before.  The  injury  which  Napoleon's  em- 
bargo had  done  them  they  had  made  good  by  the  seizure  of  the 
French  colonies.  The  repossession  of  Hanover,  with  the  addition 
of  Heligoland,  assured  them  the  control  of  the  North  Sea ;  Gib- 
raltar, Malta,  and  the  Ionic  islands  were  their  citadels  in  the  Med- 
iterranean. 

But  the  national  debt  had  reached  in  1815  the  monstrous 


POLITICAL   CONDITIONS  IN   ENGLAND.  63 

smn  uf  £814,000,000,  and  the  annual  expenditures  amounted  to 
,£114,000,000.  The  consequence  of  such  high  figures  was  an  un- 
usually high  taxation.  This  was  so  distributed  by  the  legislators 
that  the  middle  and  lower  classes  had  relatively  the  most  to  pay. 
Their  burden  was  in  any  case  heavy  enough,  since  the  price  of  the 
most  necessary  of  all  things,  bread,  had  been  largely  increased  by 
the  hard-heartedness  and  avarice  of  the  great  landholders,  the  no- 
bility. They  had  carried  through  a  law  by  which  the  importa- 
tion of  corn  and  breadstuffs  was  either  forbidden,  or  loaded  with 
very  heavy  duties.  Hence  the  disagreement  between  rich  and 
poor  assumed  continually  increasing  dimensions,  and  clearly  dis- 
played itself  both  in  agriculture  and  manufacturing.  Almost  all 
real  estate  was  in  the  hands  of  a  few  families,  who  farmed  out 
their  latifundice  in  smaller  parcels,  and  left  the  man  without  means 
no  other  choice  than  to  become  a  day -laborer  or  a  factory  hand. 
And  yet,  in  spite  of  the  increase  of  great  factories,  which  gradual- 
ly wholly  drove  out  the  smaller  establishments,  labor  was  not  so 
much  in  demand,  and  not  so  well  paid,  since  everywhere,  even  in 
agriculture,  the  ever-encroaching  machine  had  made  many  hands 
superfluous.  This  was  a  very  serious  shadow*side — that  the  free 
Englishman  who  owned  no  pedigree  and  no  property  had  a  posi- 
tion scarcely  better  than  that  of  the  Plebeians  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Roman  republic. 

This  comparison  wins  still  greater  force  when  the  most  impor- 
tant mechanism  in  the  state  machine,  Parliament  itself,  is  taken 
into  account.  Of  the  two  houses,  the  upper  one  was  exclusively 
a  province  of  the  highest  aristocracy,  and  in  the  lower  house,  also, 
the  aristocracy  had  a  preponderating  influence.  This  was  partly 
owing  to  the  thoroughly  untenable  system  in  accordance  with 
which,  thanks  to  historical  right,  old  rotten  boroughs  that  had 
scarcely  a  dozen  voters  possessed  the  right  to  send  up  a  mem- 
ber of  the  lower  house,  while  manufacturing  cities  of  more  than 
100,000  inhabitants  had  no  representation  :  partly,  it  was  due  to 
the  high  property  qualification  for  the  suffrage,  which  placed  it 
beyond  the  reach  of  most  men ;  partly,  the  shameless  corruption 
by  which  the  nobles  generally  made  the  poor  voters  of  these  little 
boroughs  theirs  was  responsible.  Complaints  of  the  corn-law,  or 
the  high  taxes,  always  found  in  their  way  the  aristocracy  which 
ruled  England  and  made  its  laws.  So  long  as  no  change  was  ef- 
fected here,  there  could  be  no  talk  of  improving  permanently  the 


64  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

position  of  the  people.  The  opposition  formed,  it  is  true,  a  re- 
spectable phalanx  in  every  Parliament,  but  its  fundamental  prin- 
ciples were  none  other  than  those  of  the  majority  and  the  minis- 
ters, and  the  struggle  turned  principally  upon  the  application  of 
the  admitted  maxim  :  "  Make  way,  and  let  me  there."  This  was 
of  slight  service  to  the  people.  The  cry  for  parliamentary  re- 
form, universal  suffrage,  secret  ballot,  abolition  of  sinecures,  be- 
came constantly  more  pressing.  Either  the  cry  must  be  heeded, 
or  a  revolution  would  be  kindled  which  would  sweep  away  the 
privileges  of  the  nobles,  as  in  1789  in  France.  Fortunately  the 
English  aristocracy  was  not  blind.  It  was  itself  so  leavened  by 
free  ideas,  so  enthusiastic  for  the  greatness  of  the  country,  that  a 
pilot  was  always  found  to  guide  the  threatened  ship  of  state,  with 
the  help  of  high  aristocratic  hands,  into  safe  waters. 

Lord  Liverpool  had  stood  at  the  head  of  the  ministry  since 
1812.  He  was  the  bearer  of  an  honored  name,  although  not  a 
man  of  remarkable  parts.  The  life  of  the  cabinet  was  Lord  Cas- 
tlercagh,  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  England's  Metternich,  who 
wished  as  far  as  possible  to  introduce  the  reactionary  system  of 
the  Continent  into  England  also.  He  was  haughty  and  imperious, 
so  little  loved  by  the  people  that  his  burial  was  celebrated  as  a 
feast.  With  the  prince-regent,  who  for  a  long  time  exercised  the 
royal  rights  in  place  of  his  melancholy  father,  George  III.,  he  al- 
ways found  a  ready  hearing  for  his  unpopular  counsels,  and  the 
prince  found  in  him  a  very  serviceable  tool.  As  the  prince-regent 
had  caught  the  military  mania,  there  was  maintained  in  time  of 
peace,  a  thing  hitherto  quite  unheard  of  in  England,  a  standing 
army  of  more  than  100,000  men,  which  could,  moreover,  do  good 
service  against  popular  outbreaks.  Neither  in  this  nor  in  any  oth- 
er department  was  economy  practised  in  the  expenditure  of  pub- 
lic money,  and  the  taxes  were  maintained  at  the  former  oppressive 
level.  In  the  years  1815  and  1816  came  stagnation  of  business, 
want  of  work,  and  an  excessive  rise  of  prices.  All  this  brought 
about  an  agitation  that  affected  even  the  very  lowest  classes. 
Meetings  were  held  everywhere;  people  assembled  in  crowds 
around  the  popular  leaders  Hunt  and  Gobbet,  and  listened  to  ora- 
tions on  misgovernment  and  parliamentary  reform.  There  was 
no  lack  of  riots,  murders,  and  interference  of  the  military.  The 
exasperation  became  so  great  that  mud  and  stones  were  thrown 
at  the  carriage  of  the  prince-regent  as  he  returned  from  the  open- 


MASSACRE  OF  PETERLOO.— THE  GAG  BILLS.  65 

ing  of  Parliament,  January  28th,  1817,  and  there  were  cries  of 
"  Down  with  the  prince-regent !  Down  with  the  ministers !"  In- 
stead of  restoring  quiet  by  recognizing  and  remedying  the  exist- 
ing evils,  the  ministry  drew  the  reins  still  tighter.  The  habeas- 
corpus  act,  that  magna  charta  of  civil  freedom,  was  suspended  for 
a  year,  so  that  any  person  might  be  arrested  and  detained  in  jail 
without  further  proceedings;  the  right  of  meeting  was  limited; 
the  Press  laws  were  made  severer,  so  that,  as  Cobbet  said,  the  rope 
was  laid  not  about  the  neck,  but  about  the  hands  of  each  Opposi- 
tion writer.  But  the  agitation  did  not  diminish.  August  16th, 
1819,  a  meeting  of  about  80,000  persons  took  place  in  Manches- 
ter, although  such  meetings  were  forbidden  by  the  government. 
The  various  bands  paraded  banners  and  mottoes.  Here  were  the 
words,  "  No  corn-laws  !  Liberty  and  brotherly  feeling !"  there, 
"  Equal  representation  or  death  !"  There  was  even  a  troop  of  fe- 
male reformers  with  a  silk  flag.  But  Hunt  had  hardly  been  re- 
ceived with  thundering  applause,  and  begun  to  speak,  when  hus- 
sars broke  up  the  meeting,  striking  blindly  about  them  with  the 
flats  of  their  swords,  and  causing  a  general  sauve  qui  pent.  Sev- 
eral were  left  dead  on  the  spot,  and  a  few  hundred  were  wounded. 
Hunt  was  carried  off  a  prisoner,  but  had  to  be  released  on  bail. 
The  "  massacre  of  Peterloo  "  caused  universal  indignation,  even  in 
aristocratic  circles.  And  yet  the  ministry  dared  to  go  still  far- 
ther. It  brought  forward  and  carried  through  the  six  "  gag  bills," 
by  which  a  blow  was  struck  at  the  right  of  meeting  and  at  the 
freedom  of  the  Press  similar  to  the  blow  struck  at  the  German 
Press  and  universities  by  the  Carlsbad  resolutions.  No  wonder 
that,  when  everything  was  at  greatest  tension,  the  most  excited 
should  not  refrain  from  extreme  measures.  An  old  revolution- 
ist, Arthur  Thistlewood,  organized  a  conspiracy.  Like  a  modern 
Catiline,  he  conceived  the  plan  of  murdering  the  ministers  at  a 
cabinet  dinner,  February  23d,  1820,  setting  fire  to  the  barracks, 
and  establishing  a  provisional  government.  The  plot  was  be- 
trayed, the  ringleader  and  four  comrades  hung,  and  others  trans- 
ported. 

In  the  midst  of  this  excitement  occurred  the  change  of  sover- 
eigns and  the  divorce  suit  of  the  new  king.  The  weak-minded 
George  III.  died  January  29th,  1820,  and  George  IV.  had  scarcely 
seated  himself  on  the  throne  when  he  demanded  of  his  ministers 
that  they  should  effect  his  divorce  from  his  wife.  As  Prince  of 


66  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

Wales,  when  his  aim  was  to  be  the  "  first  gentleman  in  Europe," 
he  had  spent  his  time  as  a  finished  rake  in  drinking,  gaming,  and 
among  disreputable  women.  When  twenty-three  years  of  age,  he 
had  contracted  a  marriage  with  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic, several  years  older  than  he,  and  twice  a  widow.  He  was  loaded 
with  a  debt  of  £700,000.  As  the  price  of  payment  of  his  debts, 
he  consented  to  marry  Princess  Caroline  of  Brunswick,  in  1795. 
Soon  after  she  had  given  birth  to  the  Princess  Charlotte,  he  in- 
formed her,  in  a  politely  cold  letter,  that  she  might  leave  his 
house,  and  never  enter  it  again.  From  1796  to  1814  she  lived  in 
England,  exposed  to  constant  insults  and  persecution ;  then,  con- 
trary to  the  advice  of  her  friends,  sick  of  these  mortifications,  she 
repaired  to  the  Continent,  and  travelled  through  Italy  and  the 
East.  With  a  certain  Bartolomeo  Bergami,  who  had  advanced 
from  the  position  of  her  waiting-man  to  that  of  her  chamberlain, 
and  who  was  her  constant  attendant,  she  stood  in  relations  which 
must  have  called  forth  almost  involuntary  condemnation.  The 
administration  had  unnecessarily  sent  a  secret  commission  after 
her,  surrounded  her  with  spies,  and  received  intelligence  through 
bribed  servants  of  the  most  extravagant  doings.  During  her  ab- 
sence her  daughter  Charlotte  had  married  Prince  Leopold,  of  Saxe- 
Coburg,  afterward  King  of  Belgium,  and  had  died  in  1817,  in 
giving  birth  to  a  still-born  child.  This  she  learned  from  the  news- 
papers. June  6th,  18:40,  after  the  death  of  George  III.,  she  re- 
turned to  London,  to  the  terror  of  her  husband.  He  caused  her 
to  be  indicted  in  the  upper  house,  and  a  bill  to  be  brought  for- 
ward divorcing  her  from  the  king  on  the  ground  of  adultery,  and 
depriving  her  of  the  title  of  Queen  of  England.  The  suit — in  the 
course  of  which  a  number  of  dirty  witnesses  were  brought  from 
the  Continent,  and  the  most  eloquent  advocates,  among  others 
Brougham,  pleaded  for  the  queen — developed  in  its  progress  a 
seemingly  unending  series  of  scandals  about  both  king  and  queen 
such  as  only  the  strong  nerves  of  Old  England  could  have  endured. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  this — and  it  was  a  sign  of  the  great  contempt  in 
which  the  king  was  held — no  name  in  all  England  was  more  feted 
in  those  days  than  the  queen's.  The  visits  and  addresses  on  oc- 
casion of  Bliicher's  visit,  in  the  summer  of  1814,  were  scarcely 
more  numerous  than  those  which  this  repudiated  wife  now  re- 
ceived. The  rejoicing  was  unbounded  when,  November  2d,  after 
the  bill  had  passed  its  third  reading  with  a  majority  of  only  nine 


SUICIDE   OF   LORD   CASTLEREAGH.— CANNING.  67 

votes,  Lord  Liverpool,  not  daring  to  bring  it  before  the  Commons, 
withdrew  it. 

Yet  all  this  disgrace  did  not  affect  the  besotted  George.  July 
ICth,  1821,  he  caused  himself  to  be  crowned  with  all  the  pageant- 
ry of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  queen  was  repulsed  from  the  door 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  and  died,  August  7th,  in  consequence  of 
the  unnatural  excitement.  But  even  in  death  she  seemed  deter- 
mined to  give  her  cruel  husband  no  rest.  On  the  day  of  her 
funeral,  when  she  was  to  be  conveyed  to  Brunswick,  a  countless 
crowd  escorted  her  remains  through  London.  It  resulted  in  a 
bloody  collision  with  the  mounted  guards ;  but  the  procession, 
under  the  conduct  of  the  lord  mayor,  passed  through  the  middle 
of  the  city  as  the  people  wished. 

The  kingdom  had  scarcely  recovered  from  this  blow,  at  which 
all  Europe  maliciously  cried  "fy!"  when  it  was  noised  abroad 
that  Lord  Castlereagh  had  cut  his  throat  (August  12th,  1822). 
It  was  true.  The  man  who  had  stood  by  the  king  through  thick 
and  thin — who  had  brought,  as  it  were  by  force,  the  wretched 
conditions  of  the  Continent  into  England — who  had  seemed  anx- 
ious to  force  a  revolution  there  too — had  cut  the  artery  of  his 
throat  with  a  penknife  in  a  fit  of  insanity.  This  event,  which 
was  a  turning-point  in  English  politics,  excited  great  rejoicings 
among  the  people,  and  they  could  not  be  persuaded  that  insanity, 
and  not  the  furies  of  an  awakened  conscience,  had  put  the  pen- 
knife into  his  hand.  George  Canning  received  the  post  of  foreign 
minister,  displeased  though  the  king  was  by  his  attitude  during 
the  suit  against  the  queen,  and  little  as  the  majority  of  the  cabi- 
net were  pleased  with  their  new  colleague.  But,  by  virtue  of  his 
character  and  his  talents,  especially  his  eloquence,  he  had  outgrown 
any  other  capacity.  Moreover,  internal  and  external  affairs  were 
just  at  that  time  too  complicated  for  men  not  to  wish,  or  even  be 
compelled  to  choose,  the  most  suitable  man  for  the  most  difficult 
post.  His  program  me  was:  England's  greatness  and  freedom; 
renunciation  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  which,  where  it  had  acted — in 
Naples  and  in  Spain — had,  under  the  banner  of  legitimacy,  brought 
about  semi  -  barbarism.  England,  which  under  Castlereagh  had  i 
sunk  to  a  prefecture  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  was  again  to  take  an  ; 
independent  position — to  constitute  the  first  power  in  Europe  ;  , 
and,  supported  by  the  liberal  element  everywhere,  to  oppose  the  ' 
Quixotism  of  the  knights  of  the  Holy  Alliance  with  the  enormous 


68  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

resources  of  its  land  and  sea  power  and  its  wealth.  Canning  was 
the  pronounced  enemy  of  European  interventions,  and  laid  down 
the  principle  that  each  nation  may  manage  its  own  affairs  accord- 
ing to  its  own  tastes.  Furthermore,  he  was  Englishman  enough 
not  to  place  the  mercantile  interests  of  his  country  quite  in  the 
background.  The  recognition  of  the  South  American  states,  the 
despatch  of  an  auxiliary  force  to  Portugal  in  1826,  and  his  sup- 
port of  the  Greek  cause,  are  sufficient  proofs  of  the  hostility  of 
his  policy  to  that  of  the  Holy  Alliance. 

In  internal  affairs  also,  although  they  did  not  properly  belong 
to  his  province,  a  new  spirit  was  noticeable.  The  oppressive  corn- 
laws  were  modified  at  his  proposition.  With  reference  to  slavery 
in  the  British  colonies,  it  was  determined  that  the  negroes  should 
be  prepared  by  intellectual  and  moral  means  for  their  eventual 
emancipation,  and  that  the  slave-trade  was  to  be  treated  as  piracy, 
and  punished  with  death.  In  another  question  which,  after  par- 
liamentary reform,  was  the  most  burning  question  of  the  decade, 
and  which,  if  happily  solved,  involved  the  solution  of  the  first,  he 
met  with  the  most  violent  opposition  from  the  nobility  and  clergy, 
and  was  obliged  to  leave  his  successors  to  carry  it  through.  That 
was  Roman  Catholic  emancipation — the  civil  equalization  of  Ire- 
land— in  which  question  free  England  was  in  conflict  with  her 
own  external  and  internal  policy.  But  it  was  not  granted  Can- 
ning to  devote  many  years  to  these  weighty  questions.  He  be- 
came prime-minister  after  Liverpool's  retirement,  in  April,  1827, 
and  formed  a  ministry  with  liberal  views.  The  treaty  of  July 
6th  gave  a  decisive  turn  to  the  Greek  cause,  but  the  consequences 
of  that  treaty,  the  sea-fight  of  Navarino,  on  October  20th,  he  did 
not  live  to  see.  He  died  August  8th,  1827,  mourned  by  a  hemi- 
sphere. 

After  a  short  period  of  transition  followed  the  ultra-Tory  min- 
istry of  Wellington,  which  lamented  the  victory  at  Xavarino,  and 
allowed  the  Portuguese  tyrant  Don  Miguel  to  try  its  patience  to 
the  uttermost.  And  yet  it  was  this  very  "Iron  Duke"  who  had 
to  enter  upon  the  solution  of  the  Roman  Catholic  question,  and 
render  at  least  partial  justice  to  the  Irish.  For  centuries  Ireland 
had  held  the  place  of  step-child,  and  been  compelled  to  suffer  all 
the  evil  consequences  of  the  early  wars  of  conquest.  There,  to  a 
greater  extent  even  than  in  England,  all  the  land  was  in  the  hands 
of  a  few  families,  and  the  Irish  population  were  their  tenants  or 


O'CONNELL  AND   ROMAN   CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION.        69 

day-laborers.  The  rich  lands  and  privileges  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic church  had  passed  by  English  decree  into  possession  of  the 
Anglican  church ;  and  so,  while  supporting  his  own  church,  the 
Irishman  had  also  to  pay  tithes  for  the  maintenance  of  one  to 
which  he  did  not  belong.  These  and  similar  abuses,  which  at- 
tached themselves  to  the  difference  of  race,  confession,  and  educa- 
tion, could  not  be  remedied  as  long  as  the  law  excluding  all  Ro- 
man Catholics  from  Parliament  existed.  Here  was  another  field 
for  the  operation  of  secret  societies.  These  were  met  on  the 
Protestant  side  by  the  Orangemen.  Incendiarism  and  assassina- 
tion were  frequent,  and  there  was  no  question  that  it  was  very 
unwise  on  the  part  of  England  to  keep  this  wound  in  its  political 
body  always  open.  Finally,  in  1828,  the  Test  Act  passed  under 
Charles  II.,  which  made  the  assumption  of  each  political  office 
dependent  upon  the  reception  of  the  communion  after  the  An- 
glican ritual,  was  repealed.  The  agitation  reached  a  crisis  when  1 
the  Irish  lawyer,  Daniel  O'Connell,  who  ruled  the  whole  island  by  ' 
his  eloquence,  set  himself  at  the  front,  covered  the  country  with  a 
web  of  Roman  Catholic  associations,  and  brought  the  matter  to 
a  practical  issue  by  being  returned  to  Parliament,  July  oth,  1828, 
from  Clare,  where  a  scat  was  vacant.  The  exultation  over  this 
victory  among  the  Irish  corresponded  to  the  consternation  among 
the  English.  Wellington  perceived  that  he  must  choose  between  a 
civil  war  and  yielding,  and  was  statesman  enough  to  prefer  the  lat- 
ter. April  13th,  1829,  the  civil  emancipation  bill,  which  had  been 
introduced  by  him,  and  accepted  by  both  houses,  was  signed  by 
the  king  in  spite  of  all  opposition.  O'Connell,  the  mighty  tribune 
of  the  people  hitherto,  notwithstanding  his  election,  repulsed  from 
the  doors  of  Parliament,  could  now  in  person  bring  the  complaints 
of  "  green  Erin  "  to  the  ears  of  her  oppressors.  He  appeared  in 
Parliament  with  a  radical  proposition  for  universal  suffrage  and 
secret  ballot,  and  already  spoke  of  giving  Ireland  its  own  Parlia- 
ment to  frame  its  own  legislation,  and  of  bringing  the  smaller 
island  into  a  position  with  reference  to  England  similar  to  that 
which  Sicily  wished  to  occupy  toward  Naples. 

But  first,  in  England  and  in  Ireland,  all  opposition  must  unite 
in  the  one  cry  for  parliamentary  reform.  By  the  emancipation 
of  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  previous  system  had  been  broken 
with,  so  far  as  the  religious  question  was  concerned.  The  second 
breach  must  be  opened  from  the  social  stand-point.  Neither  king, 


70  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

ministry,  nor  Parliament  was  favorably  disposed  ;  but  events  were 
in  preparation  which  would,  overnight  as  it  were,  bring  quite  dif- 
ferent figures  to  the  surface. 


§K 
o. 

GREECE. TURKEY. RUSSIA. 

AMONG  all  the  uprisings  of  the  third  decade,  that  of  the  Greeks 
claimed  in  the  highest  degree  the  attention  and  sympathies  of 
Europe.  The  reminiscences  of  antiquity  joined  themselves  to 
the  heroic  deeds  of  the  present  to  render  the  Grecian  war  for 
freedom  the  most  popular  of  living  dramas.  Even  if  one  does 
not  sec  in  the  Greeks  the  pure  descendants  of  the  heroes  of  Mar- 
athon and  Salamis,  even  if  one  must  admit  that  Slavonic  immi- 
gration and  conquest  have  effected  great  changes — nevertheless, 
the  Slavonic  element  has  become  master  here  as  little  as  in  north- 
eastern Germany,  and  the  Hellenic  character  is  attested  by  unmis- 
takable signs.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  islands,  where  many 
Homeric  customs  still  hold  their  own.  The  splendid  patterns  of 
antiquity,  and  the  political  agitation  consequent  upon  the  Napo- 
leonic wars,  aroused  anew,  after  previous  attempts  had  failed,  the 
hope  of  shaking  off  the  Turkish  yoke  and  winning  independence. 
The  young  men  who  had  studied  in  France  and  Germany,  the 
bold  seafarers  who,  with  their  rich  merchant  fleets,  felt  themselves 
kings  of  the  Grecian  waters,  could  no  longer  endure  to  remain 
Turkish  slaves.  It  was  merely  a  rule  of  caprice  which  the  Turks 
exercised :  there  was  no  talk  of  right ;  no  property,  no  life  was 
safe  before  the  whim  of  a  pasha. 

Like  the  Burschen^chaft,  the  Carbonari,  and  the  freemasons  in 
Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain,  respectively,  there  existed  in  Greece  at 
the  time  of  the  Vienna  congress  the  Hetceria.  In  its  lists  were 
enrolled  the  most  illustrious  names  at  home  and  abroad ;  and  it 
had,  as  its  visible  aim,  the  promotion  of  scientific  culture.  The 
rebellion  of  the  murderous  Ali  Pasha  of  Janina,  who  sought  to 
make  himself  independent  prince  of  Epirus — perhaps  of  Greece — 
and  who  liked  to  hear  himself  called  the  new  Pyrrhus,  was  very 
favorable  for  an  outbreak.  The  Porte  was  compelled  to  send 


OUTBREAK  OF  THE  GRECIAN  REVOLUTION.      71 

strong  armies  against  this  powerful  vassal  in  the  years  1820  to 
1822.  It  was  not  until  February  2d,  1822,  that  the  Serasquier 
Churshid  Pasha  succeeded  in  removing  by  treachery  the  "  Lion 
of  Epirus." 

In  the  spring  of  1821,  while  the  best  Turkish  troops  were  oc- 
cupied before  Janina,  the  flames  of  revolt  broke  out  simultaneous- 
ly in  north  and  south.  At  the  head  of  the  Hetceria  stood  Alex- 
ander Ypsilanti,  a  member  of  an  old  Phanariote  family,  a  Russian 
general,  and  adjutant  to  the  Emperor  Alexander.  Toward  the 
Czar,  who,  following  the  traditions  of  his  house,  looked  with  long- 
ing eyes  upon  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus  and  "  the  key  to  his 
kingdom,"  the  hopes  of  many  Greeks  were  directed.  They  ex- 
pected much,  also,  from  their  countryman,  Count  Kapodistrias, 
Alexander's  minister  and  favorite.  March  6th,  1821,  Ypsilanti, 
with  a  few  trusty  followers,  crossed  the  Pruth  and  entered  Jassy, 
the  capital  of  Moldavia.  He  announced  that  Greece  bad  risen, 
,md  that  Russia  would  lend  her  aid,  and  sought  to  unite  under 
his  banner  all  the  Christian  elements  in  the  northern  provinces  of 
Turkey,  i.  e.,  Roumania,  Servia,  and  Bulgaria.  Failing  in  this, 
and  coldly  received  by  the  people  everywhere,  he  marched  into 
Wallachia,  entered  Bucharest,  and  on  the  19th  of  June  stood  face 
to  face  with  the  Turks,  who  had  hastened  into  Roumania  from  all 
sides.  The  treason  of  the  Wallachian  Vladimiresko — for  which 
he  was  cut  to  pieces — and  a  letter  from  the  Czar  from  Laibach, 
where  he  was  in  Mctternich's  atmosphere,  censuring  Ypsilanti's 
undertaking,  and  directing  that  his  name  be  struck  off  from  the 
army  list,  still  further  discouraged  the  insurgents.  A  battle  was 
fought  at  the  village  of  Dragatshan.  Notwithstanding  their  nu- 
merical inferiority,  the  Turks  were  victors.  The  so-called  sacred 
band  was  cut  down,  and  the  rest  of  the  insurgents  seattei-ed. 
Ypsilanti,  who  was  more  highly  gifted  with  ambition  and  imag 
ination  than  political  wisdom  and  military  skill,  fled  to  Transyl 
vania.  After  keeping  him  a  prisoner  in  Mungacz  and  Theresien- 
stadt  for  six  and  a  half  years,  the  Austrian  government  released 
him,  at  the  request  of  Russia,  in  1827,  and  he  died  in  Vienna  the 
following  year.  Georgios,  an  Olympian,  led  a  part  of  the  insur- 
gents into  Moldavia,  and  threw  himself  into  the  convent  of  Sek- 
kn.  With  350  men  he  defended  for  three  days,  against  1500 
Turks,  the  approach,  which  led  through  a  defile,  and  when  he  was 
at  length  taken  in  the  rear,  blew  up  the  bell-tower,  in  which  he 


72  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECEXT   TIMES. 

and  eleven  comrades  had  taken  refuse,  with  the  Turks  who  had 
forced  an  entrance.  The  remnant  of  the  little  force  capitulated, 
but  were  nevertheless  massacred.  A  proverb  says,  "One  Turk 
wastes  a  province  in  a  night ;"  and  it  may  be  imagined  what  havoc 
the  Janizaries  now  made  in  the  Danubian  principalities. 

Upon  the  news  of  these  occurrences  and  of  the  rebellion  in 
Morea,  Sultan  Mahmoud  II.  and  his  Turks  evinced  their  Tartar 
origin.  A  number  of  Phanariotes  (members  of  a  Grecian  aris- 
tocracy of  birth  or  office  in  the  service  of  the  Porte)  had  already 
been  murdered,  and  passing  Christians  wantonly  shot  at,  when,  at 
the  Easter  festival,  the  aged  Greek  patriarch  Gregorios  was  seized 
in  the  act  of  leaving  his  church,  and  hung  at  the  door  of  his  pal- 
ace. Three  archbishops  and  several  priests  shared  the  same  fate. 
The  sultan  openly  exulted  at  the  sight  of  the  patriarch's  corpse, 
and  caused  it  to  be  taken  down  by  Jews,  dragged  through  the 
streets,  and  cast  into  the  sea.  This  was  the  signal  for  murderinor 

o  o 

and  plundering  in  Constantinople  and  other  cities;  and  in  defi- 
ance of  all  the  representations  of  the  ambassadors,  the  murdering 
of  bishops  was  renewed  in  the  month  of  May.  This  so  seriously 
complicated  the  relations  with  Russia,  which  regards  herself  as 
the  protector  of  Greek  Catholics,  that  the  Russian  ambassador 
Stroganoff  demanded  his  pass.  By  these  massacres  the  interpo- 
sition of  Russia,  even  if  not  immediate,  was  rendered  almost  cer- 
tain. All  Europe  abhorred  the  Turks,  and  sympathized  with  the 
Greeks  as  the  natural  consequence  of  such  atrocities,  which  fur- 
thermore rendered  reconciliation  between  Greeks  and  Turks  no 
longer  possible. 

In  Morea  the  revolution  was  well  under  way.  April  4th,  1821, 
Archbishop  Germanos  planted  a  cross  before  the  church  in.Patras, 
and  made  the  Greeks  swear  to  fight  for  their  religion  and  their 
country.  The  Mainotes,  who  boasted  descent  from  the  ancient 
Spartans,  under  Petros  Moromichalis  (commonly  called  Petrobei) 
and  Theodore  Kolokotronis,  took  Kalamata,  the  capital  of  Mt.'*se- 
nia,  and  established  a  sort  of  provisional  government  there.  From 
this  centre  the  insurrection  spread  over  all  Morea,  over  northern 
Greece  as  far  as  Thermopyla?,  and  over  the  islands  of  the  archipel- 
ago. Among  the  latter,  Hydra  and  Spezzia,  opposite  Argolis,  and 
Psara,  north  of  Chios,  were  especially  prominent.  These  three 
islands  equipped  176  ships.  The  widow  Bobolina,  of  Spezzia, 
who  had  lost  her  husband  in  the  Constantinople  massacre,  and 


NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY.  73 

one  of  her  sons  in  the  defence  of  Argos,  furnished  two  ships,  and 
commanded  them  herself  like  a  modern  Artemisia.  During  the 
first  year  of  the  war  the  Turkish  fleet  could  nowhere  make  head 
against  the  Greek.  The  Turks  were  also  unable  to  force  their 
way  into  northern  Greece,  being  beaten  back  in  the  east  by  the 
cunning  Odysseus,  and  in  the  west  by  the  brave  Suliotes  under 
Markos  Bozzaris.  In  Morea  the  contest  was  almost  wholly  con- 
centrated about  Tripolizza,  the  residence  of  the  vizier.  This  was 
a  city  of  30,000  inhabitants,  10,000  of  whom  were  armed  men; 
while  the  band  of  beleaguering  Greeks,  eager  for  booty,  numbered 
about  7000,  nominally  led  by  Petrobei,  but  really  by  Kolokotronis. 
The  city  was  taken  by  storm  October  5th.  The  plundering,  mur- 
dering, and  burning  lasted  three  days,  and  a  dreadful  revenge  was 
taken  for  the  scenes  in  Constantinople,  Crete,  and  Cyprus.  The 
Turks  had  but  six  strongholds  left  in  Morea;  the  Greek  colors 
even  waved  over  Akrocorinth. 

The  year  1822  began  with  the  first  national  assembly  of  the 
Greeks  in  Piada,  near  Epidaurus.  A  constitution  was  proposed, 
and  a  government  of  five  men  established,  with  Alexander  Mau- 
rokordatos  as  president.  Superior  to  all  his  countrymen  by  his 
knowledge  of  occidental  affairs,  by  his  European  culture,  and  by 
his  integrity,  he  seemed  called  to  play  the  part  of  an  Oxenstiern  ; 
but  he  found  in  such  raen  as  Kolokotronis  the  foes  of  all  subor- 
dination, and  of  every  well-ordered  political  system.  This  athletic 
Kolokotronis  was  a  typical  klepht,  and  as  such  hated  the  semi- 
Franks,  with  their  frock-coats  and  their  spectacles.  In  the  previ- 
ous summer  he  had  opposed  the  plans  of  Demetrius  Ypsilanti, 
who  came  to  Morea  with  the  assumption  that  his  very  name  enti- 
tled him  to  the  position  of  president  and  commander-in-chief. 
Disunion  was  already  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of  the  Greeks. 

The  most  brilliant  deed  of  this  year  (1822)  was  the  revenge 
for  Chios.  This  flourishing  island,  rich  in  southern  fruits,  silk, 
and  mastic,  inhabited  by  100,000  Greeks  and  6000  Turks,  had 
been  dragged  into  the  revolt  by  Samos  against  its  will,  and  with 
slight  participation  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants.  On  April 
10th  capudan  Pasha  appeared  at  the  island  with  forty-six  ships 
and  7000  troops.  The  capital  was  burnt  down,  and  the  inhab- 
itants killed  or  enslaved.  After  having  proclaimed  an  amnesty, 
the  Turks  fell  upon  the  country  people,  thus  lulled  into  a  false 
security,  and  murdered  anew  with  unheard-of  atrocity.  Even  the 

4 


74  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

sick  in  the  hospitals  were  hewn  down.  Those  who  could  not 
take  refuge  in  the  houses  of  the  consuls  or  on  board  ship  were 
lost.  Only  5000  were  rescued;  23,000  were  murdered;  47,000 
were  brought  into  the  slave  markets  of  Constantinople,  Alexan- 
dria, and  Tunis. 

This  blow  threatened  the  other  islands.  The  Greek  fleet  quick- 
ly gathered  at  Psara.  It  consisted  of  fifty-six  ships  and  eight 
fire-ships,  and  was  commanded  by  the  Hydriote  Miaulis,  who  had 
made  his  first  voyage  as  a  seven-year-old  boy  in  his  father's  ship. 
On  the  night  between  the  18th  and  19th  of  June,  Constantino 
Kanaris  of  Psara,  and  George  Pipinos  of  Hydra,  with  thirty-two 
comrades — after  they  had  first  received  the  sacrament,  preparing 
in  case  of  need  to  blow  themselves  up — embarked  at  midnight  on 
two  fire -ships,  and  sailed  through  the  midst  of  the  Turkish  fleet 
toward  the  brilliantly-lighted  vessels  of  the  admiral  and  vice-ad- 
miral. The  month  of  fasting  had  just  closed,  and  capudan  Pasha 
was  celebrating  the  opening  of  the  Beiram  by  a  grand  feast. 
There  were  more  than  2000  men  on  his  ship.  Kanaris  attached 
his  fire-ship  to  the  forepart  of  the  admiral's  vessel,  which  was  soon 
wrapped  in  flames.  Pipinos  attached  his  to  the  vice-admiral's 
ship,  but  was  less  fortunate,  since  it  broke  loose  again,  and  sailed 
about  burning  among  the  startled  Turkish  fleet.  With  the  cry 
of  "  Victory  to  the  Cross !"  the  Greeks  rowed  off  in  their  yawls, 
while  the  cannons  of  the  admiral's  vessel  boomed  behind  them, 
and  then  the  vessel  itself  flew  into  the  air  with  a  terrible  explo- 
sion. Capudan  Pasha,  struck  by  a  falling  mast,  was  carried 
ashore  to  die  on  the  very  spot  where,  a  couple  of  months  before, 
he  had  ordered  the  innocent  Chian  hostages  to  be  massacred. 
The  Turkish  fleet  hastened  back  to  the  Dardanelles.  The  garri- 
son of  Chios,  panting  for  vengeance,  fell  upon  the  hitherto  un- 
molested mastic  villages,  and  murdered  or  enslaved  the  inhabi- 
tants. By  the  month  of  August  the  population  had  dwindled 
from  100,000  to  1800.  Kanaris  and  his  fellow-heroes  escaped 
safely  to  Psara,  were  there  joyfully  received,  and  at  once  repaired 
to  church  to  return  thanks  for  victory  and  escape. 

In  this  year  the  Porte  had  also  made  great  exertions  on  land. 
After  annihilating  the  Pasha  of  Janina,  it  was  free  to  turn  all  its 
forces  against  the  Greeks.  "  The  result  of  the  struggle  is  no 
longer  doubtful,"  wrote  the  sharp-sighted  diplomats  in  Constanti- 
nople to  their  courts.  The  main  army  was  to  force  its  way 


THE  GREEKS  AND  THE  CONGRESS  OF  VERONA.     75 

through  East  Hellas  over  the  isthmus  into  Morca,  while  a  corps 
of  Albanians  was  to  subdue  West  Hellas.  Dramali  (Mahmoud 
Pasha  of  Drama)  marched  with  30,000  men  through  Thermopy- 
lae into  Bceotia  and  Attica,  entered  Morea,  and  placed  garrisons 
in  Nauplia  and  Argos,  but  had  to  fall  back  on  Corinth  through  lack 
of  supplies.  Kolokotronis,  who  had  been  appointed  commander- 
in-chief,  waylaid  him  at  the  pass  of  Dervenaki,  and  inflicted  a  loss 
of  several  thousand  men.  Nauplia  had  to  surrender  again  to 
Kolokotronis ;  while  the  Turkish  fleet,  which  had  once  more  vent- 
ured forth,  without,  however,  accomplishing  anything,  lost  near 
Tenedos,  on  its  return,  the  vice-admiral's  ship,  which,  together  with 
1600  men,  the  untiring  Kanaris,  with  his  fire-ship,  blew  into  the 
air.  In  West  Hellas  the  Greeks,  strengthened  by  the  Philhellenes 
under  the  Wiivtemberg  general  Normann,  had  suffered  a  defeat 
at  Peta,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Arta,  through  the  treason  of  Go- 
gos.  This  disaster  was  compensated  by  the  repulse  of  the  Turk- 
ish assault  on  Mesolonghi  on  Christmas-day,  when  the  assailants 
were  beaten  back  with  the  loss  of  all  their  artillery.  They  con^ 
soled  themselves  with  the  fatalistic  proposition  :  "God  has  with- 
drawn valor  from  the  Moslems  and  granted  it  to  the  Giaours." 
Another  year  had  passed,  and  still  the  great  Turkish  empire  was 
not  able,  unassisted,  to  subdue  little  Greece.  The  Greeks,  on  their 
part,  were  seeking  to  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  Eng-j 
land  or  some  other  foreign  power.  To  this  end  they  sent  Count; 
Metaxas  and  the  Frenchman  Jourdain  to  the  congress  of  Verona] 
They  expected  intercession  at  the  least  from  Emperor  Alexander, 
whose  army  and  people  were  eager  for  war  with  Turkey.  But 
he  allowed  himself  to  be  completely  blinded  by  Metternich,  who 
in  diplomatic  fashion  set  the  Greek  revolution  in  the  same  cate- 
gory with  the  Spanish  and  Neapolitan,  and  approved  of  com- 
manding the  Greek  plenipotentiaries  to  remain  in  Ancona.  The 
answer  finally  accorded  them  was:  "The  sovereigns  are  deter- 
mined to  discountenance  the  principle  of  rebellion,  however  and 
whenever  it  show  itself."  Where  Metternich  was  chief  cook,  the 
Greeks,  who  were  the  same  as  any  other  rebels  in  his  eyes,  could 
expect  no  dinner.  Quite  different  was  it  in  England,  where  Cas- 
tlereagh's  penknife  had  just  brought  George  Canning  into  the  for- 
eig'n  ministry.  As  a  sentimental  young  politician,  Canning  had 
composed  tender  elegies  on  the  bondage  of  Greece ;  as  a  matured 
man,  he  could  play  the  part  of  a  Tyrtanis,  and  could  cast  Eng- 


76 

land's  weight  into  the  scales  in  Greece  as  in  South  America.  It 
was  a  harbinger  of  future  action  when,  in  March,  1823,  he  recog- 
nized the  blockade  declared  by  the  Greeks,  thus  treating  them  as 
belligerents. 

Both  Turks  and  Greeks  had  already  pretty  well  exhausted 
themselves;  there  could  be  no  talk  of  decisive  blows  until  the 
allies  on  both  sides  entered  the  lists.  Further,  there  was  a  schism 
among  the  Greeks,  who  had  already  formed  two  mutually  hostile 
governments.  Of  these,  the  one  was  supported  by  klephts,  like 
Kolokotronis ;  the  other  was  the  constitutional  civil  government, 
and  had  the  fleet  on  its  side.  The  latter,  at  whose  head  stood 
President  Konturiotis  in  Xauplia,  finally  conquered.  Kolokotronis 
and  twelve  refractory  chiefs  were  obliged  to  yield,  and  were  shut 
up  in  a  cloister  at  Hydra.  In  West  Hellas,  also,  the  unruly  cap- 
tains had  to  submit  to  the  provincial  congress  under  the  lead  of 
Maurokordatos.  The  wily  Odysseus,  who  had  gone  over  to  the 
sultan  on  the  promise  of  being  named  governor  of  East  Hellas, 
had  to  surrender  to  Guras,  and  was  strangled  at  Athens.  The 
party  of  order  had  never  been  stronger  than  at  the  end  of  the 
year  1824;  and  in  view  of  the  threatening  tempest  they  needed 
all  the  strength  they  could  command. 

The  military  events  of  the  two  years  1823  and  1824  were  not 
important  In  West  Hellas,  Omer  Vrione,  Pasha  of  Scutari, 
pressed  forward  against  Mesolonghi.  On  the  night  of  August 
20th,  1823,  the  gallant  Markos  Bozzaris,  with  350  Suliotes,  sur- 
prised the  pasha's  vanguard,  consisting  of  5000  men,  at  Karpenisi, 
brought  death  and  confusion  into  their  ranks,  and  completely 
scattered  them.  But  the  deed,  which  by  its  bravery  reminds  us 
of  Leonidas,  had  no  results,  and  cost  Bozzaris  his  life.  In  July, 
1824,  a  companion  piece  to  the  butchery  of  Chios  was  enacted  in 
Psara.  The  Turkish  fleet  under  Chosrew  Pasha  landed  there ; 
the  city  was  taken  and  plundered,  and  after  a  fearful  massacre  set 
fire  to.  About  100  ships  were  carried  off;  only  nineteen  escaped 
laden  with  fugitives.  The  garrison  of  the  fort,  600  strong,  de- 
fended themselves  two  days  and  two  nights.  Reduced  to  200, 
they  blew  themselves  up  on  the  third  day,  along  with  2000  Turks 
who  had  forced  an  entrance.  The  island  was  laid  waste ;  1 7,000 
inhabitants  killed  or  taken  captive.  Thereupon  Miaulis,  with  his 
fast-sailing  vessels,  hastened  to  Psara,  surprised  there  twenty-seven 
Turkish  ships,  and  put  them,  with  the  garrison  of  the  city,  t1" 


MEHEMED   ALT,  OF  EGYPT.  77 

flight.  Samos,  on  which  it  had  been  intended  to  make  a  similar 
landing,  was  saved  by  Kanaris. 

About  this  time  a  more  active  sympathy  began  to  be  displayed 
in  the  West.  The  massacres  of  Constantinople  and  Chios  had 
made  bad  blood.  Men  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  leaving  so 
heroic  a  folk  to  be  butchered  by  Asiatic  hordes — whose  continued 
rule  in  Europe  is  a  disgrace — while  the  West,  like  the  spectators 
at  a  theatre,  looked  on,  and  the  monarchs  watched  for  a  signal 
from  their  claqueur,  Metternich.  It  was  felt,  too,  that  no  better 
return  could  be  made  for  the  culture  received  from  Hellas  than 
to  support  with  gold  and  troops  these  late  Epigonce  in  their  war 
for  freedom.  In  Germany,  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  France,  Greek 
unions  were  formed.  Troops  were  shipped  from  Marseilles,  and 
among  them,  in  1822,  was  the  above-mentioned  Count  Normann, 
who  died  at  Mesolonghi  in  November,  1823.  In  England  a  loan 
of  £800,000  sterling  was  effected,  £40,000  of  which  reached 
Greece  in  March,  1824.  The  gifted  Lord  Byron,  who  had  already 
made  a  journey  to  Greece  in  1809,  and  had  drawn  thence  many 
characters  for  his  poems,  arrived  at  Mesolonghi  in  January,  1824, 
in  order  to  assist  the  Greeks  with  money,  counsel,  and  action,  but 
died  April  15th,  closing  his  restless  life  by  an  atoning  act.  His 
body  found  a  place  beside  those  of  Count  Normann  and  Markos 
Bo/zaris. 

All  these  little  aids  could  give  no  decisive  results.  Quite  an- 
other lever  must  be  applied  to  set  afloat  once  more  the  cause 
which  seemed  at  that  very  moment  hopelessly  grounded.  The 
Porte  had  at  last  turned  to  its  most  powerful  vassal,  Mehemed 
Ali,  of  Egypt.  This  cunning  and  able  Thracian,  a  thorough  mixt- 
ure of  barbarism  and  European  polish,  had  accumulated  a  snug 
treasure  by  systematically  plundering  the  wealthy  Nile  valley, 
and  had  organized  his  army  in  the  European  manner,  in  which 
French  instructors  had  been  very  useful  to  him,  especially  Colonel 
Seve  (Soliman  Bey).  Indulging  hopes  of  becoming  a  great  pow- 
er, thinking  even  of  Constantinople,  he  was  very  ready  to  be  sum- 
moned to  Crete  and  Morea.  Crete  suffered  first.  The  Turks  had 
already  made  fearful  havoc  there  in  1821,  until  the  brave  Spha- 
kiotes,  descending  from  their  mountains,  had  beaten  them  soundly. 
Toward  the  end  of  1823  an  Egyptian  fleet  appeared,  and  Egyp- 
tian troops  traversed  the  whole  island,  burning  and  murdering  as 
they  went.  In  the  stalactitic  grotto  of  Hermes  500  women  and 


78  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

children  were  suffocated  by  the  application  of  fire.  The  Sphaki- 
ote  chiefs  were  summoned  to  surrender,  and  then  cast  into  prison. 
After  Crete's  subjugation,  the  whole  Grecian  marine  was  to  be 
destroyed,  and  the  three  islands  chastised.  Psara  had  already  re- 
ceived its  castigation  at  the  hands  of  Chosrew  Pasha.  In  July. 
1824,  Mehemed  Ali's  main  force  was  embarked  at  Alexandria — 
about  17,000  men,  with  54  ships  of  war  and  400  transports — 
under  the  lead  of  his  step-son,  Ibrahim  Pasha,  a  hard,  cruel  man, 
whose  military  education  had  been  acquired  in  a  campaign  in 
Arabia.  He  drew  back  before  no  measures,  even  the  most  ex- 
treme. The-  plan  was  to  murder  all  the  inhabitants  of  Morea, 
or  transport  them  to  Egypt,  and  to  repeople  the  country  with 
Arabians. 

The  Egyptian  and  Turkish  fleets  united  on  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  but  were  constantly  harassed  by  Miaulis,  and  every  under- 
taking of  importance  prevented.  Ibrahim  was  compelled,  with 
the  loss  of  six  larger  and  fifty  smaller  ships,  to  sail  to  Crete  and 
winter  there.  In  the  spring  of  1825  he  landed  with  2000  men 
in  the  western  part  of  Morea,  and  took  the  island  of  Sphacteria 
and  the  fortress  of  Navavino,  which  gave  him  the  possession  of  a 
suitable  harbor.  In  this  strait  the  Greeks  proclaimed  a  general 
amnesty.  Kolokotronis  and  his  companions  were  set  free,  and 
the  former  once  more  appointed  commander -in -chief.  On  his 
return  to  Nauplia,  he  told  the  people  that  he  had  cast  his  grudge 
into  the  sea,  and  they  must  do  the  same.  Marching  diagonally 
through  Morea,  Ibrahim  forced  his  way  to  Tripohzza,  took  the 
city,  and  marched  against  Nauplia,  but  was  prevented  from  at- 
tacking it  by  the  appearance  of  Commodore  Hamilton,  in  com- 
mand of  an  English  station-squadron.  Kolokotronis  was  repulsed 
in  an  attack  upon  Tripolizza;  and  henceforward  the  Greeks,  more 
accustomed  to  guerilla  warfare  than  to  pitched  battles  with  regu- 
lar troops,  dared  not  contend  with  Ibrahim  in  the  open  field.  The 
latter  made  devastating  forays  through  all  Morea,  and  was  not  to 
be  driven  out. 

He  had  scarcely  received  10,000  fresh  troops  when  he  set  out 
from  Xavarino,  with  army  and  fleet,  for  Mesolonghi,  before  which 
he  appeared  January  9th,  1826.  Reshid  Pasha  had  lain  before 
the  place  since  the  previous  summer.  It  had  a  garrison  of  3000 
men,  but  was  ill  equipped  with  provisions  and  material  of  war. 
However,  all  the  assaults  of  the  Turks  were  repulsed,  and  admi- 


LOSS  OF  MESOLONGHI.  79 

rals  Miaulis  and  Sachturis  had  three  times  succeeded  in  breaking 
through  the  hostile  fleet,  and  supplying  the  besieged  with  food 
and  powder.  Reshid  Pasha  had  to  give  np  the  siege  in  October, 
but  remained  in  his  outermost  intrenchments,  mindful  of  the  sul- 
tan's threat :  "  Mesolonghi  or  thy  head !"  On  his  arrival  before 
the  fortress,  Ibrahim  made  merry  over  "  that  hedge,"  which  he 
would  take  in  fourteen  days.  Miaulis  provided  the  city  once 
more  with  food  and  ammunition  for  two  months.  The  summons 
to  surrender  was  refused,  and  Ibrahim's  first  assault  repulsed,  to 
the  great  joy  of  Reshid,  who  had  comfortably  played  the  part  of 
spectator,  and  whose  assistance  must  now  be  solicited.  In  April 
Miaulis  attempted  once  more,  with  an  ill-equipped  fleet,  to  come 
to  the  assistance  of  the  city,  but  found  all  approaches  closed,  and 
could  accomplish  nothing  in  face  of  the  superior  numbers  of  the 
enemy.  And  yet,  according  to  Ibrahim's  own  confession,  Meso- 
longhi might  have  been  saved  if  it  had  had  supplies  for  three 
weeks  more,  for  his  army,  unaccustomed  to  the  harshness  of  the 
climate,  had  already  greatly  dwindled. 

What  neither  his  assaults  nor  his  French  engineers  could  ac- 
complish, hunger  effected.  The  distress  reached  a  climax.  Men 
nourished  themselves  with  sea -weed,  and  mice  and  rats  were  a 
luxury.  The  city  was  a  heap  of  ruins,  and  bitter  cold  prevailed. 
Then  the  Greeks  determined  to  cut  their  way  through  the  enemy. 
April  22d,  1826,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  3000  armed  men, 
with  5000  women  and  children,  and  others  incapable  of  bearing 
arms,  in  their  midst,  broke  out  of  Mesolonghi.  They  crossed  the 
trenches  on  boards,  to  find  themselves  beset  on  all  sides,  for  their 
plan  had  been  betrayed.  Bewildered  by  the  terrified  cry  of 
"  Back !"  some  returned  to  the  city  ;  the  rest  hastened  on  to 
Mount  Zygos,  where  Albanian  hordes  awaited  them  instead  of 
the  help  expected.  These  hewed  down  hundreds,  armed  and 
unarmed:  only  1300  escaped  to  Salona.  The  fate  of  those  who 
returned  was  still  worse.  The  enemy  forced  their  way  into  the 
city  with  them,  killed  the  men,  and  seized  the  women  and  chil- 
dren to  sell  as  slaves.  Scattered  through  the  city  to  plunder, 
many  Turks  met  their  death  in  the  ruins  of  the  houses  which  the 
Greeks  themselves  blew  up. 

Ibrahim,  who  had  already  lost  half  of  his  troops,  returned  to 
Morea  to  continue  his  ravages,  in  the  course  of  which  he  was 
beaten  back  several  times  by  the  Mainotcs,  into  whose  mountain- 


80  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECEXT   TIMES. 

i 

ous  territory  he  sought  to  penetrate.  He  passed  the  following 
winter  at  Modon.  In  the  mean  time,  Reshid  Pasha  was  in  Athens 
besieging  the  Acropolis.  Notwithstanding  the  brave  defence  of 
the  commandant  Guras  and  his  heroic  wife ;  of  the  gallant  Karais- 
kakis ;  of  the  Englishmen  Cochrane  and  Church,  and  the  French- 
man Fabvier,  who  had  hastened  to  its  succor,  the  famous  citadel 
had  to  capitulate  June  5th,  1827.  Central  Greece  was  lost.  Ibra- 
him Pasha  was  on  the  very  point  of  delivering  two  dreadful 
blows.  He  was  about  to  ravage  Messenia  with  fire  and  sword, 
and  reduce  Maina ;  and  at  the  same  time,  by  means  of  the  united 
Turkish  and  Egyptian  fleets,  he  purposed  annihilating  Hydra,  the 
stronghold  of  the  Grecian  navy,  and  taking  Nauplia  from  the 
water -side.  Armv  and  fleet  were  considerably  strengthened: 

^ 

these  few  successes  more,  and  all  Greece,  from  Thermopylae  to 
Cape  Matapan,  lay  in  servile  chains  at  the  feet  of  the  sultan  and 
his  pasha. 

Was  no  obstacle  to  be  opposed  to  the  accomplishment  of  these 
plans  ?  Certainly  not,  if  all  went  according  to  the  wishes  of  Met- 
ternich,  whose  warnings  were  stronger  with  regard  to  nothing  than 
"  measures  of  compulsion,  except  against  rebels."  But  there  were 
other  men  of  importance  in  Europe  who  held  the  opposite  opin- 
ion. The  fall  of  Mesolonghi  caused  a  quick  but  lasting  blaze  of 
philhellenism.  The  Greek  unions  in  Germany  and  Switzerland 
showed  a  greater  activity  than  ever,  and  much  money  was  sent 
out  to  redeem  the  captured  Greeks  from  slavery.  In  the  first- 
named  country,  King  Louis,  of  Bavaria,  was  foremost  in  this  mat- 
ter; in  the  latter,  Eynard,  a  Genevese  banker.  In  France  men 
like  Chateaubriand  and  Lafitte  led  the  van  ;  the  royal  familv  took 
part  in  the  movement;  the  legitimists  saw  in  Greece  no  hearth 
of  revolution  but  a  Christian  Vendee,  the  champion  of  Christian 
legitimacy  in  the  midst  of  Mohammedan  usurpation.  In  the 
Chambers  the  ministers  were  obliged  to  hear  many  strong  expres- 
sions regarding  their  course  in  permitting  French  officers  to  serve 
under  an  Ibrahim.  The  Greeks  themselves,  who  had  again  fallen 
into  the  old  dissensions,  now  returned  to  better  ways.  At  the  in- 
stance of  the  English  admiral  Lord  Cochrane,  who  had  won  lau- 
rels in  the  struggle  for  freedom  of  the  South  American  colonies, 
and  the  English  general  Church,  the  national  assembly  at  Troezen, 
April  llth,  1827,  concluded  to  name  the  Korfiote  Kapodistria; 
president  of  Greece  for  seven  years. 


SEA-FIGHT   AT   NAVARINO.  81 

But  the  decisive  measures  proceeded  from  England  and  Russia. 
The  young  Miaulis  had  journeyed  to  London  in  1825,  and  com- 
municated to  Canning  the  wish  of  the  Greeks' to  place  themselves 
under  English  protection.  Canning  dared  not  undertake  this  Eng- 
lish patronage,  and  recommended  an  appeal  to  the  general  media- 
tion of  the  collective  powers ;  but  he  soon  found  an  opportunity 
to  take  more  active  measures.  December  1st,  1825,  the  Emperor 
Alexander  died  at  Taganrog,  and  Nicholas,  his  successor,  was  not 
the  man  to  take  his  advice  from  Vienna.  Canning  sent  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  to  congratulate  him  on  his  accession.  April  4th, 
1826,  an  agreement  was  signed,  by  which  both  powers  pledged 
themselves  to  mediate  a  peace  between  Turkey  and  Greece  on  the 
plan  of  placing  Greece  in  a  relation  to  Turkey  similar  to  that  of 
the  Danubian  principalities.  But  when  the  English  and  Russian 
ambassadors,  supported  by  the  French,  demanded  from  the  Porte 
a  cessation  of  hostilities,  the  latter  responded  that  the  sultan  was 
as  much  master  in  his  own  dominions  as  any  other  sovereign  in 
his,  and  deprecated  any  interference.  Thereupon  the  treaty  of 
London  between  England,  France,  and  Russia  was  concluded  July 
6th,  1827,  and  the  three  powers  agreed  to  prevent  all  further  hos- 
tilities, and  compel  an  armistice  if  necessary.  The  Porte  persist- 
ed in  its  refusal.  The  allies  sent  their  fleets  into  Grecian  waters. 
The  English  fleet  was  commanded  by  Sir  Edward  Codrington  ; 
the  Russian,  by  Count  Heydcn  ;  the  French,  by  de  Rigny. 

In  the  harbor  of  Navarino  lay  126  Turkish  and  Egyptian  ships, 
ready  at  any  moment  to  depart  in  order  to  inflict  upon  Hydra 
the  fate  of  Chios.  On  September  25th,  1827,  Codrington  and 
de  Rigny  had  an  interview  with  Ibrahim,  and  demanded  the  ces- 
sation of  all  hostilities.  He  promised  to  carry  out  their  demands, 
and  retain  his  ships  in  the  harbor  until  he  had  received  from  Con- 
stantinople or  Alexandria  an  answer  to  his  inquiries.  But  when 
he  heard  that  the  Greeks,  who  had  also  acquiesced  in  the  demands 
of  the  powers,  were  nevertheless  committing  hostilities — that  the 
English  captain  Hastings,  who  had  brought  the  Greeks  their  first 
war  steamer  and  entered  their  service,  had  destroyed  at  Salona, 
September  30th,  seven  Turkish,  and  carried  off  three  Austrian 
ships,  regaining  thereby  control  of  the  Gulf  of  Corinth,  and  re- 
establishing the  connection  between  Morea  and  West  Hellas — he 
caused  several  villages  in  Messenia  to  be  burnt,  60,000  fig-trees 
and  25,000  olive-trees  to  be  cut  down  ;  thus  ruining  for  many 

4* 


82  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

years  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  and  at  the  same  time  de- 
spatched two  divisions  of  his  fleet  to  the  Corinthian  gulf.  Cod- 
rington, who  lay  before  Zante,  barred  their  passage  into  the  gulf, 
and  drove  them  back  with  cannon-balls.  He  then  joined  his  two 
colleagues,  and  as  they  had  also  received  news  of  the  ravaging  of 
Mcsscnia,  the  allied  fleets  sailed  southward  to  the  harbor  of  Nava- 
rino.  There  they  found  the  Turkish  fleet  ready  for  battle,  drawn 
up  in  the  form  of  a  horse-shoe.  Ibrahim  had  gone  to  Pyrgos  four 
days  before,  apparently  to  evade  the  demands  of  the  admirals. 
His  fleet  consisted  of  130  ships,  89  of  which  were  ships  of  war, 
with  2438  guns.  To  these  the  allies  could  only  oppose  27  ships, 
with  1276  guns.  Codrington  held  the  chief  command  over  the 
allied  fleet.  His  ship,  Asia,  anchored  within  pistol-shot  of  that 
of  the  Turkish  admiral.  The  command  was  not  to  fire  unless  the 
Turks  did.  Several  shots  had  already  been  fired,  several  men  had 
already  been  killed  on  the  English  ships ;  but  still  Codrington 
held  back.  Then  the  crew  of  the  Turkish  admiral's  vessel  fired  a 
volley,  and  the  battle  began.  Right  and  left  the  Englishman  sunk 
his  opponents,  and  the  others  did  not  fall  behind  him.  Coolness 
and  discipline  were  on  their  side ;  confusion,  stupidity,  and  cow- 
ardice on  the  other.  All  were  tangled  together  in  one  knot,  as  it 
were,  out  of  which  more  than  3000  cannon  thundered  till  the  con- 
tracted, hill-girt  basin  echoed  again.  The  battle  lasted  four  hours, 
from  two  P.M.  till  six ;  and  in  that  time  from  5000  to  6000  of 
the  enemy  were  killed,  and  almost  their  whole  fleet  destroyed. 
Only  twenty-nine  ships  were  left  which  were  in  any  way  sea-wor- 
thy. The  harbor  was  covered  with  fragments.  The  explosions 
of  disabled  ships  blown  up  by  the  Turks  lasted  through  the  whole 
night.  On  his  return  to  Navarino  that  evening,  Ibrahim  saw  be- 
fore him  nothing  but  destruction.  The  admirals  caused  him  to 
be  informed  that  in  case  of  the  slightest  hostility  on  his  part  the 
forts  and  the  remnant  of  his  fleet  would  be  completely  battered 
to  pieces.  Thereupon  he  displayed  the  white  flag,  and  sent  what 
ships  could  be  made  sea-worthy  to  Alexandria,  while  the  allies  re- 
tired to  repair  damages. 

There  was  joy  over  this  victory  in  all  Europe,  save  in  the  court 
at  Vienna,  and  there  there  was  dismay.  Canning  had  not  lived 
to  witness  this  triumph.  His  successor,  Wellington,  caused  the 
king,  in  his  speech  from  the  throne,  to  name  the  victory  an  unfort- 
unate event,  since  the  destruction  of  the  Turkish  fleet  seemed  es- 


KAl'ODISTRIAS'S  PRESIDENCY.  83 

pcciallv  favorable  to  Russia's  designs.  The  Porte  would  not  even 
yet  enter  into  any  negotiations  regarding  the  pacification  of 
Greece ;  and  between  it  and  the  ambassadors  of  the  three  powers 
the  strife  was  so  hot  that  the  latter  left  Constantinople,  where- 
upon a  number  of  Franks  were  expelled  from  Turkey.  A  Russo- 
Turkish  war  was  imminent.  In  order  to  reap  the  full  fruits  of 
the  day  of  Navarino,  the  French  general  Maison,  with  14,000  men, 
landed  in  Morea,  according  to  the  resolution  of  the  London  con- 
ference, compelling  Ibrahim  Pasha  to  depart  for  Egypt,  and  the 
garrisons  to  capitulate.  In  October,  1828,  Morea  was  free,  and 
there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the  Greeks  from  establishing  an  in- 
dependent government  there  at  once. 

President  Kapodistrias  had  been  on  Greek  soil  since  January 
18th,  1828,  received  by  all  parties  as  their  deliverer.  Such  he 
might  have  been,  if  as  Russian  minister  he  had  not  become  so  ac- 
customed to  absolute  rule  that,  on  his  return  to  Greece,  he  judged 
the  there  existing  conditions  falsely.  His  presidency  was  a  sort 
of  dictatorship.  The  council  of  state,  which  should  have  served 
as  a  check  upon  him,  was  composed  of  his  creatures.  The  inde- 
pendence of  provincial  and  municipal  authorities  was  destroyed, 
and  a  government  of  prefects  introduced,  under  which  free  munici- 
pal elections  were  impossible.  In  order  to  make  his  will  omnipo- 
tent, he  employed  spies,  like  Metternich,  limited  the  freedom  of  the 
Press,  and  violated  the  secrecy  of  the  mails.  Schools  were  estab- 
lished, it  is  true,  but  care  was  taken  that  no  free  ideas  should  en- 
ter their  halls.  In  Plato's  home  Plato's  Gorgias  could  not  be 
read,  because  it  spoke  too  strongly  against  tyrants.  He  showed 
no  less  hatred  against  everything  that  had  been  great  and  strong 
in  the  Greek  revolution  than  the  Spanish  Ferdinand  had  shown 
against  Napoleon's  victorious  antagonists.  Toward  the  self-reli- 
ant Hydriotes,  toward  the  independent  Mainotes,  toward  those 
proud  chieftains  who  had  borne  their  country's  fate  upon  their 
swords'  points,  he  acted  the  part  of  Russian  pasha.  This  could 
not  have  been  more  plainly  shown  than  by  his  first  reception  of 
the  captains  of  East  Hellas,  when  he  addressed  them  with  the 
words :  "  I  know  you  ;  you  are  all  thieves  and  liars !"  And  when 
General  Church  would  have  presented  to  him  the  heroes  of  Me- 
solonghi,  he  said,  "  It  is  not  necessary ;  I  know  these  gentlemen 
already.  You  have  brawled  for  nine  years  with  the  Turks,  and 
stolen  sheep  and  goats ;  those  are  your  heroic  deeds."  Such  a 


84  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

speech  from  a  man  who  had  no  other  merit  than  that  up  to  that 
time  he  had  been  the  obedient  servant  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia, 
and  had  idled  about  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Geneva  while  his  coun- 
trymen were  blowing  Turkish  flag-ships  into  the  air,  was  a  little 
too  much. 

March  22d,  1829,  the  three  powers  determined  that  Greece 
should  form  an  hereditary  monarchy ;  that  it  should  extend 
northward  as  far  as  the  gulfs  of  Arta  and  Volo  ;  but  that  it  should 
be  tributary  to  Turkey.  This  was  so  modified,  February  3d,  1830, 
that  Greece  was  to  be  entirely  independent,  and  free  from  the 
payment  of  tribute  ;  its  northern  boundaries  were  to  be  some- 
what contracted ;  and  Prince  Leopold,  of  Saxe-Coburg,  was  to  be 
its  sovereign.  But  the  prince,  who  foresaw  that  with  such  re- 
stricted frontiers  his  government  must  begin  by  reclaiming, 
through  force  of  arms,  the  remaining  Grecian  provinces  from  the 
Porte,  declined  the  proffered  crown;  especially  since  at  that  time, 
owing  to  the  ill-health  of  the  King  of  England,  he  had  the  more 
brilliant  prospect  of  becoming  regent  for  his  minor  niece  Victoria. 
This  refusal  was,  of  course,  most  acceptable  to  Kapodistrias.  But 
his  days  were  numbered.  Among  those  families  against  which  he 
waged  a  sort  of  war  of  extermination  belonged  the  Mainote  fam- 
ily of  Moromichalis.  Its  most  prominent  member,  the  aged  Pie- 
trobei,  had  been  cast  into  prison.  His  brother  Constantine  and 
his  son  Georgios  supplicated  his  release,  but  only  received  the 
command  not  to  leave  Nauplia,  and  not  to  walk  abroad  except 
under  the  escort  of  soldiers.  The  entreaties  of  Pietrobei's  nine- 
ty-year old  mother,  who  had  seen  forty-two  members  of  her  family 
fall  for  Greece's  freedom,  also  failed  to  effect  his  release.  Then 
Constantine  and  Georgios  resolved  to  act.  On  the  morning  of 
October  9th,  1831,  Kapodistrias  went  to  chun-li  with  one  attend- 
ant. Constantine  and  Georgios  walked  in  the  same  direction. 
The  former  fired  a  pistol  at  the  president's  head  ;  the  latter  thrust 
a  dagger  into  his  body.  Constantine  was  wounded  by  a  pistol- 
shot  from  Kapodistrias's  attendant,  and  killed  outright  by  a  mob ; 
Georgios  was  shot  before  his  father's  window,  October  22d.  The 
senate  at  once  named  Count  Augustine  Kapodistrias,  brother  of  the 
murdered  man,  president  of  Greece.  He  brought  things  to  such 
a  pass  by  his  mode  of  governing,  that  Morea  and  Central  Greece 
took  up  arms  for  a  civil  war,  and  he  was  at  length  obliged  to  ab- 
dicate, April  9th,  1832.  In  the  following  month  the  London 


KING   OTHO'S   GOVERNMENT.  85 

conference  named  Prince  Otbo,  of  Bavaria,  son  of  the  crowned 
philhellenist  Louis,  King  of  Greece,  and  restored  the  boundaries 
of  Arta  and  Volo.  But  even  in  this  determination  of  the  fron- 
tiers diplomacy  again  showed  small  wisdom.  If  any  one  province 
deserved  to  be  freed  from  the  Turkish  yoke,  and  made  part  of  the 
new  kingdom,  it  was  Crete,  which  from  the  beginning  had  endured 
•ill  the  hardships  of  war.  England's  jealousy  of  Russia's  influence 
in  Greece,  and  her  anxiety  lest  the  Russian  navy  should  gain  too 
secure  a  footing  in  the  Mediterranean,  led  to  this  determination — 
which  the  Sphakiotes  of  1866  had  cause  so  bitterly  to  curse. 

King  Otho  landed  in  Nauplia  January  30th,  1833.  As  he  was 
not  yet  of  age,  a  regency  of  three  men  was  intrusted  with  the 
government — Count  von  Armansperg,  Councillor  von  Manrer,  and 
General  Heydeck.  Three  thousand  five  hundred  Bavarian  soldiers 
were  to  maintain  order  until  a  national  army  could  be  created. 
The  regency  developed  a  great  activity,  but  was  divided  in  itself, 
and  hence  the  more  exposed  to  the  conflicting  influences  of  foreign 
ambassadors.  Conspiracies  for  the  overthrow  of  the  regency  were 
plotted,  in  which  the  aged  Kolokotronis  took  part.  He  was  con- 
demned to  twenty  years'  imprisonment,  but  released  after  one  year, 
on  Otho's  assumption  of  the  administration.  The  capital  was 
transferred,  December  25th,  1833,  from  Nauplia  to  the  classical 
Athens.  Though  then  nothing  but  a  heap  of  rubbish,  Athens 
soon  contained  a  university,  and  shortly  became  one  of  the  most 
important  posts  in  the  East.  King  Otho,  who  had  undertaken 
the  government  for  himself  July  1st,  1835,  and  married  Princess 
Amalie,  of  Oldenburg,  in  the  following  year,  named  first  Arman- 
sperg and  then  von  Rudhardt  prime-minister.  After  the  latter 
had  been  discharged  in  1837,  in  consequence  of  his  disagreement 
with  the  English  ambassador  Lyons,  who  accused  him  of  friendship 
to  Russia,  only  Greeks  were  taken  into  the  ministry  ;  but  the  har- 
mony was  not  thereby  increased.  A  military  insurrection,  head- 
ed by  Kalergis  of  Crete,  a  member  of  the  Russian  party,  and  an 
associate  of  the  now  deceased  Kolokotronis,  compelled  the  king, 
who,  moreover,  in  no  way  resisted,  to  grant  Greece,  September 
15th,  1843,  a  representative  constitution.  But  even  this  could  not 
remove  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  people.  The  Greeks,  who  had 
dreamed  of  a  Byzantine  empire,  and  of  Constantinople,  felt  them- 
selves unnaturally  confined,  and  every  storm  which  raged  on  the 
Bosphorus  rolled  waves  of  hope  and  restlessness  down  to  Greece. 


86  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

No  one  knew  better  how  to  excite  these  storms  than  Russia. 
Its  natural  inclinations  and  its  traditions  led  it  toward  the  Balkan 
peninsula,  the  possession  of  which  would  have  accorded  it  an 
enormous  increase  of  power.  So  much  the  more  jealously  did 
England  watch  over  the  pulse-beats  of  the  "  sick  man."  Emperor 
Alexander  had  once  indulged  fond  fancies  of  settling,  in  league 
with  Napoleon,  the  Eastern  question  in  the  Russian  interests. 
After  Napoleon's  fall,  he  became,  as  we  have  already  seen,  found- 
er of  the  Holy  Alliance,  and  opponent  of  revolutions  in  southern 
Europe.  In  the  internal  affairs  of  his  country  he  showed  the  lib- 
eral side  of  his  character.  He  abolished  serfdom  in  the  Baltic 
provinces,  and  in  1818  gave  the  kingdom  of  Poland  a  constitu- 
tion and  a  separate  administration,  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
old  Russians.  But  it  was  with  the  Poles  as  with  the  Greeks — 
their  boundaries  were  far  too  narrow  in  comparison  with  those  of 
the  good  old  time.  Secret  societies  were  formed,  which  sought 
to  carry  the  self-government  of  the  kingdom  to  the  point  of  ab- 
solute independence  from  Russia.  More  dangerous  still  were  the 
associations  of  freemasons  in  Russia  itself.  Many  members  of 
the  first  families  having  become  acquainted  with  freer  institutions 
through  travel,  or  through  long  residence  in  Germany  and  France 
during  the  wars,  formed  a  conspiracy  to  murder  Alexander,  and 
overthrow  the  existing  system  of  government.  With  their  plans 
fell  in  the  great  dissatisfaction  of  the  people — especially  the  army 
and  the  clergy — who  could  not  forgive  Alexander  for  having  pur- 
sued, through  the  influence  of  the  Austrian  government,  an  anti- 
national  policy  toward  their  fellow  -  believers,  the  Greeks.  The 
news  of  this  conspiracy,  and  the  distressing  consciousness  of  the 
depth  of  his  fall  from  the  height  of  1814  and  1815,  made  him 
ever  closer  and  more  distrustful.  In  order  to  refresh  himself, 
bodily  and  mentally,  he  undertook  a  journey  to  the  south,  but 
died  of  bilious  fever,  resulting  from  a  cold,  December  1st,  1825, 
in  Taganrog,  on  the  Sea  of  Azov. 

Of  the  three  brothers  of  the  childless  emperor,  the  eldest,  Con- 
stantino, at  that  time  viceroy  of  Poland,  had  already  resigned 
his  right  to  the  throne.  Hence  the  succession  fell  to  his  second 
brother,  Nicholas.  December  26th,  1825,  was  the  day  set  for  the 
high  officials  and  the  military  to  take  the  oath.  As  Constantine's 
resignation  of  his  rights  had  hitherto  been  kept  secret,  the  con- 
spirators took  advantage  of  this  secrecy  to  represent  him  as  the 


CZAR  NICHOLAS.  87 

rightful  heir,  and  Nicholas  as  the  usurper.  Their  plans  included 
assassination  of  the  emperor,  and  indeed  of  the  whole  imperial 
family,  and  the  proclamation  of  a  constitution ;  and  a  few  even 
dreamed  of  a  republic  of  Russia.  To  the  soldiers  their  cry  was : 
"  Long  live  Constantine  and  the  constitution  !"  and  when  the  sol- 
diers asked  if  the  constitution  were  Constantino's  wife,  the  conspir- 
ators left  them  in  that  belief.  The  rebellious  regiments  assembled 
in  Isaac's  Square,  received  the  Czar  with  disorderly  cries,  and  shot 
Count  Miloradovitch,  the  governor.  They  could  not  be  brought 
to  reason  until  Nicholas  caused  them  to  be  fired  on  with  grape- 
shot,  and  ordered  his'cuirassiers  to  cut  them  down.  This  was  the 
end  of  the  insurrection  in  St.  Petersburg.  It  lacked  a  leader,  and 
in  the  south,  also,  where  the  head -quarters  of  the  conspirators 
were  Kiev,  General  Diebitsch  readily  put  it  down.  Numerous 
executions  and  banishments  were  the  immediate  consequences 
of  this  mad  undertaking. 

In  almost  all  respects  Nicholas  was  the  exact  opposite  of  his 
brother.  He  lacked  the  gentleness,  impulsiveness,  and  breadth, 
but  also  the  weakness  and  indecision  of  Alexander,  and  showed 
himself  from  the  beginning  a  practical  and  energetic  character. 
To  rule  absolutely,  to  hold  down  every  other  will,  to  bar  the  land 
against  European  culture,  to  increase  and  perfect  the  army,  to 
break  loose  from  Metternich's  guardianship,  to  make  Russia's  in- 
fluence paramount  in  all  foreign  questions  —  that  was  his  pro- 
gramme. The  Grecian  rebellion  afforded  him  a  wished-for  op- 
portunity of  giving  Europe  a  specimen.  The  war  with  Persia 
had  scarcely  been  brought  to  a  successful  conclusion,  through  the 
capture  of  the  fortress  of  Erivan  by  General  Paskevitch  in  1827, 
when  a  Turkish  campaign  stood  before  the  door.  Distant  Greece 
lay  far  less  upon  the  Czar's  heart  than  the  neighboring  Danubian 
principalities ;  hence,  without  a  word  about  Greece,  he  concluded 
the  treaty  of  Akerman  with  the  Porte,  September  25th,  1826,  in 
accordance  with  which  the  hospodars  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia 
were  to  be  chosen  for  seven  years,  and  then  again  be  eligible;  to 
depend  no  longer  on  the  Turkish  authorities,  and  not  to  be  re- 
moved without  the  consent  of  the  St.  Petersburg  cabinet.  By 
this  means  the  centre  of  gravity  of  those  countries  was  transferred 
to  St.  Petersburg.  Soon  after  the  Russians  complained  of  breach 
of  faith;  the  London  treaty  of  July  6th,  1827,  the  battle  of  Na- 
varino,  the  expulsion  of  the  Christians,  the  molestation  of  Russian 


88  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

shipping,  and  much  more  of  the  same  sort,  followed ;  and  so,  April 
6th,  1828,  war  was  declared. 

Russia  wished  to  hasten  on  the  war,  since  just  at  that  time, 
after  the  suppression  of  the  Janizaries,  the  new  Turkish  military 
organization  was  still  in  process  of  development.  Those  Turkish 
pretorians,  no  longer  what  they  had  been  in  former  centuries,  had 
become  a  cowardly,  insubordinate  horde,  better  at  plundering  than 
at  fighting.  When  the  sultan,  envious  of  the  Egyptian  successes 
in  Morea,  announced  his  intention  of  establishing  a  disciplined 
infantry  with  the  help  of  chosen  Janizaries,  they  flew  to  arms 
(June  15th,  1827),  and  began  to  plunder  and  murder.  As  Nich- 
olas had  done  with  the  St.  Petersburg  conspirators,  the  sultan 
caused  them  to  be  fired  upon  with  grape-shot  by  reliable  troops. 
He  burnt  their  barracks,  executed  hundreds  of  them,  sent  many 
more  to  Asia,  and  ordered  the  suppression  of  the  Janizaries,  who 
revenged  themselves  by  incendiarism.  The  people  were  summon- 
ed to  arms,  and  diligently  drilled  in  their  use  with  the  help  of 
European  officers.  In  other  branches  of  the  administration,  also, 
the  sultan  planned  sweeping  reforms.  All  this  increased  the  im- 
portance of  the  Turkish  grandees.  One  pasha  bluntly  asked  the 
French  interpreter  Desgranges  how  long  the  revolution  in  France 
had  lasted;  and  on  his  replying,  "Twenty-five  or  thirty  years," 
said,  boastfully,  "  Write  to  Paris  that  we  have  accomplished  one 
in  twenty -three  minutes  !" 

May  7th,  1828,  the  Russians  crossed  the  Pruth,  and  entered 
Moldavia  and  Wallachia.  In  spite  of  long  preparations,  they  ap- 
peared with  only  70,000  men,  and  so  the  guards  had  to  follow 
after.  The  commander -in -chief  was  Count  Wittgenstein,  who 
had  not  shown  himself  a  military  genius  in  the  year  1813  at 
Grossgorschen.  Unfortunately,  too,  Nicholas  was  with  the  army, 
with  a  crowd  of  diplomats  and  military  plenipotentiaries.  As 
though  to  give  the  Turks  time  to  assemble,  Wittgenstein  did  not 
cross  the  Danube  for  four  weeks.  The  first  operations,  directed 
against  the  small  Danubian  fortresses,  were  successful.  In  six 
weeks  six  fortresses  were  taken — Isakdje,  Matchin,  Hirsova,  Ba- 
zardjik,  Tultcha,  and  Kustendji.  But  no  progress  was  made  with 
the  siege  of  Silistria  or  of  Shumla.  Here  the  Russians  suffered 
considerable  loss.  The  only  important  result  of  the  campaign 
was  the  taking  of  Varna  (October  10th),  which,  invested  by  land 
and  sea,  surrendered,  with  7000  men,  through  the  treason  of  the 


RUSSO-TURKISH   WAR,  1829.  89 

commandant  Yussuf  Pasha.  A  Russian  garrison  remained  here ; 
the  siege  of  Silistria  and  Shumla  was  abandoned;  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  army  crossed  the  Danube  and  took  up  their  winter- 
quarters  there.  The  successes  in  Asia  were  more  considerable. 
Paskevitch,  who  bore  the  title  of  Count  Erivan  from  the  Persian 
campaign,  entered  Turkish  Armenia  and  took  the  strongholds  of 
Kars,  Achalkalaki,  and  Achalzik,  while  his  generals  captured  the 
fortresses  of  Anapa  and  Poti,  on  the  Black  Sea.  In  the  following 
year,  after  defeating  two  Turkish  armies,  he  entered  Erzeroum. 

The  more  insignificant  the  successes  of  1828,  so  much  the  more 
necessary  it  became  for  Russia,  in  spite  of  all  Metternich's  counter- 
plans,  to  undertake,  in  the  year  1829,  a  second  campaign  against 
Turkey.  This  time  Nicholas  remained  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  the 
energetic  Count  Diebitsch,  a  Silesian,  hitherto  chief-of-staff,  as- 
sumed the  chief  command.  He  defeated  Reshid  Pasha^  the  Grand 
Vizier,  at  Kulevdcha,  on  June  llth  ;  and  Silistria  yielded  to  him 
on  June  29th,  after  a  seven  weeks'  defence.  Leaving  a  corps  of 
observation  before  Shumla,  he  commenced  his  march  over  the 
Balkans — whence  the  sobriquet  of  Zabalkanski.  Nine  days  later 
he  reached  the  level  country,  and  on  August  20th  he  entered 
Adrianople,  the  garrison  capitulating.  His  soldiers  already  reach- 
ed Chorla  and  Rodosto,  and  threatened  Constantinople  in  their 
forays,  while  Admiral  Greigh  was  taking  the  small  seaports  south 
of  Varna.  The  hour  of  the  Turkish  empire  seemed  to  have 
struck.  Diplomacy  was  in  breathless  suspense.  Each  moment 
the  occupation  of  Constantinople  was  expected.  But  Diebitsch, 
who  had  only  20,000  men  left,  and  was  threatened  in  the  rear  by 
Reshid  Pasha,  while  the  Pasha  of  Skodra  was  advancing  on  his 
right  flank  with  40,000  men,  found  himself  in  a  far  worse  dilem- 
ma than  the  sultan.  In  order  to  conceal  his  real  situation,  he  held 
the  same  language  as  if  he  were  at  the  head  of  100,000  men,  and 
so  succeeded  in  browbeating  the  Porte.  England's  jealousy  had 
reached  such  a  pitch  that  Admiral  Gordon  received  orders  to  en- 
ter the  Sea  of  Marmora  with  the  British  fleet  as  soon  as  the  Rus- 
sians appeared  before  Constantinople.  In  order  to  avert  this 
extreme  action,  the  diplomats,  especially  General  Muffling,  whom 
the  Prussian  government  had  sent  to  mediate,  influenced  the  Porte 
to  yield.  Negotiations  were  entered  into,  and  September  14th 
the  treaty  of  Adrianople  was  concluded.  Russia  restored  all  her 
conquests  in  Europe,  as  well  as  Kars ;  in  Asia  she  retained  Anapa, 


90  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

Poti,  Achalzik,  and  Achajkalaki,  thereby  becoming  mistress  of 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea;  she  acquired  for  the  Da- 
nubian  principalities  almost  complete  independence,  and  life-rule 
of  the  hospodars ;  for  herself  she  gained  great  freedom  of  trade 
by  land  and  sea,  and  free  passage  through  the  Bosphorus  and 
Dardanelles  (in  which  other  countries  were  also  to  participate) ; 
and  with  regard  to  Greece,  the  London  treaty  was  agreed  to. 

Turkey  was  not  utterly  annihilated :  it  still  remained  an  inde- 
pendent state ;  but  if  it  had  ever  spread  about  itself  a  nimbus  of 
power,  it  ceased  to  do  so  from  that  time  on.  On  the  other  hand, 
Russia's  power  and  influence  rose  vastly ;  and  in  the  next  two  dec- 
ades not  Turkey  alone,  but  also  Germany,  was  to  feel  this  power. 


§/» 
O. 

FRANCE    AND    THE    RESTORATION    OF    THE    BOURBONS. 

CHATEAUBRIAND  says  of  his  countrymen,  "  There  is  plenty  of 
esprit  in  France,  but  reason  and  sound  common-sense  are  want- 
ing; a  couple  of  phrases  intoxicate  us."  It  is  certainly  harder 
to  rule  such  a  nation  than  a  nation  of  sober,  sensible  men.  Yet 
the  way  in  which  the  Bourbons  could  achieve  stability  for  their 
throne  was  clearly  marked  out.  The  constitution,  which,  at  the 
instance  of  foreign  powers,  Louis  XVIII.  had  granted  on  his  first 
return,  June  4th,  1814 — the  charte  constitutionelle — contained  so 
many  liberal  provisions  that  the  government  only  needed  to  main- 
tain it,  and  develop  it  further  in  accordance  with  the  ideas  of  the 
century,  in  order  to  have  on  its  side  the  larger  and  better  edu- 
cated part  of  the  French  people.  These  belonged  for  the  most 
part  to  the  constitutionals,  who  were  again  divided  into  Inde- 
pendents and  Doctrinaires.  Among  the  former  were  reckoned 
men  like  Lafitte,  Manuel,  Beranger,  Lafayette,  Benjamin-Constant', 
among  the  latter,  who  affirmed  the  doctrine  of  constitutional  gov- 
ernment, and  the  necessity  of  a  strong  administration,  Guizot  and 
Villemain.  Two  other  parties,  the  Republicans  and  Bonapartists, 
had  no  large  following  after  the  dearly-bought  experiences  of  the 
previous  years.  It  was  clear  that  the  government  could  only  be 
really  strong  when  it  rested  on  the  Constitutional  party,  drawing 


THE  ULTRAS.— LOUIS  XVIII.  AND  THE  COUNT  OF  ARTOIS.    91 

the  Doctrinaires  to  it,  not  repulsing  the  Independents,  and  making 
opportune  concessions.  But  whoever  believed  that  in  France  the 
years  1789  to  1815  could  be  simply  jumped  over  and  ignored, 
fell  into  a  grave  error,  and  in  this  error  were  the  fourth  party,  the 
Ultras,  who  were  to  be  found  principally  among  the  nobility  and 
clergy.  Reinvestiture  in  their  prerogatives  as  specially  privileged 
classes ;  restitution  of  the  property  of  nobles  and  Church,  which 
had  been  confiscated  and  sold  ;  absolute  dominion  at  court,  in  the 
army,  and  in  all  higher  grades  of  the  civil  service;  control  of 
education,  and  reduction  of  the  people  to  hopeless  bigotry — such 
were  the  demands  of  these  gentlemen.  With  this  the  charte  was 
not  compatible.  They  regarded  it,  however,  as  a  disgrace  to  the 
kingdom  that  such  a  thing  as  the  charte  existed.  The  whole  fif- 
teen years  that  the  government  of  the  restoration  lasted  was  noth- 
ing but  a  battle  between  Constitutionals  and  Ultras.  If  the  gov- 
ernment adhered  to  the  former,  it  would  have  strong  support 
among  the  people,  and  need  feel  no  fears ;  but  if  to  the  latter,  it 
was  to  be  feared  that  the  people  might  overthrow  it  by  a  new 
revolution.  It  had  its  choice. 

King  Louis,  who,  during  the  lifetime  of  his  brother,  the  mur- 
dered Louis  XVI.,  had  borne  the  title  Count  of  Provence,  was 
possessed  of  good-nature,  but  of  little  wisdom  and  energy.  The 
Ultras  did  not  please  him,  since  he  knew  enough  to  perceive  that 
they  might  cost  him  his  throne.  The  Constitutionals  did  not  suit 
his  Bourbon  poverty  of  intellect,  and  so  he  sought  as  well  as  pos- 
sible to  steer  between  the  two.  Owing  to  his  childlessness,  his 
brother  was  the  heir-apparent.  This  was  the  fifty-eight-year-old 
Charles,  Count  of  Artois,  who,  wholly  devoted  to  the  chase,  thea- 
tre, and  amours — neither  himself  possessed  of  knowledge,  nor  fond 
of  it  in  others — after  a  dissipated  life  sought  the  cloak  of  the 
Church,  and  formed  truly  heavenly  conceptions  of  the  majesty  of 
an  earthly  king.  He  would  allow  the  constitution  to  last  so  long 
and  extend  so  far  as  iron  necessity  demanded  ;  for  the  rest,  he 
affirmed  that  he  would  rather  saw  wood  for  a  living  than  be  king 
after  the  English  fashion.  He  was  the  right  man  for  the  Ultras, 
who  formed  under  his  sceptre  an  actual  side  -  government,  the 
"  Pavilion  Marsan,"  as  it  was  called,  after  the  place  of  meeting, 
or  the  "  Coblenz,"  transported  to  Paris.  His  influence  was  the 
greater  since  he  was  commander  of  the  national  guard,  and  also 
stood  at  the  head  of  tlic  Congregation  (a  confederation  of  strict 


92  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECEXT   TIMES. 

Roman  Catholics).  His  sons  were  the  Duke  of  Angouleme  and 
the  Duke  of  Berry,  both  mentally  insignificant — the  former  best 
known  on  account  of  his  wife ;  the  latter,  of  his  early  death. 
Angouleme  was  married  to  the  unfortunate  daughter  of  Marie 
Antoinette,  who  had  lost  parents,  family,  everything  by  the  revo- 
lution, and  now  cherished  revenge  in  her  feminine  heart.  In  his 
daughter-in-law  Count  Artois  had  a  resolute  confederate.  This 
marriage  was  also  childless.  Berry  was  gayer  and  better-natured 
than  his  elder  brother,  but  full  of  Bourbon  pride,  and  so  wanting 
in  tact  toward  the  Napoleonic  officers  as  to  be  actually  insolent. 
Since  1816  he  had  been  married  to  the  Neapolitan  princess,  Maria 
Carolina,  and  on  this  marriage  rested  the  hopes  of  the  dynasty. 

On  his  return,  in  order  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  people,  Louis 
had  taken  those  two  great  traitors,  Talleyrand  and  Fouche,  into 
his  cabinet.  A  few  months  later  they  were  discharged,  and  Sep- 
tember 24th,  1815,  the  Duke  of  Richelieu  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  a  new  ministry.  He  was  a  good  royalist,  but  no  Ultra,  and 
found  himself  facing  a  Chamber  which  far  outbade  him  and  his 
administration  in  servility.  In  consequence  of  the  burden  press- 
ing upon  all  France,  and  of  the  wretched  system  of  suffrage,  there 
met,  October  7th,  a  strongly  aristocratic  Chamber,  called  la  cham- 
bre  introuvable,  since  Louis  himself  had  said  that  under  existing 
circumstances  it  had  seemed  to  him  impossible  to  find  such  a 
chamber.  By  it  the  safety-laws  —  perhaps  better  the  revenge- 
laws — were  adopted,  which  abolished  personal  freedom,  punished 
seditious  cries  and  acts,  and  instituted  provosts'  courts,  a  species 
of  military  tribunals.  The  arrests  were  so  numerous  that  7000 
were  soon  counted.  No  official  was  any  longer  sure  of  his  post. 
The  rage  against  all  memorials  of  the  revolution  and  of  Bona- 
parte was  like  that  in  Piedmont.  One  prefect  went  so  far  as  to 
burn  a  life-size  picture  of  Napoleon  and  a  live  eagle,  and  cast  the 
ashes  of  the  "  man-eater  Bonaparte  "  into  the  water.  Hand-in- 
hand  with  this  went  the  struggle  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy 
against  the  ideas  of  the  19th  century.  The  system  of  spiritual 
gloom  recalls  the  times  of  the  Gregorys  and  Innocents.  Mission- 
aries were  sent  through  the  land,  and  the  effort  was  made,  by  gor- 
geous pageants,  by  missionary  hymns  sung  to  well-known  revo- 
lutionary tunes,  by  sentimental  or  stirring  preachers,  to  win  the 
people,  especially  the  women.  The  army  was  in  the  highest  de- 
gree irritated  by  ill-judged  persecution  and  neglect  of  the  Bona- 


REACTIONARY  MEASURES.— LIBERAL  ELECTION   LAW.      93 

parties.  Colonel  Labedoyere  and  Marshal  Xey  were  shot,  and 
Count  Lavalette  only  saved  from  a  like  fate  by  the  devotion  of 
his  wife,  a  niece  of  the  Empress  Josephine.  In  the  year  1816 
two  more  generals  were  shot,  and  numerous  refugees  condemned 
to  death.  Was  it  to  be  wondered  at  if,  scarcely  a  year  after 
Louis's  return,  conspiracies  came  to  light,  and  the  revolutionary 
game  again  began  in  Grenoble,  Lyons,  and  Paris?  The  Ultras 
cried  all  the  louder  for  new  victims,  and  all  members  of  the  Bona- 
parte family,  and  the  so-called  regicides,  who,  as  members  of  the 
Assembly,  had  voted  for  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI.,  were  ban- 
ished. But  when  the  Ultras  in  the  Chambers  sought  to  go  still 
farther,  and  so  betrayed  the  fact  that  they  were  less  concerned 
about  strengthening  the  throne  than  the  privileges  of  the  nobles 
and  clergy,  Louis  dissolved  this  Chamber,  September  5th,  1816. 

A  new  election  law  was  laid  before  the  new  Chamber,  which, 
in  order  to  counteract  the  efforts  of  the  Ultras,  granted  suffrage 
and  eligibility  to  manufacturers  and  capitalists,  i.  e.,  the  real  mid- 
dle class.  The  law  was  carried  through  notwithstanding  the  op- 
position of  the  aristocracy,  and  as  every  year  one-fifth  of  the  rep- 
resentatives retired,  and  their  places  were  supplied  by  new  elec- 
tions, it  resulted  in  bringing  each  year  more  Constitutionals  into 
the  Chamber.  In  the  autumn  of  1818,  of  the  fifty -five  new  mem- 
bers no  less  than  twenty-three  were  Constitutionals,  and  those 
twenty -three  were  among  the  leaders  of  the  Independents.  Riche- 
lieu was  at  the  time  in  attendance  at  the  congress  of  Aix  la  Cha- 
pelle,  at  which  he  persuaded  the  foreign  monarchs  to  withdraw 
their  troops  from  France  at  once,  instead  of  after  two  years. 
Stocked  with  good  advice  by  Emperor  Alexander,  Metternich, 
and  Wellington,  he  returned  to  Paris  resolved  to  unite  more  with 
the  Ultras,  and  to  change  the  election  law.  But  a  part  of  his  col- 
leagues and  a  majority  in  the  Chambers  manifested  a  decided  op- 
position, and  so  Richelieu  laid  down  his  office.  The  new  ministry 
entered  office  December  28th,  1818.  Its  president  was  General 
Dessollcs,  its  real  head  from  the  outset  Dccazes,  minister  of  the 
interior,  a  man  much  loved  by  Louis  on  account  of  his  amiable 
manners.  Its  beginnings  were  very  liberal.  The  creation  of  six- 
ty-five new  peers  strengthened  the  more  liberal  elements  in  the 
upper  Chamber;  freedom  of  the  Press  was  granted,  reactionary 
prefects  dismissed,  and  several  exiles,  even  "regicides,"  recalled. 
The  elections  of  1819  looked  in  the  same  direction;  of  the  fifty- 


94  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

five  new  members  thirty-five  entered  the  Chambers  as  Indepeu- 
dents.  Among  those  elected  was  Gregory,  Bishop  of  Blois,  who 
formerly,  as  member  of  the  Assembly,  sanctioned  in  writing  the 
execution  of  Louis,  and  was  said  to  have  declared  that  "  Kings 
are  in  the  moral  what  monstrosities  are  in  the  physical  world." 
His  election  was  too  much  for  Louis  XVIII.  He  required  of 
Dessolles  a  change  of  policy,  and  since  Dessolles  and  two  other 
ministers  resisted,  Decazes  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  new  minis- 
try, November  16th,  1819.  Gregory's  election  was  annulled,  and 
Decazes  announced  a  change  in  the  election  law. 

February  13th,  1820,  the  Duke  of  Berry  was  assassinated  by 
a  saddler's  prentice,  named  Louvel,  a  fanatical  opponent  of  Bour- 
bon rule,  as  he  came  out  of  the  opera-house  to  escort  his  wife  to 
the  carriage.  This  deed  was  employed  by  the  Ultras  to  over- 
throw the  liberal-seeming  ministry.  They  even  declared  Decazes 
to  be  an  accessory  of  Louvel,  and  the  Count  of  Artois  insisted 
upon  his  dismissal.  The  king  had  to  yield,  and  on  February  20th 
Richelieu  again  assumed  the  premiership.  He  at  once  laid  three 
bills  before  the  Chamber  concerning  the  reintroduction  of  Press 
censorship  in  the  case  of  journals,  the  limitation  of  personal  free- 
dom, and  certain  electoral  provisions,  intended  to  bring  the  elec- 
tions entirely  into  the  hands  of  the  aristocracy ;  and  notwith- 
standing the  violent  opposition  of  the  Independents,  and  the 
bloody  street  riots,  he  carried  them  through.  Fortune  seemed  to 
smile  on  the  Bourbons.  The  Duchess  of  Berry  gave  birth  to  a 
son,  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  "  Europe's  child,"  over  whom  as 
much  humbug  was  enacted  as  over  other  similar  wonder-children. 
The  continuance  of  the  dynasty,  and  its  maintenance  upon  the 
throne  of  France,  appeared  to  be  assured.  But  there  were  many 
who  were  as  unwilling  to  believe  in  the  legitimacy  of  this  heir  as 
the  English  of  1688  in  the  legitimacy  of  the  son  of  James  II. 
Some  even  spoke  of  the  "  death-knell  of  legitimacy." 

It  was  the  time  of  the  military  revolts  in  Italy  and  Spain.  A 
reflex  wave  could  not  fail  to  strike  France.  New  conspiracies 
appeared.  The  death  of  Napoleon,  which  took  place  May  5th, 
1821,  aroused  afresh  the  spirits  of  the  Ultras.  They  rejoiced  in 
the  belief  that  their  time  was  now  come.  Thanks  to  the  hew 
election  laws,  they  strengthened  their  ranks  at  each  election. 
Richelieu  was  no  longer  good  enough  for  them ;  the  Chambers 
overthrow  him  by  a  vote  of  lack  of  confidence,  and  brought  the 


THE   REACTIONARY   MINISTRY   OF   VILLELE.  95 

Count  of  Artois's  friends  to  the  helm.  December  13th,  1821,  M. 
de  Villele,  a  royalist  of  the  purest  water,  formed  a  new  ministry. 
He  was  distinguished  for  parliamentary  dexterity,  and  for  his  ac- 
quaintance with  questions  of  finance  and  trade,  but  equally  dis- 
tinguished for  his  reactionary  tendencies.  Yet  at  the  outset  he 
hesitated  about  yielding  to  the  wishes  of  the  congress  of  Verona, 
and  sending  an  army  to  Spain.  But  no  choice  was  left  him.  The 
demand  of  100,000,000  francs  for  this  expedition  called  forth  the 
liveliest  discussion  in  the  Chamber.  The  liberals  feared  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Spanish  revolution,  and  its  consequences  for  France ; 
the  Ultras  hoped  to  suppress  that  revolution,  and  looked  forward 
to  a  hierarchico-aristocratic  government  for  France  as  the  conse- 
quence of  such  action.  Deputy  Manuel,  who  seemed  to  make  a 
casual  allusion  to  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI.,  was  expelled  by  a 
majority  of  the  Chamber,  and  dragged  from  the  hall  by  gens- 
danncs.  Thereupon  sixty -two  members  of  the  left  withdrew. 
The  intervention  proceeded.  The  Duke  of  Angouleme  returned 
a  victor,  and  the  Ultras  made  use  of  his  success  in  a  boastful  and 
injudicious  manner.  The  Chambers  were  dissolved,  and,  as  the 
result  of  shameless  interference  in  the  elections,  there  assembled, 
March  23d,  1824,  a  worthy  counterpart  to  la  chambre  introuvable 
of  1815 — hence  named  "the  re-found."  Out  of  430  members, 
the  liberal  opposition  numbered  only  seventeen.  In  order  to 
hold  this  Chamber  together  as  long  as  possible,  and  to  remain  for 
seven  years  untroubled  by  any  electoral  agitation,  Villele  procured 
the  repeal  of  the  article  of  the  constitution  ordaining  the  yearly 
renewal  of  one-fifth  of  the  representatives,  and  substituted  there- 
for one  providing  that  all  the  members  should  be  elected  for 
seven  years,  and  the  whole  Chamber  renewed  at  the  end  of  that 
period.  The  new  portfolio  of  public  worship  and  instruction  was 
confided  to  Bishop  Frayssinous,  who  put  the  entire  school  system 
into  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  and  removed  all  liberal  teachers. 
And  what  was  still  to  come  when  the  Count  of  Artois  himself, 
the  head  of  the  Ultras,  should  sit  upon  the  throne  ?  Owing  to 
Louis's  failing  health,  he  already  practically  had  the  reins  in  his 
hands.  September  IGth,  1824,  the  king  died,  having  in  his  last 
days,  full  of  gloomy  forebodings,  said  warningly  to  his  brother, 
"Do  not  forget  that  you  have  to  preserve  the  throne  for  youi 
son  and  grandson  !" 

According  to  custom,  King  Charles  opened  his  reign  by  acts  jf 


96  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

mercy.  He  granted  amnesty  to  political  offenders,  and  abolished 
the  censorship  of  the  Press.  But  the  aristocratical  and  ecclesias- 
tical party — the  Congregation — would  not  let  him  escape  from 
their  hands  even  if  he  had  wished  to.  In  the  Chamber  cf  18? 5 
they  passed  three  laws — for  the  establishment  of  more  convents. 
for  women,  which  was  merely  a  pretext  for  the  re-establishment 
of  the  cloisters  in  general ;  for  the  indemnification  of  the  emigre*, 
by  which  the  public  debt  was  increased  one  milliard  francs;  and 
for  the  punishment  of  sacrilege,  by  which  not  only  theft,  but 
also  desecration  of  the  host  and  the  holy  vessels,  was  punished 
with  death.  And  they  might  consider  themselves  fortunate,  the 
minister  of  justice  said,  to  escape  a  law  against  blasphemy. 
Charles's  true  nature  was  becoming  constantly  more  evident.  He 
retired  167  generals  of  the  empire,  revived  the  ridiculous  old 
court  titles,  and  caused  himself  to  be  crowned  at  Rheims,  May 
29th,  1825,  with  medieval  splendor.  In  the  great  processions  of 
the  jubilee  year,  1826,  in  a  violet  prelate's  robe,  at  the  head  of  his 
court,  he  sung  the  miserere  through  the  streets  of  Paris.  The  sin- 
ister Abbe  Tharin,  who  had  declared  the  Jesuits  the  heaven-sent 
props  of  monarchy,  was  made  tutor  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux. 
The  king  allowed  his  grand  almoner,  the  Prince  of  Croi,  in  a  pas- 
toral letter,  to  pronounce  all  civil  marriage  concubinage,  and  hence 
null,  and  to  attach  ecclesiastical  penalties  to  neglect  of  the  mass 
and  confession.  Against  this  "  Capuchin  government,"  which  af- 
forded the  popular  poet  Beranger  so  much  material  for  satire,  the 
public  sentiment  grew  constantly  stronger,  for  the  Frenchman  is 
a  Roman  Catholic,  but  not  a  bigot.  The  newspapers  were  excited 
over  the  encroachments  of  the  clergy,  and  the  jealousy  of  the  courts 
for  the  independence  of  the  Press  procured  the  acquittal  of  the 
journalists  in  all  the  suits  by  which  Villele  sought  to  clog  them. 
Even  the  Chambers  were  no  longer  willing  to  lend  themselves  as 
tools  to  such  a  ministry.  The  Chamber  of  Peers  rejected  the 
new  Press  law,  which  sought  to  stifle  all  education  and  intelli- 
gence, make  France  a  Jesuit  machine,  and  set  it  back  into  the 
times  of  the  inquisition.  A  few  days  after  this  defeat  the  min- 
istry had  to  listen  to  still  plainer  language.  At  a  review  of  the 
national  guard  which  Charles  held  April  27th,  1827,  the  cry 
rung  out,  "Long  live  the  king!"  but  along  with  this  the  cries, 
"Long  live  the  constitution  !  Down  with  the  ministers!  Down 
with  the  Jesuits !"  And  on  their  return  to  the  city  one  legion 


VILLELE'S  FALL.— THE   MARTJGNAC  MINISTRY.  97 

cried  out  before  the  palace  of  the  finance  department,  "Down 
with  Villele!"  He  replied  by  disbanding  the  national  guard,  al- 
though he  left  them  their  weapons.  He  restored  the  censorship 
of  the  Press — only  to  abolish  it  again  half  a  year  later — caused 
seventy-six  new  peers  to  be  added  to  the  upper  house,  and  dis- 
solved the  Chambers.  But  his  clerical  system  of  government  had 
become  so  unpopular,  that,  notwithstanding  all  his  efforts  at  the 
new  elections,  out  of  428  representatives  only  125  were  minis- 
terialists. Several  quarters  in  Paris  celebrated  this  popular  vic- 
tory by  illuminations ;  barricades  were  erected,  and  the  soldiers 
had  to  clear  the  streets  by  firing.  It  was  evident  that  if  Villele 
retained  his  post  there  would  be  a  revolution  in  Paris. 

So  Charles  allowed  his  minister  to  fall,  and  summoned,  January 
24th,  1828,  Viscount  de  Martignac  as  president  of  the  ministry. 
Martignac  was  a  skilful  and  experienced  man  of  affairs,  and  a 
man  of  honorable  character,  but  without  a  high  order  of  political 
sagacity,  and  lacking  conviction — a  temporizer,  whose  programme, 
as  the  Ultras  sarcastically  said,  was  comprised  in  the  few  words, 
"  I  love  papa,  the  good  God ;  I  love  mamma,  the  Revolution." 
The  speech  from  the  throne  dwelt  on  the  sea-fight  at  Navarino, 
and  France's  participation  in  the  liberation  of  Greece.  To  recon- 
cile the  opposition,  Martignac  brought  before  the  Chamber  liberal 
election  and  Press  laws,  and  effected  the  departure  of  a  great  part 
of  the  Jesuits  through  a  decree  by  which  the  eight  Jesuit  schools 
were  to  be  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  University,  while 
none  of  the  instructors  employed  by  the  University  could  belong 
to  an  unauthorized  religious  society.  Greatly  against  his  will, 
Charles  consented  to  these  innovations  of  the  ministry  which  had 
been  forced  upon  him,  and  worked  with  his  confidential  advisers 
against  them.  The  popular  manifestations  with  which  he  was 
greeted  on  a  journey  through  Alsace  and  Lorraine  strengthened 
his  belief  that  the  real  people  were  for  him  alone,  and  cared 
nothing  for  the  constitution,  and  that  the  Chamber  and  the  Press 
misguided  the  Parisians.  As  the  Chamber  showed  itself  not  quite 
satisfied  with  Martignac,  and  meddled  with  the  number  and  pay 
of  the  royal  adjutants,  he  dismissed  the  ministry  and  named  a  new 
cabinet,  August  8th,  1829,  from  the  ultra-royalists.  At  the  head 
of  this  stood  the  Prince  de  Polignac,  whose  poverty  of  intellect 
kept  even  pace  with  his  obstinacy  of  will.  The  war  department 
•was  conducted  by  Count  Bourmont,  the  traitor  of  Waterloo. 

5 


98  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

The  appointment  of  this  ministry,  which  made  the  royal  words, 
"No  more  concessions!"  its  programme,  appeared  to  the  liberals 
an  open  declaration  of  war,  the  unfurling  of  the  banner  of  the 
counter-revolution.  Even  royalists  found  fault  with  this  blunder 
on  the  king's  part,  and  saw  in  it  the  beginning  of  the  end.  The 
Press  ventured  on  the  most  violent  attacks,  and  numerous  were 
the  acquittals  of  journalists  before  the  courts.  Secret  societies 
were  formed  everywhere — some  of  them  with  republican  princi- 
ples— and  maintained  connections  with  the  revolutionists  in  the 
other  Latin  countries.  There  was  already  talk  of  refusing  to  pay 
taxes,  and  associations  were  started  for  the  indemnification  of 
those  condemned  for  such  refusal.  The  society,  "  Aide  tot  et  le 
del  faidera"  already  in  existence,  took  on  new  activity.  The 
outspoken  tactics  of  all  the  elements  of  opposition  were :  "  To 
make  all  government  impossible,  in  order  to  overthrow  the  existing 
one."  The  old  friend  of  the  people,  Lafayette,  was  received  like  a 
monarch  at  Grenoble  and  Lyons  on  a  tour  through  southern  France; 
crowns  and  escorts  of  honor,  serenades  and  illuminations  were 
forced  upon  him ;  while  the  dauphin,  the  Duke  of  Angouleme, 
who  travelled  through  Normandy  at  the  same  time,  did  not  receive 
the  slightest  token  of  honor  from  the  people,  not  even  one  cheer, 
and  most  of  the  ladies  of  Cherbourg  refused  to  take  part  in  the 
grand  ball  in  his  honor.  The  language  of  the  new  opposition  sheet, 
the  National,  issued  by  the  historians  Thiers  and  Mignet,  was  plain 
and  incisive.  When  they  spoke  of  the  Stuarts  and  the  English 
revolution  of  1688 — how  there  was  no  social  storm,  but  only  a 
change  of  dynasty ;  how  there  the  people  had  refused  to  regard 
as  their  sovereign  a  king  who  did  not  respect  their  rights,  and  set 
his  own  will  higher  than  Parliament  and  the  constitution ;  how 
they  refused  him  allegiance,  yet  allowed  him  to  escape  unmolest- 
ed to  France,  while  they  intrusted  themselves  to  a  man  \vlio  gave 
greater  securities  for  the  strict  observance  of  the  constitution,  the 
great  Orange,  William  III. — who  was  there  to  whom  the  allusion 
to  the  incorrigible  Bourbons  did  not  sound  like  a  prophecy  ?  who 
was  there  to  whom  there  did  not,  at  the  same  time,  occur  the 
name  of  him  to  whom  in  France  tire  role  of  Orange  should  be 
assigned  ? 

The  Chambers  were  reopened  March  2d,  1830.  In  his  speech 
from  the  throne,  Charles  let  it  be  plainly  understood  that  his  roy- 
al prerogative  was  superior  to  the  constitution,  and  that  he  was 


DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  CHAMBER.— CONQUEST  OF  ALGIERS.   99 

prepared  to  meet  revolutionary  machinations  with  force.  That 
at  the  end  of  his  speech  his  hat  fell  to  the  ground,  and  that  it  was 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  who  picked  it  up,  was  regarded  as  an  omen. 
The  address  prepared  by  the  Chamber,  in  answer  to  the  speech 
from  the  throne,  dwelt  on  the  sanctity  of  the  constitution  as  op- 
posed to  the  prerogative  of  the  crown,  and  contained  a  definite 
vote  of  lack  of  confidence  in  the  ministry.  It  was  adopted  by 
221  votes  to  181.  The  king's  reply  to  the  deputation  which  pre- 
sented the  address  was  that  he  regretted  its  contents,  and  that  his 
resolutions  were  not  to  be  altered.  He  was  not  to  be  moved  to  a 
change  of  the  hated  ministry.  He  would  be  found  like  a  rock, 
he  announced  to  his  friends,  if  the  attempt  were  made  to  prescribe 
his  ministers ;  he  would  fight,  if  need  be ;  he  would  rather  walk  as 
he  pleased  than  ride  as  others  pleased.  The  Chamber  was  at  once 
prorogued.  Soon  after,  May  16th,  it  was  dissolved.  The  electoral 
colleges  were  summoned  for  the  end  of  June  and  beginning  of  July, 
and  August  3d  was  set  for  the  opening  of  the  new  Chamber. 

The  government  spared  no  means  to  control  the  elections,  and 
return  a  majority  of  the  delegates.  And  could  there  be  a  more 
effective  means  to  turn  excited  spirits  into  other  channels,  and 
surround  the  government  with  intoxicating  popularity,  than  to 
undertake  a  military  expedition,  and  come  before  the  nation  so 
susceptible  to  military  glory  with  new  trophies?  The  opportunity 
was  not  lacking.  In  April,  1827,  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  in  a  dispute 
regarding  some  money  matters,  had  struck  the  French  consul  sev- 
eral blows  in  the  face  with  his  fly-fan,  and  this  was  still  unavenged. 
War  was  now  declared,  a  powerful  fleet  fitted  out,  and  42,000 
men  embarked.  Bourmont,  the  minister  of  war,  took  the  chief 
command — a  man  so  hated  that  the  people  wished  him  defeat  in- 
stead of  victory.  June  14th,  the  troops  landed  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Algiers.  The  Arabs,  40,000  to  50,000  strong,  mostly 
mounted,  attacked,  June  19th,  before  the  French  cavalry  were  dis- 
embarked, but  were  routed ;  and  their  camp  with  the  supplies  of 
food  and  ammunition  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands.  Thereupon 
the  French  moved  upon  Algiers,  occupied  the  heights  command- 
ing the  city,  and  bombarded  it,  July  4th,  from  the  land  side  as 
well  as  from  the  water.  The  Dey  had  to  yield,  and  embarked  for 
Naples  with  his  treasures.  On  the  5th  of  July  the  French  entered 
Algiers,  where  they  found  48,000,000  francs  in  money,  besides  a 
quantity  of  valuable  wares  and  military  supplies. 


100  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

Bat  if  the  ministers  thought  that  they  could  intoxicate  the  na- 
tion by  this  brilliant  action,  they  were  enabled  by  the  result  of 
the  elections  to  perceive  how  greatly  they  had  been  deceived. 
That  this  expedition  was  to  be  nothing  but  a  channel  to  lead  off 
political  excitement,  was  too  apparent  for  it  to  make  any  impres- 
sion. The  call  issued  by  the  society  Aide  toi,  to  re-elect  the  221 
signers  of  the  address,  met  with  a  favorable  reception.  Among 
the  members  elected,  the  supporters  of  the  ministry  numbered 
only  145,  the  opposition  272,  among  whom  were  202  of  the  sign- 
ers. For  the  second  time  the  country  had  spoken.  But  was  it 
heard?  The  king  supported  his  position  by  article  14  of  the  con- 
stitution, which  empowered  him  "  to  issue  the  decrees  and  ordi- 
nances necessary  to  the  carrying  out  of  the  laws,  and  for  the  safe- 
ty of  the  state."  If  he  interpreted  this  to  mean  that  he  was 
thereby  justified  in  unconstitutional  enactments,  he  was  in  a  posi- 
tion similar  to  that  of  James  II.  of  England,  in  1685,  who  claimed 
the  right  to  dispense  himself  and  others  from  the  operation  of  any 
law,  to  which  it  was  replied  that  in  that  case  it  was  impossible  to 
understand  to  what  end  Parliament  and  legislation  served. 

Charles  had  determined  upon  a  bold  measure.  Five  ordinances 
were  to  establish  quiet  as  at  the  word  of  military  command.  The 
Chamber,  which  had  not  yet  met,  was  dissolved,  and  new  elections 
ordered  for  September.  The  previous  electoral  system  was  abol- 
ished, the  suffrage  made  a  privilege  of  the  richest  landholders 
only,  and  the  number  of  delegates  reduced  from  430  to  262. 
All  newspapers  and  books  of  less  than  twenty  sheets  required  a 
royal  permit  before  they  could  appear,  and  this  permit  might  be 
retracted  at  pleasure. 

These  were  changes  of  the  constitution  which  could  be  effected 
only  by  the  Chambers,  in  concert  with  the  king,  consequently  as 
royal  ordinances  illegal  and  invalid.  Circumspection  was,  at  all 
events,  advisable.  In  the  cabinet  meeting,  Polignac,  who  also  ad- 
ministered the  war  department  in  Bourmont's  absence,  was  asked 
what  military  precautions  had  been  taken.  His  answer  was  that 
he  could  assemble  18,000  men  in  Paris  in  a  few  hours.  In  fact, 
he  could  dispose  of  scarcely  more  than  11,000,  and  these  had 
already  somewhat  fraternized  with  the  population,  as  they  had 
been  stationed  in  Paris  six  weeks.  The  command  of  this  force 
was  given  to  Marshal  Marmont,  who  had  a  grudge  against  the 
court  because  the  expedition  against  Algiers  had  not  been  com- 


PREPARING  FOR  A  REVOLUTION.  101 

initted  to  him,  and  against  whom  the  people  had  a  grudge  be- 
cause he  had  gone  over  to  the  Bourbons  in  1814.  No  one  was 
initiated  into  the  secret  of  the  ordinances  excepting  the  king,  the 
dauphin,  the  ministers,  and  the  papal  nuncio,  Lambruschini.  This 
latter  urged  the  king  to  extreme  measures,  hoping  in  that  way  to 
establish  the  clerical  system  firmly  in  France,  and  from  France  to 
support  the  same  in  Spain  and  Portugal.  Even  Marmont  did  not 
know  the  secret,  and  hence  could  make  no  preparations.  The  pre- 
fect of  police,  who  was  willing  to  stake  his  head  that,  whatever 
happened,  Paris  should  not  rise,  was  equally  in  the  dark. 

June  25th,  the  ordinances  were  signed  at  St.  Cloud.  Once 
more  the  blissfully  confident  Polignac  averred  that  opposition  on 
the  part  of  the  people  was  impossible — that  the  most  effective 
measures  of  precaution  had  been  taken.  The  king  was  in  a 
thoughtful  mood,  and  said  to  his  ministers,  as  they  were  leaving, 
"  These  are  sp rious  measures ;  you  can  count  on  me  as  I  count 
on  you.  Henceforward  it  is  a  matter  of  life  and  death  with  us." 
At  eleven  o'clock  at  night  the  editor  of  the  Moniteur  was  sum- 
moned to  the  ministry  of  justice,  and  the  ordinances  handed  to  him 
to  be  printed.  "  Well,"  asked  Montbel,  the  minister  of  public  in- 
struction, as  the  editor  hastily  read  them  over,  "  what  do  you  say 
to  that  ?"  "  God  preserve  France  and  the  king  !"  was  the  reply  ; 
"  I  have  seen  all  the  struggles  of  the  revolution,  and  I  leave  with 
serious  apprehensions  of  new  commotions."  He  hurried  to  the 
printing-office  to  impart  through  the  columns  of  the  Moniteur 
the  important  document  to  the  Parisians  at  their  breakfast  on 
the  morning  of  June  26th.  Even  if  they  were  no  more  startled 
by  it  than  M.  Sauvo,  the  editor,  it  was  still  very  questionable 
whether  Prince  Polignac,  with  his  Marmont  and  his  11,000  sol- 
diers, could  hold  in  check  such  a  city  as  Paris.  The  Rubicon  was 
crossed ;  but  not  every  one  who  crosses  it  is  a  Caesar. 


102  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 


SECOND  PERIOD.    1830-1848. 

THE  JULY  REVOLUTION,  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES  FOR  EUROPE. 


FRANCE,  AND    THE   "  GREAT    WEEK." 

THE  Constitutional  party  set  their  hopes  on  Louis  Philippe, 
Duke  of  Orleans.  This  prince,  born  in  1773,  was  the  son  of  that 
notorious  Egalite  who  during  the  revolution  had  ended  his  check- 
ered career  under  the  guillotine.  His  grandmother  was  the  noble 
Elizabeth  Charlotte,  a  native  of  the  Palatinate,  who  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  be  the  wife  of  the  effeminate  Duke  of  Orleans,  brother 
of  Louis  XIV.  Louis  Philippe  was  a  Bourbon,  like  King  Charles; 
but  the  opposition  of  several  members  of  this  Orleans  branch  to 
the  royal  house  had  caused  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  separate  fam- 
ily. From  his  youth  up  he  had  displayed  a  great  deal  of  popu- 
lar spirit  and  common-sense,  and  he  was  also  gifted  with  an  ex- 
cellent memory.  With  youthful  enthusiasm,  he  cast  himself  into 
the  movement  of  1789 ;  was  present  at  the  storming  of  the  Bas- 
tile,  and  entered  the  Jacobite  club.  In  the  battle  of  Jemappes 
he  served  with  distinction  as  a  republican  officer;  but,  with  Gen- 
eral Dumouriez,  he  left  the  army  after  the  execution  of  the  king. 
He  first  repaired  to  the  Austrian  camp ;  thence  he  went  to  Switz- 
erland, where,  October,  1793,  he  took  a  position  as  teacher  in  a 
boarding-school  at  Reichenau,  near  Chur,  under  the  name  of  Cha- 
baud  Latour,  while  his  sister  Adele  found  an  asylum  in  the  con- 
vent of  Bremgarten.  After  a  residence  of  one  year,  he  left  Rei- 
chenau, spurred  by  Dumouriez  into  becoming  pretender.  He  wan- 
dered through  Scandinavia,  and  lived  for  three  years  in  America; 
then  returned  to  England,  and  sought  a  reconciliation  with  the 
older  Bourbon  line,  which,  however,  always  regarded  him  with  sus- 


LOUIS  PHILIPPE,  DUKE   OF  ORLEANS.  103 

picion.  His  efforts  to  fight  against  Napoleon  on  some  battle-field 
were,  fortunately  for  him,  unsuccessful ;  and  during  the  July  rev- 
olution his  friends  constantly  laid  emphasis  on  the  fact  that  he 
had  never  borne  arms  against  France.  In  the  year  1809  he  mar- 
ried a  Neapolitan  princess,  Marie  Amalie.  On  his  return  to  France, 
he  was  admired  for  his  sagacity  and  knowledge,  in  contrast  with 
which  the  inability  of  the  Bourbons  appeared  the  more  marked. 
He  lived  with  his  family  in  a  very  retired  manner.  His  private 
life  was  exemplary — a  model  of  simplicity  and  good  behavior. 
He  sent  his  sons  to  the  College  de  f ranee  to  consort  with  lads  of 
common  origin,  which  added  greatly  to  his  popularity.  He  was 
careful  in  the  management  of  his  money  matters,  and  knew  how 
to  increase  his  fortune ;  but  he  made  a  good  use  of  his  money, 
supporting  artists  and  artisans  by  his  orders,  and  helping  many 
unfortunates. 

Such  virtues,  to  which  must  be  added  his  natural  eloquence 
and  his  free  and  open  bearing  toward  men  of  all  sorts,  could  not 
but  make  him  a  man  of  the  people,  especially  of  the  educated 
class  which  constitutes  the  Bourgeoisie.  Seemingly  created  by 
his  nature  and  career  to  be  a  citizen  king,  he  had  long  since,  as 

~ *  c5  ' 

early  as  1814,  determined  to  accept  the  throne  in  case  it  were 
offered  him.  But  he  wished  to  avoid  the  reproach  of  having 
thrust  out  his  kinsmen.  He  held  himself  justified  in  accepting 
the  vacant  but  not  the  occupied  throne  of  France.  Bitterly  hated 
in  royalist  circles,  he  was  so  much  the  more  popular  with  the  op- 
position. The  discontented  came  and  went  in  the  Palais  Royal 
and  the  country  palace  of  Nenilly,  and  prominent  among  them 
were  Dupin  the  lawyer  and  Lafitte  the  banker,  two  of  his  staunch- 
est  and  most  trusted  supporters. 

No  wonder  that  he  was  in  bad  repute  with  the  Bourbon  court, 
which  attributed  to  him  an  improper  eagerness  to  step  into  its 
shoes!  Louis  XVIII.  and  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme  did  not 
conceal  their  aversion  for  him,  and  the  former  even  refused  him 
the  title  "  royal  highness."  Louis's  feelings  were  pretty  clearly 
shown  on  occasion  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry  begging  him  to  give 
her  a  cabriolet  like  that  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  He  counselled 
her  against  an  equipage  so  frail  and  dangerous,  and,  when  she  de- 
murred that  it  was  also  dangerous  for  the  duke,  he  replied  that  it 
was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him  whether  the  duke  broke  his 
neck  or  not.  After  the  assassination  of  the  Duke  of  Berry,  mat- 


104  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

ters  became  still  worse,  since  after  Angouleme  the  Duke  of  Or- 
leans was  the  next  heir;  and  when  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  came 
into  the  world,  and  there  appeared  in  the  English  papers  a  pro- 
test— not  genuine,  of  course — from  the  Duke  of  Orleans  against 
the  legitimacy  of  the  child  that  had  snatched  his  hopes  of  the 
throne  out  of  his  mouth,  as  it  were,  it  almost  resulted  in  a  second 
exile.  Even  King  Charles,  who  knew  how  to  conceal  his  distrust 
better  than  his  brother  had  done,  had  to  exert  great  self-control 
in  order,  without  evident  unwillingness,  to  accompany  his  guests, 
the  King  and  Queen  of  Naples,  to  a  ball  at  the  Duke  of  Orleans's. 
It  was  in  1830,  during  the  political  excitement,  shortly  before  the 
fateful  elections.  M.  de  Salvandy  made  up  to  the  duke,  and  whis- 
pered to  him, "  It  is  a  truly  Neapolitan  fete  :  we  are  dancing  on 
a  volcano."  The  duke  entered  into  his  meaning,  and  rejoined, 
"  It  seemed  so  to  him,  too.  The  blame  did  not  lie  with  him ; 
he  had  tried  in  vain  to  open  the  king's  eyes ;  he  did  not  know 
where  they  would  all  be  in  six  months ;  where  he  would  be,  he 
knew.  He  would  not  separate  his  fate  from  that  of  his  conn- 
try;  that  was  his  unalterable  purpose."  Not  six,  but  scarcely 
two  months  later,  the  duke  was  in  a  position  where  he  had  to 
express  himself  unequivocally  regarding  his  purposes. 

Monday,  July  26th,  the  ordinances  appeared  in  the  Moniteur. 
The  educated  classes  were  filled  with  anger  and  astonishment ;  the 
masses  did  not  yet  rightly  comprehend  the  case.  Here  and  there 
meetings  of  electors  and  journalists  assembled.  There  was  talk 
of  protests;  the  more  zealous  demanded  deeds.  In  the  office  of 
Thiers's  paper,  the  National,  the  excitement  was  intense.  While 
a  few  of  the  larger  papers  complied  with  the  new  requirements 
and  procured  permission  to  continue,  the  opposition  papers  paid 
no  heed  to  the  decree.  The  journalists  gathered  at  Thiers's,  and 
drew  up  a  protest  containing  forty-three  signatures.  This  was 
printed  that  evening.  In  the  garden  of  the  Palais  Royal  the  or- 
dinances were  read  aloud  by  young  people.  In  the  evening  the 
printers  paraded  the  streets  in  closed  ranks,  crying,  "Down  with 
the  ministers!"  Polignac  was  just  driving  to  his  palace;  he  was 
greeted  with  a  volley  of  stones,  and  his  office-windows  were  bro- 
ken. The  king  returned  from  hunting  late  in  the  evening.  Mar- 
mont  informed  him  that  government  paper  had  fallen  on  the  ap- 
pearance of  that  morning's  Moniteur.  "  It  will  rise  again,"  re- 
plied the  king. 


STREET-FIGHT   OF  JULY   28.  105 

The  situation  on  the  following  day  was  far  more  serious.  The 
prefect  of  police  caused  the  presses  of  the  National  and  the  Temps, 
the  two  papers  which  had  printed  the  protest,  to  be  destroyed. 
They  were  set  up  again  with  little  labor.  The  protest  was  eager- 
ly read  in  all  stores  and  cafes.  On  the  streets  were  to  be  seen 
suspicious  crowds.  The  discharged  printers,  numerous  factory 
laborers,  students,  and  shopmen  moved  in  a  mass  to  the  Palais 
Royal,  threw  stones  at  the  gensdarmes,  and  erected  barricades. 
In  the  evening  Marmont  caused  the  troops  to  advance  on  them. 
Several  persons  were  killed  or  wounded,  and  the  rage  of  the  peo- 
ple thereby  increased.  All  the  street  lamps  were  broken,  and 
communication  between  the  barracks  and  military  posts  thus  ren- 
dered impossible.  Instead  of  summoning  from  Vincennes  artil- 
lery and  whatever  other  troops  were  to  be  had,  the  apathetic  Mar- 
mont made  no  preparations  for  the  following  day,  although  all 
the  signs  pointed  to  a  fight.  The  people  had  already  plundered 
those  stores  where  weapons  were  to  be  had,  and  the  marshal  had 
already  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  how  little  the  troops  were 
disposed  to  fire  on  them.  Only  the  Guards  and  the  Swiss  could 
be  relied  on. 

Wednesday,  July  28th,  at  an  early  hour,  the  streets  were  full  of 
life.  Everywhere  there  were  armed  men  ;  among  these  there  were 
even  soldiers  of  the  national  guard,  in  uniform.  The  pavements 
were  torn  up,  barricades  erected,  the  houses  filled  with  missiles ; 
arms  were  taken  from  the  military  magazines,  powder  and  shot 
procured  in  the  shops ;  the  royal  lilies  and  arms  were  torn  down, 
the  signs  of  the  court  purveyors  taken  in.  "  Down  with  the  Bour- 
bons !"  was  the  cry  of  the  day — no  longer  merely,  "  Down  with 
the  ministers !"  The  city  hall  was  taken  by  one  quick  rush,  and 
from  it  and  from  the  tower  of  Notre  Dame  waved  the  symbol  of 
revolution — the  tricolor.  At  length  the  order  came  to  declare  the 
city  in  a  state  of  siege.  But  what  were  the  means  to  carry  it  out? 
The  prefect  of  police  and  his  officers  were  in  hiding  or  had  fled, 
and  Marmont,  with  his  few,  and  for  the  most  part  discouraged, 
troops,  was  to  begin  a  battle  with  the  great  city,  in  which  every- 
thing that  had  arms  and  hands,  even  women  and  boys,  was  re- 
solved upon  desperate  resistance.  It  was  more  than  a  mere  "  cham- 
ber-pot war,"  as  the  soldiers  expressed  it.  Marmont  kept  his  men 
together  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Tuileries,  sending  out  four 
detachments  to  the  most  important  streets  and  squares.  Every- 

5* 


106  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

where  they  found  barricades,  which,  if  carried,  closed  again  behind 
them,  while  rioters  lay  in  wait  for  them  on  the  roofs  and  at  every 
window.  General  Talon  did  succeed,  it  is  true,  in  recapturing  the 
city  hall  after  an  obstinate  fight  and  a  hail-storm  of  grape-shot ; 
but  here  he  was  himself  besieged,  and  had  reason  to  be  glad  that, 
under  cover  of  the  night,  he  reached  the  Tuileries  with  a  whole 
skin.  The  remaining  divisions  accomplished  nothing ;  and  since 
no  arrangements  had  been  made  to  provision  the  troops,  and  they 
were  left  in  the  burning  July  heat  the  whole  day  without  refresh- 
ments, they  were  in  a  doleful  humor.  On  the  other  hand,  the  de- 
fenders of  the  barricades,  who  were  partly  led  by  students  of  the 
Polytechnic  School,  were  supplied  with  provisions  from  all  sides. 
There  was  nothing  left,  therefore,  but  to  withdraw  all  the  troops 
from  the  city  in  the  evening,  and  resume  the  former  position.  To 
be  sure,  they  had  not  more  than  400  men  disabled,  but  the  spirit 
and  readiness  to  fight  were  completely  gone.  Even  officers  of  the 
Guard  refused  to  fight  any  longer  against  the  people,  and  took 
their  discharge.  Marmont  already  gave  up  all  as  lost.  He  wished 
to  make  of  Paris  no  second  Saragossa.  There  was  left  him  noth- 
ing but  the  role  of  the  conquered. 

In  the  afternoon  several  delegates  to  the  Chamber  met  at 
Perier's  house.  Lafayette  and  Lafitte  were  also  present.  It  was 
resolved  to  send  a  committee  of  five  to  Marmont,  and  request  the 
cessation  of  hostilities.  His  friend  Arago  had  been  with  him 
shortly  before,  and  had  advised  him  to  lay  down  the  command 
at  once.  But  Marmont  could  not  reconcile  this  with  his  military 
honor,  for  to  give  in  his  resignation  at  that  moment  were  treason. 
He  could  only  comply  with  the  request  of  the  five  delegates  in 
case  the  people  also  ceased  hostilities.  However,  he  declared  him- 
self in  agreement  with  them  as  to  their  grievances  against  the 
government,  and  sent  an  adjutant  to  St.  Cloud  with  a  letter  ad- 
vising the  king  to  repeal  the  ordinances  and  dismiss  the  ministry, 
according  to  the  wishes  of  the  people.  Charles,  however,  saw  in 
the  movement  no  revolution,  but  a  plot  contrived  by  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  which  Marmont  would  soon  dispose  of.  But  the  difficul- 
ties were  increasing  enormously.  In  the  night,  as  soon  as  the 
troops  were  withdrawn,  barricades  twenty  feet  apart  were  erected 
in  all  the  streets,  and  the  city  thus  turned  into  a  fortress  impene- 
trable for  artillery  and  cavalry. 

Thursday,  July  29th,  Marmont  had  scarcely  7000  men   left. 


TOO   LATE  !— REPUBLIC  OR   MONARCHY?  107 

He  attempted  negotiations,  and  issued  a  proclamation  promising 
to  put  a  stop  to  hostilities  if  the  people  would  do  the  same. 
But  there  was  no  one  there  to  print  it,  no  one  to  circulate  it. 
Then  came  the  news  that  two  regiments  had  gone  over  to  the 
people.  The  end  quickly  followed.  The  Louvre  was  stormed ; 
the  Ttiileries  were  broken  into,  and  many  valuable  articles  carried 
off  or  destroyed.  The  scenes  of  1792  were  re-enacted.  A  wild 
crowd  of  men  and  women  roamed  through  the  archbishop's  pal- 
ace searching  for  Jesuits ;  books  and  vestments  were  hurled  out 
of  the  windows,  and  everything  was  destroyed  down  to  the  foun- 
dation-walls. In  the  fury  of  the  fight  many  isolated  outposts 
were  pitilessly  massacred.  Toward  evening  all  fighting  ceased. 
The  people  were  victorious  at  every  point.  Marmont  had  to 
give  the  command  to  retreat  to  St.  Cloud.  The  loss  on  both 
sides  was  951  killed,  and  5078  wounded. 

Now  was  the  time  for  the  delegates,  who  had  assembled  at 
Lafitte's,  to  give  a  positive  direction  to  the  hitherto  negative 
movement,  and  guide  back  into  its  bed  the  raging  stream.  A 
"  municipal  committee  "  was  formed,  consisting  of  Lafitte,  Perier, 
Lobau,  Audry  de  Puyraveau,  Mauguin,  and  Odilon  Barrot.  Lafay- 
ette, the  aged  republican,  became  once  more  commander  of  the 
national  guard.  Both  departments — civil  and  military — took  up 
their  head-quarters  in  the  city  hall,  and  despatched  the  most  press- 
ing business. 

When  Marmont  and  his  adjutants,  covered  with  sweat  and  dust, 
arrived  at  St.  Cloud,  and  unveiled  the  picture  of  Paris  as  it  was, 
the  king  at  length  resolved  to  repeal  the  ordinances,  dismiss  the 
ministry,  summon,  the  hated  opposition  Chamber  for  August  3d, 
restore  the  national  guard,  and  name  a  new  ministry  under  the 
Duke  of  Mortemart.  Three  commissioners  hastened  to  Paris  with 
this  news — which  might  have  saved  the  dynasty  on  July  27th — 
but  they  were  not  received  by  the  committee,  under  the  pretence 
that  they  had  no  written  authorization.  By  the  populace  they 
were  greeted  with  the  cry,  "  Too  late  !  no  Bourbons  more  !"  The 
Duke  of  Mortemart  received  the  same  answer  when,  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  he  came  to  Paris,  and  sought  to  make  interest 
for  his  new  ministry. 

The  time  had  now  come  when  the  question  of  a  definitive 
form  of  government  must  be  decided.  The  question  was,  quite 
simply,  republic  or  monarchy  ?  The  men  who  had  won  the  vie- 


108  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

tory — the  laboring  classes,  the  students,  the  young  men  in  gen- 
eral, and  the  old  Carbonari — would  hear  nothing  more  of  a  king- 
dom, and  spoke  of  the  sovereign  people,  which  should  manage  its 
government  for  itself.  Th^^  jsocjeiy  -of_  friends  of  the  people," 
consisting  wholly  of  pronounced  republicans,  issued  a  proclama- 
tion to  that  effect.  Those  who  wished  to  see  the  monarchy  re- 
tained under  a  different  head  had  to  act  all  the  more  quickly. 
To  the  latter  belonged  the  majority  of  delegates  to  the  Chamber, 
the  middle  classes,  and  the  national  guard,  none  of  whom  had 
rendered  much  assistance  toward  the  victory,  but  who  could  not 
think  of  the  republic  freed  from  its  terrors.  One  man  held  the 
decision  in  his  hands.  If  Lafayette,  who  enjoyed  unlimited  con- 
fidence, spoke  the  word  "  republic,"  it  would  be  taken  up  by 
thousands  in  an  instant,  and  become  an  irrevocable  fact.  He  did 
not  speak  it  on  Friday,  July  30th,  and  Lafitte  and  his  friends 
made  every  effort  to  win  him  for  the  man  of  their  party. 

On  the  28th  of  July  Lafitte,  who,  as  member  of  the  opposition, 
a  man  of  character,  and  a  rich  banker,  was  in  good  repute,  began 
to  hint  at  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  On  the  29th  he  had  sent  him 
word  at  Neuilly  that  he  must  come  to  Paris  with  all  speed,  other- 
wise the  republic,  or  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt,  would  be  proclaimed 
on  the  next  day.  He  could  choose  between  a  crown  and  a  pass- 
port. But  the  duke  was  very  much  on  his  guard ;  he  wished  to 
await  complete  victory,  in  order  that  he  might  have  nothing  what- 
ever to  fear  from  St.  Cloud.  So,  in  order  to  avoid  being  forcibly 
carried  off  by  his  friends,  he  retired  to  a  neighboring  house.  On 
Friday  Thiers,  who  had  already  done  effective  work  for  him  by  a 
proclamation,  came  to  Neuilly,  but  did  not  see  him.  The  duchess 
was  very  reticent,  but  his  sister  Adele  was  resolved  to  influence 
him  to  accept.  On  his  return  to  Paris,  Thiers  attended  a  meet- 
ing of  fifty  delegates  in  the  Bourbon  palace.  Lafitte  presided, 
and  it  was  decided  to  name  the  Duke  of  Orleans  lieutenant-gen- 
eral of  the  kingdom,  and  invite  him  to  come  to  Paris.  Twelve 
members  went  to  the  Palais  Royal,  and,  as  they  did  not  find  him 
there,  sent  a  message  to  Neuilly. 

Prince  Talleyrand  advised  him  to  accept,  and  he  at  length  left 
his  concealment,  and  arrived  at  the  Palais  Royal  at  midnight,  a 
tricolored  ribbon  about  his  hat.  He  caused  the  Duke  of  Morte- 
mart  to  be  summoned,  and  said  to  him,  "Report  to  the  king  that 
I  have  been  brought  hither  by  force,  but  that  I  would  rather  let 


LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND   LAFAYETTE.  109 

myself  be  hewn  to  pieces  than  set  the  crown  on  my  head  !" 
Soon  afterward,  however,  the  twelve  delegates  came  to  him,  and 
explained  that  he  did  not  seem  to  comprehend  the  truth — that 
there  could  be  no  more  thought  of  Charles  X.  Thereupon  he 
committed  to  them  a  proclamation  concluding  with  the  words, 
"  The  constitution  shall  henceforth  be  a  reality."  The  fifty  mem- 
bers of  the  Chamber  received  this  with  joy;  and,  when  they  heard 
that  Louis  Philippe  would  come  in  person  to  the  city  hall,  repaired 
at  once  to  the  Palais  Royal.  There  Lafitte  read  him  a  memorial 
designating  the  new  liberties;  and  then,  at  three  o'clock  on  the  af- 
ternoon of  July  31st,  the  whole  procession  set  out — a  drummer 
at  the  head,  the  duke  and  an  adjutant  following  on  horseback, 
and  after  them  officers  of  the  national  guard  and  members  of  the 
Chamber  arm-in-arm.  They  passed  through  a  countless  crowd — 
part  of  which  looked  with  threatening  glances  on  the  new  candi- 
date for  the  throne — to  the  city  hall,  where  Lafayette  placed  a 
tricolored  flag  in  his  hands,  and  led  him  to  the  window.  The 
duke  waved  the  flag  to  the  people,  and  then  embraced  Lafayette. 
Monarchy  and  republic  seem  to  have  fallen  into  one  another's 
arms.  So  the  crowd  interpreted  it,  and  with  boundless  satisfac- 
tion cried,  "  Long  live  the  Duke  of  Orleans !  Long  live  Lafay- 
ette !" 

The  "  Society  of  the  friends  of  the  people,"  not  very  well 
pleased  with  this  result  of  the  "great  week,"  laid  before  Lafay- 
ette, on  the  following  day,  the  "  programme  of  the  city  hall,"  and 
commissioned  him  to  make  the  duke  guarantee  the  popular  rights 
therein  set  forth  by  his  signature.  With  this  document  in  his 
pocket,  Lafayette  made  his  return  visit  to  Louis  Philippe  in  the 
Palais  Royal.  In  the  course  of  conversation  he  said  to  him,  "  You 
Tcnow  that  I  am  a  republican,  and  consider  the  American  constitu- 
tion the  most  perfect."  "  I  am  of  the  same  opinion,"  replied  the 
duke ;  "  no  one  could  have  been  two  years  in  America  and  not 
share  that  view.  But  do  you  think  that  that  constitution  could 
be  adopted  in  France  in  its  present  condition — with  the  present 
state  of  popular  opinion  ?"  "  No,"  said  Lafayette;  "  what  France 
needs  is  a  popular  monarchy  surrounded  by  republican — thor- 
oughly republican  —  institutions."  "There  I  quite  agree  with 
you,"  rejoined  Louis  Philippe.  Enchanted  with  this  political 
harmony,  the  old  general  considered  it  unnecessary  to  present  the 
programme,  and  wont  security  to  the  republicans  for  the  duke,  thfr 


110  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

patriot  of  1789.  Louis  Philippe  now  named  his  ministry.  The 
republican  Dupont  de  1'Eure  had  the  department  of  justice ;  the 
Doctrinaire  Guizot  the  department  of  the  interior,  and  Gerard  the 
war  department ;  while  the  duke's  most  trusty  friends,  Lafitte,  Du- 
pin,  Perier,  and  Broglie,  were  ministers  without  portfolios. 

In  the  mean  time  the  court  had  left  St.  Cloud.  The  king  de- 
prived Marmont  of  the  chief  command,  and  bestowed  it  upon  the 
incapable  Dauphin.  The  desertion  of  the  troops  increased,  and 
Versailles  declared  for  the  revolution.  A  report  arose  that  1500 
armed  men  were  on  their  way  to  surprise  the  palace  in  the  night 
(July  30th),  and  all  at  once  fled  to  Trianon.  After  a  brief  rest, 
on  the  receipt  of  Lafayette's  answer  that  all  reconciliation  was 
impossible,  the  flight  was  continued  to  Rambouillct.  There  the 
Duchess  of  Angouleme,  who  had  been  taking  the  baths  at  Vichy, 
joined  them.  The  ministers  now  made  off,  and  sought  to  reach 
the  frontier  ;  three  of  them  succeeded  in  doing  so  ;  Polignac  and 
two  others  were  overtaken  and  brought  to  Vincennes.  The  de- 
spondency of  the  court  increased.  From  Rambouillet  Charles 
sent  the  duke  his.  commission  as  lieutenant-general  of  France,  but 
received  the  answer  that  he  held  that  office  by  the  choice  of  the 
people,  and  not  by  royal  favor.  On  the  2d  of  August  Charles 
sent  him  word  that  he  and  the  dauphin  resigned  the  crown  in 
favor  of  his  ten-year-old  grandson,  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  and 
commissioned  him  to  proclaim  the  accession  of  Henry  V.  Louis 
Philippe  imparted  the  news  of  the  abdication  to  the  Chamber, 
August  3d,  without  adding  in  whose  favor  it  was  made.  He 
spoke  no  word  of  a  Henry  V.,  and  even  allowed  the  old  protesta- 
tion against  his  legitimacy  to  be  again  published.  He  was  al- 
ready steering  under  full  sail  toward  the  crown  of  France,  and 
could  scarcely  wait  until  the  late  king  was  safely  over  the  water. 
Hence  he  sent  four  commissioners  to  Charles  to  persuade  him  to 
leave  Rambouillet  for  the  sake  of  his  own  safety.  Charles  would 
not  receive  the  commissioners,  whereupon  it  was  rumored  in  Paris 
that  he  was  about  to  advance  upon  the  capital  with  his  guard, 
summon  the  legitimists  to  his  standard,  and  cause  fresh  blood- 
shed. The  streets  at  once  resounded  with  the  cry,  "  To  Ram- 
bouillet !"  Six  thousand  men  of  the  national  guard,  under  Gen- 
eral Pajol,  were  called  out  by  the  government ;  a  crowd  of  work- 
ing-men, the  heroes  of  July  28th,  joined  them  ;  wagons  and  omni- 
buses were  pressed  into  service  ;  and  so  20,000  men — "a  most  sin- 


CHARLES  FLEES   TU   ENGLAND.  Ill 

gular  and  interesting  army,"  as  Lafayette  testifies — set  forth,  and 
encamped  at  evening  three  hours  from  Rambouillet.  The  com- 
missioners had  hurried  on  ahead.  They  were  finally  admitted, 
and  spoke  to  the  king  of  60,000  Parisians  under  way.  He  still 
had  8000  men  left,  and  General  Vincent  was  ready,  with  a  few 
cannon  shots  and  one  determined  assault,  to  drive  the  whole  mot- 
ley horde  back  to  Paris.  But  Charles,  still  hoping  for  his  grand- 
son, now  consented  to  depart,  and  left  for  Cherbourg,  August  4th, 
in  company  with  the  commissioners.  On  the  whole  journey  he 
was  received  by  the  populace  with  evident  signs  of  dislike.  In 
Argentan  he  learned  of  the  elevation  of  Louis  Philippe  to  the 
throne  of  France,  and  remarked,  "This  is  his  100  days;  they  will 
not  last  so  long  as  his  brother's;  he  has  no  Napoleon  to  deal 
with."  Rocking  himself  in  such  delusions,  he  reached  Cherbourg, 
August  16th,  after  parting  with  his  guard.  There  he  shipped 
with  his  family  on  an  American  ship,  and  landed  the  following 
day  in  England,  where  he  was  not  received  by  the  government  as 
king,  but  as  a  private  individual.  He  resided  for  a  short  time  at 
Lullworth  Castle  ;  then  he  went  to  Edinburgh  ;  and  in  1832  he  re- 
moved to  Austria.  He  died  at  Gorice,  November  6th,  1836.  His 
son,  the  Duke  of  Angouleme,  died  at  the  same  place,  June  3d, 
1844.  The  wife  of  the  latter,  the  unfortunate  Maria  Theresa, 
died  at  Frohsdorf,  the  residence  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  Octo- 
ber 19th,  1851. 

Charles  X.  had  not  greatly  hastened  his  journey,  principally  be- 
cause he  reckoned  on  a  legitimist  uprising  in  the  south  or  west  of 
France.  But  no  trace  of  such  a  thing  appeared  anywhere.  The 
departments,  which  had  chosen  the  272  members  of  the  opposi- 
tion, were  in  complete  agreement  with  their  latest  acts.  The 
change  was  accomplished  everywhere  in  a  very  simple  manner, 
the  troops  going  over  to  the  side  of  the  citizens.  Lyons  alone 
had  not  waited  for  Paris  to  decide  the  matter.  On  the  news  of 
the  ordinances,  July  29th,  barricades  had  been  erected  there,  and 
a  provisional  government  established.  Owing  to  the  neutrality 
of  the  troops,  this  insurrection  was  bloodless.  Even  in  Algiers 
the  tricolored  flag  was  raised  by  army  and  fleet,  and  Bourmont, 
who  had  been  made  marshal,  was  forced  to  take  to  flight.  What 
had  been  prophesied  to  the  Bourbons  was  fulfilled.  Their  resto- 
ration had  proved  a  political  blunder. 

On  the  3d  of  August  the  Chamber  was  opened  by  the  Duke 


112  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

of  Orleans,  and  the  abdication  of  the  king  and  dauphin  an- 
nounced, but  nothing  said  about  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux.  The 
question  whether  the  constitution  was  to  be  changed,  and  how, 
gave  rise  to  an  animated  contest  between  radicals  and  liberals. 
The  confidence  in  Louis  Philippe  was  so  great,  that  they  were 
content  with  a  few  improvements.  The  throne  was  declared  va- 
cant, and  Louis  Philippe  proclaimed  king  of  the  French.  August 
7th,  in  solemn  procession,  the  representatives  repaired  to  the  Palais 
Royal,  and  communicated  their  resolutions  to  the  duke.  At' night 
came  a  deputation  from  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  and  brought  their 
agreement  to  the  resolutions  of  the  lower  house.  August  8th, 
Louis  Philippe  appeared  in  the  Palais  Bourbon,  took  the  oath  to 
the  constitution,  and  was  thereupon  proclaimed  king.  The  revo- 
lution was,  for  another  while,  concluded.  A  "  new  era"  began. 


§o 
o. 

THE   CONSEQUENCES    OF  THE  JULY   REVOLUTION   IN   BELGIUM,  ENG- 
LAND,  GERMANY,  SWITZERLAND,  ITALY,  AND  POLAND. 

THE  first  waves  from  the  French  revolution  broke  over  Bel- 
gium. For  a  decade  abundant  inflammable  material  had  been 
heaped  up  there,  and  an  explosion  had  long  been  predicted.  The 
allies  of  1814  had  this  blunder  on  their  consciences  as  well  as  the 
restoration  of  the  Bourbons.  In  order  to  have  a  stronger  bul- 
wark against  the  encroachments  of  France  in  the  north,  the  Vienna 
congress  ordained  that  Belgium  should  be  united  with  Holland, 
as  an  "  increase  of  territoi-y,"  under  the  house  of  Orange.  At  the 
same  time  the  hegemony  of  Holland  was  recognized,  and  Bel- 
gium was  regarded  and  treated  as  a  kind  of  subject  province. 
And  yet  in  these  United  Netherlands  two-thirds  of  the  popula- 
tion belonged  to  Belgium,  and  but  one-third  to  Holland.  For 
more  than  two  centuries  each  of  the  two  countries  had  gone  its 
own  way.  Since  the  separation  of  Holland  from  the  Spain  of 
Philip  II.,  in  1579 — with  the  exception  of  a  few  years  under  the 
Napoleonic  rule  —  they  had  been  separated  from  one  another. 
Belgium  had  been  first  under  Spanish,  later  under  Austrian  rule. 
Holland,  as  a  young  republic,  had  developed  into  a  maritime 


DISAGREEMENT  BETWEEN  BELGIUM   AND  HOLLAND.    113 

power  of  the  first  rank,  ruling  an  enormous  colonial  dominion. 
In  the  humanities  and  painting,  the  latter  had  rivalled  Germany 
and  Italy. 

To  this  difference  of  their  past  were  added  still  deeper  lying 
differences  of  religion  and  language.  Belgium  was  Roman  Catho- 
lic ;  and  French  was  there  the  official  language  and  the  language  of 
society,  although  two-thirds  of  the  population — the  inhabitants  of 
the  northern  part  of  the  country — spoke  Flemish,  a  dialect  akin  to 
Dutch.  In  Holland,  on  the  other  hand,  Calvinism  had  early  be- 
come firmly  established,  and  the  language  was  Teutonic.  Out  of 
hatred  toward  France,  and  everything  French,  King  William  con- 
stantly sought  to  limit  the  use  of  the  French  language  more  and 
more,  and  this  made  itself  unpleasantly  felt  throughout  the  south- 
ern provinces,  in  the  courts  of  justice,  and  in  the  army.  The  Bel- 
gian clergy,  in  any  case  dissatisfied  under  a  Protestant  govern- 
ment, felt  their  existence  threatened  when  the  king  proposed  to 
place  the  whole  system  of  instruction,  that  domain  of  the  hier- 
archy, under  the  control  of  the  government.  The  course  of  in- 
struction in  the  Belgian  schools,  gymnasiums,  and  universities 
was  very  much  raised;  and  in  1825  a  philosophical  college  was 
established  at  Louvain,  which  every  one  must  attend  who  wished 
to  enter  an  episcopal  seminary.  This  institution,  fairly  abreast 
of  the  age,  was  to  act  as  a  dam  against  the  excesses  of  ultramon- 
tanism.  Ultramontanism  accepted  the  challenge.  Yet,  great  as 
ultramontane  influence  over  the  people  was,  the  government  had 
nothing  to  fear  so  long  as  it  had  the  liberal  elements  on  its  side. 
But  these  it  repelled  by  abolishing  trial  by  jury,  disciplining  offi- 
cers of  justice  for  belonging  to  the  opposition,  limiting  .the  free- 
dom of  the  Press,  and  definitely  refusing  to  propose  a  law  re- 
garding the  responsibility  of  ministers.  Since  neither  clericals 
nor  liberals  could  obtain  anything  alone,  there  arose  the  unnatural 
alliance  of  these  two  great  parties.  The  former  helped  the  latter 
in  their  agitation  for  freedom  of  the  Press ;  the  latter  the  former 
in  their  effort  after  freedom  of  instruction,  by  which  the  clergy 
hoped  to  get  the  whole  education  of  the  people  again  into  their 
hands. 

It  should  have  been  possible  to  settle  these  disagreements  in 
the  States-general,  the  parliament.  But  here,  too,  the  Belgians 
were  at  a  disadvantage.  Notwithstanding  their  decided  majority 
of  population,  they  had  no  more  delegates  than  the  Dutch  ;  each 


114  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

state  having  fifty-five.  While  the  Dutch  members  stood  together 
like  a  solid  phalanx,  the  Belgians,  many  of  whom  the  government 
had  succeeded  in  drawing  over  to  its  side,  not  being  in  the  same 
degree  united,  could  accomplish  nothing. 

Furthermore,  although  the  gain-loving  king  supported  enthusi- 
astically all  industrial  enterprises,  yet  their  material  interests  sep- 
arated the  two  states.  Belgium  had  to  share  Holland's  enormous 
debt,  and,  in  order  to  extinguish  this,  must  allow  itself  to  be  loaded 
with  unwonted  taxes — among  others,  duties  on  bread  and  meat. 
It  was  this  tax  which  excited  the  lower  classes  most,  and  so  in  the 
year  1829  almost  all  the  delegates  to  the  States-general  were  lib- 
erals. Even  then  the  king  allowed  himself  to  be  deceived,  as  to 
the  true  sentiment  of  the  people,  by  the  reception  he  met  with  on 
his  journey  through  the  Belgian  cities,  just  as  Charles  X.  was  de- 
ceived in  Alsace.  At  the  reception  of  the  municipal  authorities 
of  Liege  he  declared  that  he  now  knew  what  to  think  of  the  pre- 
tended grievances — that  he  recognized  in  them  only  the  views  of 
a  few  who  had  their  own  private  interests  to  further  thereby ; 
that  such  action  was  infamous!  An  order  was  at  once  formed 
in  Flanders,  the  hearth  of  the  clericals,  whose  members  wore  a 
medal  with  the  legend,  "Fideles  jusqu'a  V infamie  T  an  allusion 
to  the  motto  of  the  Genevcse  in  1566,  "Faithful  even  to  beg- 
gary !"  The  excitement  was  increased  by  a  message  of  the  king 
to  the  States-general  (December  llth,  1829),  betraying  too  clear- 
ly his  absolutism,  and  by  a  circular  of  the  minister  of  justice,  van 
Maanen,  and  of  the  minister  of  the  interior,  to  all  their  subordi- 
nates, requiring  them  to  make  a  formal  statement  of  their  assent 
to  the  principles  of  the  royal  message.  The  Dutch  exulted  over 
the  blow  which  had  been  struck  at  the  Belgians ;  the  latter,  in 
their  papers,  spoke  of  the  manifesto  of  absolutism  against  liberty, 
and  set  van  Maanen,  the  soul  of  the  ministry,  on  the  same  level 
with  Polignac.  The  separation  of  Belgium  from  Holland,  to 
the  extent  of  a  separate  constitution  and  administration  for  the 
former  country,  was  already  spoken  of.  It  was  useless  for  the 
ministry,  at  the  instance  of  the  Belgian  opposition,  to  make  a  few 
concessions  in  the  language  controversy,  and  with  regard  to  the 
freedom  of  the  Press,  and  to  abolish  the  philosophical  college  at 
Louvain.  It  had  shown  its  true  character  too  plainly,  and  had 
just  aroused  new  hatred  by  deposing  officials  and  punishing  au- 
thors. Among  the  latter  was  de  Potter,  who  had  proposed  the 


OUTBREAK   OF   THE   REVOLUTION   IN   BRUSSELS.        115 

formation  of  a  league  to  secure  its  members  against  all  measures 
of  force.  He  was  arrested,  and  in  April,  1830,  banished  from  the 
country  for  eight  years.  He  had  scarcely  reached  Aix  la  Cha- 
pelle,  on  his  way  to  Lausanne,  when  he  heard  of  the  events  of  the 
July  week  in  Paris.  He  at  once  went  to  France,  and  from  Paris 
put  himself  in  communication  with  his  friends  in  Brussels. 

The  idea  of  freeing  themselves  from  an  anti-national  govern- 
ment, as  France  had  just  done,  was  a  natural  one.  In  this  they 
thought  that  they  might  safely  calculate  on  the  July  monarchy 
and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  French  people.  De  Potter's  most  in- 
timate friend,  Gendebien,  travelled  to  Paris  for  the  purpose  of  ef- 
fecting the  union  of  his  country  with  France,  and  offering  a  con- 
tingent toward  the  conquest  of  the  Rhine  frontier.  But  Louis 
Philippe  had  no  wish  to  endanger,  by  a  war  of  conquest,  the 
throne  he  had  just  ascended,  and  rejected  the  offer.  Thereupon 
Gendebien  and  his  friends  sought  to  bring  about  a  popular  move- 
ment, in  order  to  compel  France  to  occupy  Belgium,  in  case  Prus- 
sia supported  the  Dutch.  They  went  to  work  so  openly  that 
they  frankly  made  it  known  by  posters :  "  Monday,  fireworks ; 
Tuesday,  illumination  ;  Wednesday,  revolution  !" 

In  the  mean  time  the  royal  officials  were  doing  nothing  to  allay 
the  excitement.  On  the  25th  of  August,  1830,  in  the  theatre  at 
Brussels,  they  allowed  the  opera  La  muette  de  Portici  to  be  per- 
formed, which  represents  the  rising  of  the  Neapolitans  under  the 
lead  of  the  fisherman  Massaniello.  Every  allusion  to  domestic 
circumstances  was  applauded  vehemently,  and  outside  crowds  of 
the  common  people  cried,  "Long  live  de  Potter!  Down  with 
van  Maancn  !"  After  the  opera,  the  populace  attacked  the  houses 
of  van  Maanen  and  of  Libri,  the  ministerial  editor.  One  was 
completely  gutted,  the  other  burnt  down.  During  the  night  all 
the  gun -stores  were  plundered.  On  the  26th  the  work  of  de- 
struction was  continued,  the  tricolored  flag  of  Brabant  planted 
on  the  city  hall,  and  the  royal  arms  demolished.  As  these  ex- 
cesses, perpetrated  by  the  lowest  classes,  increased,  the  citizens 
rose,  formed  a  citizen  guard,  suppressed  the  anarchy,  and  arranged 
for  a  meeting  of  the  most  influential  men  on  the  28th  of  August. 
At  this  meeting  it  was  determined  to  send  a  delegation  to  the 
king  to  beg  him  to  change  his  previous  system  of  government, 
dismiss  his  ministers,  and  convoke  the  States -general  at  once. 
The  revolt  rapidly  spread  over  the  whole  country,  and  was  every- 


116  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

where  victorious,  only  a  few  fortresses  holding  out.  But  the  king, 
like  Charles  and  Polignac,  was  unwilling  to  hear  of  any  conces- 
sions until  Belgium  was  again  subdued,  and  sent  his  eldest  son, 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  Brussels  to  see  how  matters  really  were. 
His  second  son,  Prince  Frederic,  was  despatched  to  Antwerp  to 
gather  troops.  At  the  same  time,  he  summoned  the  States-gen- 
eral to  meet  in  extraordinary  session  at  the  Hague,  September 
13th.  His  plan  was  in  this  way  to  gain  time,  and  meanwhile  to 
occupy  Brussels.  To  the  deputation  from  that  city  he  said  that 
he  would  not  let  himself  be  forced  at  the  muzzle  of  the  pistol,  as 
it  were,  to  dismiss  van  Maanen. 

The  princes,  with  the  troops,  entered  Vilvoorden,  three  hours 
from  Brussels,  on  the  31st  of  August,  and  caused  Baron  Hoog- 
vorst,  the  commander  of  the  citizen  guard,  to  come  to  their  head- 
quarters, in  order  to  consult  regarding  the  re-establishment  of  the 
royal  authority.  He  invited  Orange  to  come  to  Brussels  without 
troops,  but  the  latter  insisted  on  the  entry  of  the  troops  and  the 
restoration  of  the  royal  emblems.  When  Hoogvorst  brought  this 
answer  to  Brussels,  great  excitement  prevailed ;  there  was  a  gen- 
eral call  to  arms.  Women  and  children  took  part  in  the  work. 
Cartridges  were  prepared,  missiles  carried  -into  the  houses,  and 
over  fifty  barricades  erected.  At  the  same  time,  the  prince  was 
informed  by  a  second  delegation  that  the  acceptance  of  his  con- 
ditions was  impossible.  At  length  he  yielded,  and  made  his  en- 
trance into  the,  city  alone  through  the  crowded  streets  (Septem- 
ber 1st),  his  ears  greeted  by  cries  of  "Liberty  !  Down  with  van 
Maanen !"  He  appointed  a  commission  to  advise  means  for 
bringing  about  a  good  understanding  between  the  government 
and  the  citizens.  This  commission  reported  that  the  only  means 
was  the  legislative  and  administrative  separation  of  Belgium  from 
Holland,  a  special  ministry  for  Belgium,  and  a  personal  union  of 
the  two  countries,  like  that  of  Sweden  and  Norway.  The  prince 
promised  to  lay  their  wishes  before  the  king  and  give  them  his 
support,  and  journeyed  to  the  Hague  for  that  purpose.  The  gar- 
rison of  Brussels  marched  out,  and  joined  the  troops  of  Prince 
Frederic.  But  the  king — emboldened  by  the  delusion  that  the 
great  powers  would  not  allow  their  own  creation  to  be  overturned, 
that  England  surely  could  not  refuse  him  her  aid — would  not  listen 
to  the  representations  of  his  son  and  a  minority  of  his  ministers. 
He  dismissed  van  Maanen,  it  is  true;  but  in  a  proclamation  merely 


THE  DUTCH  TROOPS  REPULSED.          117 

referred  the  impatient  to  the  conclusions  of  the  States-general, 
while  he  emphasized  once  more  the  maintenance  of  the  real  union 
and  adhesion  to  legal  methods.  The  attitude  of  the  Dutch  peo- 
ple made  matters  still  worse.  They  behaved  more  royally  than 
the  king  himself,  and  so  fanned  the  strife  into  a  war  between  the 
two  peoples.  The  Dutch  papers  said  that  rebel  blood  is  not 
brothers'  blood — that  the  time  for  negotiations  was  past :  "  War 
to  the  rebels  and  murderers !"  The  States-general  were  opened 
September  13th.  The  speech  from  the  throne  spoke  very  indefi- 
nitely about  the  separation  of  the  two  states.  The  Dutch  dele- 
gates knew  no  other  means  to  recommend  than  the  application 
of  armed  force. 

On  the  llth  of  September,  before  the  opening  of  the  States- 
general,  a  committee  of  safety  had  been  successfully  established 
in  Brussels  "  for  the  maintenance  of  the  dynasty  and  of  public 
order ;"  but,  on  the  receipt  of  the  news  from  the  Hague,  quite 
different  forces  gained  the  control.  A  horde  of  revolutionists  and 
penniless  laborers,  from  the  other  Belgian  cities  and  from  Paris, 
had  arrived,  determined  to  fight  out  the  long  fight  in  the  streets 
of  Brussels.  September  20th,  they  gained  possession  of  the  city 
hall,  disarmed  the  citizen  guard,  drove  out  the  committee  of  safe- 
ty, and  restored  to  the  populace  the  power  which  had  passed  over, 
on  August  27th,  from  them  to  the  citizens.  Against  this  rule  of 
working-men  even  Belgian  representatives  begged  the  king  to  em- 
ploy armed  force.  Prince  Frederic  received  the  command  to  ad- 
vance from  Vilvoorden  against  Brussels.  He  issued  a  proclama- 
tion promising  amnesty  to  the  insurgents  in  general,  but  threaten- 
ing with  severe  punishment  the  "  chief  instigators  of  these  alto- 
gether too  criminal  transactions."  He  appeared  before  Brussels, 
September  23d,  with  10,300  men  and  twenty-six  guns.  At  first 
he  gained  a  slight  advantage,  and  forced  his  way  into  the  city ; 
but  there  he  found  such  obstacles  in  the  barricade  and  house- 
fighting  that  he  withdrew  to  the  Park  (outside  of  the  city) ;  and 
on  the  26th,  as  his  troops,  hemmed  in  and  assaulted  from  all 
sides,  were  worn  out  with  fatigue,  and  as,  in  addition  to  all  this, 
the  ammunition  had  given  out,  he  had  to  set  out  on  his  return 
to  Vilvoorden.  Among  those  in  charge  of  the  arrangements  for 
defence,  the  gallant  Pletinckx,  a  second  lieutenant,  and  Juan  van 
Halen,  a  Spaniard,  deserve  especial  credit. 

this  battle,  after  the  shedding  of  so  much  blood,  the  ob- 


118  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

ject  of  the  revolution  was  determined.  A  personal  union  was 
no  longer  satisfactory  ;  the  house  of  Orange  was  no  longer  possi- 
ble; only  the  complete  independence  of  Belgium,  only  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  separate  state,  could  satisfy  the  Belgian  people, 
high  and  low.  To  this  end  the  provisional  government,  in  which 
de  Potter,  who  had  returned  September  20th,  had  a  seat,  directed 
its  efforts.  With  the  news  of  the  victory,  the  victory  itself  spread 
through  all  Belgium.  The  Dutch  garrisons  and  officials  were 
driven  out ;  the  Belgian  troops,  freed  from  their  oath  by  the  pro- 
visional government,  went  over  to  the  people.  Only  the  cities  of 
Luxemburg,  Venloo,  Maestricht,  and  Antwerp  still  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  Dutch. 

At  last  the  Dutch  government  yielded.  September  28th  the 
States-general  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  a  separate  adminis- 
tration for  Belgium,  and  on  the  4th  of  October  the  king  gave  his 
consent,  and  sent  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  Antwerp.  He  pro- 
claimed the  separation  of  Belgium  from  Holland,  educational  lib- 
erty and  unconditional  amnesty,  and  was  even  willing  to  set  him- 
self at  the  head  of  the  movement  and  recognize  the  resolutions 
of  the  Belgian  congress.  But,  as  his  father  disapproved  of  these 
unauthorized  measures,  and  at  the  same  time  sought  to  excite  civil 
war  in  Belgium,  the  son  also  was  distrusted,  and  his  proposals  re- 
jected. Thereupon  he  betook  himself  to  London,  where  the  dele- 
gates of  the  great  powers  were  at  that  very  time  assembled  in 
conference. 

Soon  after,  8000  volunteers,  under  the  French  general  Mellinet, 
advanced  against  Antwerp.  Two  officers,  who  had  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  Park  fights,  were  assigned  him  as  assistants — 
Niellon  and  Kessels.  Of  these  the  former  had  last  been  the  direc- 
tor of  a  children's  theatre,  the  latter  had  travelled  about  exhibit- 
ing the  skeleton  of  a  walrus.  Fortune  now  favored  them  on  the 
theatre  of  war.  The  Dutch  troops  were  driven  out  of  the  city  of 
Antwerp,  and  General  Chasse  had  to  withdraw  to  the  citadel. 
When  the  Belgians  would  have  attacked  him  there,  he  bombarded 
the  city  for  several  hours,  with  all  his  batteries,  destroying  over 
200  houses,  and  burning  goods  to  the  value  of  several  million 
francs.  Venloo  also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Belgians,  so  that 
only  Maestricht,  Luxemburg,  and  the  citadel  of  Antwerp  still  re- 
mained in  possession  of  the  Dutch.  The  independence  of  Bel- 
gium was  already  a  fact.  The  London  conference  proposed  the 


SEPARATION   OF  BELGIUM   FROM   HOLLAND.  119 

suspension  of  hostilities,  and  the  adoption  of  the  boundaries  which  . 
had  existed  before  the  union  of  the  two  states,  and  these  propo-  ' 
sitions  were  accepted  by  the  provisional  government.  The  Na- 
tional Congress,  which  met  on  the  10th  of  November,  adopted  a 
resolution  excluding  the  house  of  Orange-Nassau  forever  from  the 
Belgian  throne.  The  political  constellations  were  favorable  for 
Belgium ;  for  of  the  Eastern  powers,  generally  so  eager  to  inter- 
vene, Russia  was  busy  with  the  suppression  of  the  Polish  insurrec- 
tion, and  Austria  had  to  stand  guard  in  Italy.  From  the  West- 
ern powers  there  was  absolutely  nothing  to  be  feared.  In  Eng- 
land, after  Wellington's  fall,  a  more  liberal  policy  had  gained  the 
ascendency ;  and  Louis  Philippe  was  so  little  in  a  position  to  act 
against  Belgium  that  he  even  declared  he  would  endure  no  inter- 
vention there. 

So  the*  Belgians  were  masters  in  their  own  house.  On  the 
question  of  the  form  of  government  to  be  adopted,  the  repub- 
lican de  Potter  disagreed  with  the  majority,  and  retired  into  pri- 
vate life.  The  congress  decided  with  174  voices  for  a  constitu- 
tional monarchy ;  only  thirteen  members  were  in  favor  of  a  re- 
public. February  17th,  1831,  the  constitution,  which  was  found- 
ed on  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  accord- 
ing to  which  the  people  were  to  be  represented  in  a  senate  and 
a  house  of  representatives,  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  con- 
gress. More  difficult  of  settlement  was  the  question  regarding 
the  boundaries.  In  this  the  London  conference,  which  had  al- 
ready, December  20th,  1831,  pronounced  for  the  separation  of 
Belgium  from  Holland,  decided  to  the  disadvantage  of  Belgium. 
The  Grand-duchy  of  Luxemburg,  which  William  had  received  in 
exchange  for  the  hereditary  domain  of  his  family,  was  to  remain 
Dutch.  Against  this  the  Belgians  protested,  on  the  ground  that 
the  inhabitants  had  risen  with  them  against  King  William,  and 
wished  union  with  their  country,  and  not  with  Holland.  For  the 
decision  of  this  controversy  much  depended  upon  the  choice  of 
the  new  king.  At  first  the  crown  was  offered  to  the  Duke  of 
Nemours,  Louis  Philippe's  second  son.  When  his  father,  on  the 
reasonable  supposition  that  the  great  powers  would  not  consent 
to  such  an  increase  of  French  influence,  refused  the  offer,  the 
Duke  of  Leuchtenberg,  a  son  of  the  former  viceroy  Eugene, 
seemed  to  have  the  best  prospects.  But  this  grandson  of  Napo- 
leon was  so  unwelcome  a  neighbor  to  Louis  Philippe  that  he 


120  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

made  every  effort  to  defeat  his  election,  and  ceased  to  oppose  the 
choice  of  his  own  son.  February  3d,  1831,  the  Duke  of  Nemours 
was  named  king  by  a  small  majority.  But  for  the  second  time 
Louis  Philippe  refused  the  Belgian  crown.  He  had  attained  his 
main  object  in  preventing  the  election  of  the  Leuchtenberg  prince, 
and  was  aware  that  the  London  conference  had  declared  his  son 
unacceptable.  Hence  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  new  choice. 
This  could  not  have  resulted  more  favorably  than  it  did.  June 
4th,  the  congress  elected  Prince  Leopold,  of  Saxe-Coburg,  who 
had  distinguished  himself  in  the  wars  for  freedom.  In  1816  he 
had  married  the  daughter  of  the  Prince-regent  of  England.  In 
the  following  year  he  had  become  a  widower,  and  since  that  time 
he  had  resided  in  England.  By  the  marriage  of  his  sister  with 
the  Duke  of  Kent,  he  was  the  uncle  of  Victoria,  the  future  Queen 
of  England.  In  the  year  1830  he  had  refused  the  Grecian  crown, 
but  he  now  accepted  the  Belgian,  after  the  congress  had  assented 
to  the  conclusion  of  the  London  conference  of  June  26th  (the 
eighteen  articles) — that  in  the  Luxemburg  question  the  status  quo 
was  to  be  maintained  for  the  present,  and  the  definite  decision 
relegated  to  the  future.  He  made  his  entrance  into  Brussels  July 
21st,  took  the  oath  to  the  constitution,  and  was  proclaimed  King 
of  the  Belgians. 

The  new  king  had  just  entered  upon  a  tour  of  inspection,  when 
(August  2d)  the  Dutch  troops,  over  70,000  strong,  entered  Bel- 
gium, defeated  the  Belgian  army  at  Hasselt  and  Louvain,  and 
threatened  Brussels.  Leopold  called  on  France  and  England  for 
aid.  A  French  army  entered  Belgium,  and  an  English  fleet  took 
up  its  position  on  the  Dutch  coast.  The  Dutch  had  to  withdraw, 
but,  by  the  assistance  of  the  Eastern  powers — which,  after  the 
suppression  of  the  Polish  insurrection,  were  free  to  remember 
once  more  the  principles  of  the  Holy  Alliance  —  a  change  was 
effected  in  the  London  treaty,  October  6th.  According  to  the 
new  protocol  (the  twenty-four  articles),  the  whole  of  Luxemburg 
•was  not  to  fall  to  Belgium,  but  only  the  western  part,  with 
165,000  inhabitants,  mostly  Walloons;  while  the  eastern,  or  Ger- 
man part,  with  170,000,  was  to  be  restored  to  the  King  of  Hol- 
land, who  had  held  the  fortress  of  Luxemburg  throughout.  In 
compensation  for  the  first -mentioned  part,  a  few  Limburg  dis- 
tricts were  also  taken  from  Belgium,  and  she  was  to  pay  Holland 
yearly  8,400,000  gulden  (about  $3,950,000)  as  her  share  of  the 


LEOPOLD'S   ADMINISTRATION.  121 

national  debt  of  the  Netherlands.  As  King  William  was  not 
content  with  this,  and  refused  his  signature,  an  Anglo-French  fleet 
blockaded  the  Dutch  coast,  and  a  French  army,  under  Marshal 
Gerard,  passed  the  Belgian  boundaries,  November  15th,  1832,  in 
order  to  take  the  citadel  of  Antwerp.  The  gallant  General  Chasse 
was  still  planted  there  with  his  Dutch  garrison.  After  holding 
out  for  more  than  a  month,  he  had  to  surrender  the  citadel,  De- 
cember 23d,  and  the  Belgian  troops  at  once  marched  in.  Chasse 
and  the  garrison  were  carried  to  France  as  prisoners  of  war,  and' 
not  released  before  the  following  year,  when  King  William  con- 
sented to  the  preliminary  treaty  of  May  21st,  1833.  The  uncom- 
fortable struggle  was  not  wholly  set  at  rest  before  the  London 
treaty  of  April  19th,  1839,  in  which  William  at  length  accepted 
the  twenty-four  articles,  and  conceded  the  free  passage  of  the 
Schelde. 

Under  the  government  of  Leopold  I.,  who  married,  in  1832,  the 
eldest  daughter  of  Louis  Philippe,  Princess  Louise,  of  Orleans, 
Belgium  was  at  liberty,  undisturbed,  to  advance  on  the  road  of 
material  and  intellectual  development.  The  union  of  clericals 
and  liberals,  having  served  its  purpose,  soon  gave  place  to  a  de- 
cided rupture.  Both  parties  sought  to  secure  the  majority  in 
the  Chambers,  and  thereby  control  the  formation  of  the  minis- 
try; and  King  Leopold,  the  pattern  of  a  constitutional  king,  un- 
der whom,  far  more  than  under  his  father-in-law,  the  constitution 
was  a  reality,  allowed  them  their  own  way.  In  the  most  difficult 
times,  even  after  the  February  revolution,  and  during  the  suprem- 
acy of  annexation -craving  Napoleonism,  he  steered  his  ship  of 
state  with  the  sagacity  and  circumspection  of  a  statesman.  At 
his  death,  December  10th,  1865,  the  whole  land  manifested  un- 
feigned sorrow. 

This  could  not  be  said  of  England  when  George  IV.  died,  June 
26th,  1830.  Men  were  glad  to  take  leave  of  the  old  reform-hater, 
and  greeted  with  pleasure  the  accession  of  his  brother,  the  Duke 
of  Clarence,  who  ruled  as  William  IV.  According  to  custom,  un- 
der a  new  king  a  new  Parliament  must  be  chosen.  The  old  one 
was  dissolved  July  25th,  that  unlucky  day  on  which  Charles  X. 
signed  the  ordinances,  and  so  the  new  elections  fell  exactly  in  a 
time  when  a  freer,  fresher  air  was  blowing  across  the  Channel. 
The  victory  of  the  French  people  was  greeted  with  joy  by  the 
English.  It  was  regarded  as  a  triumph  which  would  be  for  the 

6 


122  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

good  of  all  Europe.  Moreover,  the  national  rivalry  could  not  en- 
dure to  see  free  England  fall  behind  monarch-ruled  France — to  see 
Wellington  still  Premier,  while  his  protege  in  Vinccnnes,  Polignac, 
had  already  been  deprived  of  office.  Ilard  as  it  was  for  him,  first 
among  all  the  ministers  of  foreign  powers,  Wellington  had  already 
had  to  recognize  Louis  Philippe's  government.  When  he  sur- 
veyed the  result  of  the  general  elections,  he  found  more  than  fifty 
votes  less  at  the  disposal  of  the  ministry  than  before.  The  speech 
which  he  caused  the  king  to  make  from  the  throne,  November  2d, 
was  all  the  more  defiant.  About  reforms  it  said  nothing.  Ire- 
land was  only  so  far  touched  that  measures  for  the  maintenance 
of  order  were  announced,  as  if  that  were  enough  to  cause  the  so- 
cial evils  to  remedy  themselves.  Holland  was  praised ;  the  Bel- 
gian revolution  censured  as  causeless ;  and  the  prospect  of  the 
recognition  of  Don  Miguel,  Portugal's  tyrant,  held  out.  Such  a 
speech  was  too  much  for  even  English  nerves.  In  London  and 
other  cities  the  popular  indignation  displayed  itself  in  riots.  The 
dismissal  of  the  ministers  was  loudly  demanded  in  public  meet- 
ings. The  temper  of  the  people  was  not  improved  by  the  fact 
that  the  king  and  his  ministers  took  no  part  in  the  Lord  Mayor's 
dinner,  on  account  of  a  proposed  attempt  on  Wellington's  life. 
With  military  pride  Wellington  still  remained  at  his  post.  When, 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  the  liberal  Earl  Grey  indicated  parliamen- 
tary reform  as  the  only  means  of  saving  England  from  revolution, 
Wellington  responded,  with  a  kind  of  scorn,  that  the  present  mode 
of  representation  was  truly  model,  since  it  gave  the  great  land- 
holders an  overweening  influence,  and  that  he  would  oppose  any 
measures  looking  to  parliamentary  reform.  Men  began  to  see 
more  plainly  whither  they  were  moving.  In  a  debate  on  the  civil 
list,  the  ministry  were  left  in  a  minority,  and  tendered  their  resig- 
nations; and,  on  the  16th  of  November,  Earl  Grey  was  intrusted 
with  the  formation  of  a  new  ministry.  This  consisted  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Whig  party,  favorers  of  parliamentary  reform.  Fol- 
lowers of  Canning,  like  Palmerston,  here  sat  by  the  side  of  tried 
men  of  the  people,  like  Brougham.  Grey  at  once  announced  to 
Parliament  his  policy — non-intervention  without,  and  parliamen- 
tary reform  within.  It  was  here,  as  it  always  is  in  great  histori- 
cal questions — what  the  government  at  first  persecutes  and  calum- 
niates, it  is  at  last  obliged  to  adopt. 

Germany,  too,  spite  of  its  proverbial  patience,  could  not  wholly 


DUKE   CHARLES  OF  BRUNSWICK.  123 

escape  the  effects  of  the  July  revolution.  But  there  was  again  a 
marked  distinction  between  north  and  south  Germany.  In  the 
latter  there  had  existed  for  more  than  a  decade  representation  not 
merely  of  certain  classes,  but  of  the  whole  people ;  and  the  south 
German  constitutions  were,  according  to  Prince  Metternich's  views, 
only  too  liberal.  In  the  former,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was,  at 
the  most,  representation  of  the  upper  classes,  in  addition  to  which 
the  rights  of  the  nobles  were  extravagant,  and  the  division  of  tax- 
ation unjust.  Hence  the  excitement  was  far  greater  in  the  north 
than  in  the  south.  Here  and  there  it  resulted  in  slight  disturb- 
ances, and  in  collisions  between  the  lower  classes  and  the  police ; 
in  a  few  cities  it  took  a  more  serious  form. 

In  Brunswick,  as  in  France  and  Belgium,  a  throne  became  va- 
cant. The  heroic  Duke  Frederic  William,  known  for  his  march 
to  the  North  Sea  in  1809,  and  his  death  at  Quatrebras  in  1815, 
left  two  sons,  Charles  and  William,  who  were  not  yet  of  age.  By 
his  testament  their  guardianship  was  intrusted  to  King  George 
IV.,  of  England,  who  was  at  the  same  time  King  of  Hanover.  The 
Hanoverian  minister,  Count  Miinster,  established  for  Brunswick  a 
board  of  privy  councillors,  with  von  Schmidt-Phiseldeck  at  its 
head,  and  made  good  provision  for  the  administration  of  justice 
and  of  the  finances,  but  allowed  representation  in  the  Chamber  of 
the  Estates  only  to  the  nobles  and  clergy,  and  to  the  cities  through 
their  burgomasters.  This  left  the  government  comparatively  un- 
restrained. Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  Duke  Charles 
assumed  the  government  in  1823.  He  had  been  educated  at  dif- 
ferent courts,  and  for  that  reason  not  symmetrically  educated.  In 
Vienna  he  had  been  lectured  by  his  patron  Prince  Metternich  on 
the  irresponsibility  of  princes,  and  after  having  endured  the  board 
of  privy  councillors  by  his  side  for  three  or  four  years,  he  abol- 
ished it,  in  1827,  in  order  from  that  time  on  to  rule  independent- 
ly. Schmidt-Phiseldeck  fled  to  Hanover,  and  refused  to  give  up 
the  state  papers.  This  caused  a  scandalous  quarrel  between  the 
duke  on  the  one  side,  and  King  George  and  Count  Miinster  on 
the  other.  Charles  went  so  far  as  to  hang  up  a  picture  of  the  lat- 
ter in  his  garden  and  shoot  at  it,  and  to  challenge  him  to  a  duel. 
He  even  claimed  that  the  guardianship  had  been  abused  for  the 
purpose  of  crippling  his  intellect,  and  educating  him  to  ignorance 
and  dependence. 

He  would  not  recognize  the  constitution  because  it  was  too 


124  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

aristocratic,  but  accorded  no  more  popular  one,  simply  setting  his 
sovereign  caprice  above  everything.  Furthermore,  his  mode  of 
life  gave  the  greatest  offence.  His  officials  were  in  part  incapa- 
ble and  immoral  creatures,  who  permitted,  with  slavish  subservi- 
ence, his  interference  in  the  administration  of  justice  and  of  the 
finances,  and  the  sale  of  public  lands  for  the  benefit  of  his  private 
purse.  He  aroused  against  him  not  merely  the  common  people, 
but  the  nobility  as  well.  During  the  July  revolution  he  was  in 
Paris,  and,  full  of  consternation  at  the  catastrophe  in  that  city,  he 
hurried  home,  resolved  in  a  similar  event  to  act  quite  differently 
from  Charles  X.  Rumor  said  that  he  had  poisoned  von  Oyen- 
hausen,  his  master  of  the  horse,  and  purposed  giving  his  place  to 
a  Frenchman  named  Aloard,  whom  he  had  brought  back  with 
him.  A  deputation  of  citizens  represented  to  him  the  temper  of 
the  people,  and  demanded  the  redress  of  grievances,  and  the  sum- 
moning of  the  Estates.  Thereupon  he  doubled  the  guards,  and 
mounted  sixteen  cannon  before  the  barracks.  Then  the  people 
rose,  September  7th,  1830;  and  while  the  duke,  with  his  troops, 
stood  in  the  palace  square,  stormed  the  palace  at  an  unguarded 
spot.  The  discontented  officers  stood  by  and  let  it  happen. 
Charles  had  to  flee,  and  his  palace  was  burnt  behind  him.  The 
committee  of  the  Estates  convened  the  Estates  of  the  country, 
and  begged  the  duke's  brother,  Prince  William,  who  was  in  mili- 
tary service  in  Berlin,  to  undertake  the  government.  He  arrived 
from  Berlin  three  days  later,  assumed  the  government  "  for  the 
present "  as  governor-general  of  the  duchy,  to  which  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  Charles,  and  caused  the  Estates  to  solicit  the  King  of 
England's  mediation.  But  Charles  left  London,  whither  he  had 
fled,  went  to  Frankfort,  and  issued  proclamations  promising  envi- 
able institutions.  He  found  only  unbelievers;  and  when,  in  No- 
vember, with  about  eighty  men  enlisted  in  the  Harz,  he  entered 
Brunswick  territory,  he  was  driven  back  by  an  outpost  of  black 
jagers.  He  again  fled,  this  time  to  Paris.  Henceforward  he 
wandered  about  like  a  knight-errant,  everywhere  distinguished  by 
liis  extravagancies.  His  repeated  attempts  to  re-establish  him- 
self in  his  duchy  were  vain.  He  never  came  to  Germany  again, 
and  died  at  Geneva,  August  18th,  1873. 

It  was  a  peculiar  irony  of  fate  that  it  was  a  special  protege  of 
Metternich  upon  whom  the  lot  of  dethronement  fell,  and  that  his 
pliant  tool,  the  Diet,  was  forced  to  ratify  the  fact.  Little  as  the 


WILLIAM  II.  OF  HESSE  AND  THE  NEW  CONSTITUTION.    125 

changes  in  Brunswick  and  the  other  north-German  states  were  to 
the  taste  of  the  Diet,  it  did  not  dare  to  step  in,  bayonet  in  hand, 
after  tli£  manner  of  the  previous  decade,  for  fear  that,  in  the  then 
condition  of  the  world,  this  might  fan,  and  not  quench,  the  fire. 
It  even  gave  the  different  governments  the  wise  advice  to  redress 
actual  grievances  and  redeem  previous  pledges,  in  order  to  avoid 
all  cause  of  insurrection.  The  very  Diet  which,  before  and  after- 
ward in  all  quarrels  about  constitutions,  judged  the  princes  only 
right,  and  even  had  an  encouraging  word  for  their  illegal  encroach- 
ments, now  set  itself  on  the  side  of  the  subjects,  accepted  their 
complaints  against  Charles  of  Brunswick,  affirmed  his  absolute  in- 
capacity to  govern,  and  ratified  the  accession  of  his  brother  Wil- 
liam. He  entered  upon  the  government,  April  25th,  1831,  with 
the  consent  of  all  his  paternal  relatives.  The  nobles,  who  were 
the  originators  of  this  insurrection,  satisfied  by  the  change  of 
rulers,  wished  no  further  alterations  whatever;  but  the  people 
clamored  for  an  improvement  of  the  constitution,  and  got  it. 
The  new  constitution  was  proclaimed  October  12th,  1832,  as  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  land. 

In  Electoral  Hesse,  also,  the  chief  stone  of  stumbling  was  the 
person  of  the  prince.  Elector  William  II.  had  succeeded  his  fa- 
ther in  the  government  in  1821.  He  did  away  with  the  restored 
cues  of  the  soldiers,  it  is  true,  but  himself  caused  much  dissatis- 
faction by  his  coarse  conduct;  by  his  open  neglect  of  his  wife,  a 
sister  of  the  King  of  Prussia ;  by  his  offensively  open  intercourse 
with  his  mistress,  whom  he  had  made  Countess  Reiclicnbach  ;  and 
by  the  arbitrary  levying  of  taxes,  a  great  part  of  which  flowed 
into  the  pockets  of  the  elector  and  the  countess,  instead  of  into 
the  public  chest.  For  the  sake  of  protection  against  his  people, 
and  in  order  to  have  the  sons  of  the  Reichenbach  made  Aus- 
trian counts,  he  had,  after  a  short  spasm  of  opposition,  cast  himself 
unreservedly  into  the  arms  of  the  Metternich  system,  and  from 
that  time  on  he  allowed  himself  the  greatest  indiscretions.  The 
events  in  Paris  and  Brussels  awakened  hopes  and  plans  in  Elec- 
toral Hesse,  which  viewed  its  prince  and  his  government  with  dis- 
like and  contempt.  The  agitation  began  with  a  bread  riot  on 
September  16th,  and  ended  by  compelling  the  elector  to  convene 
the  Estates  of  the  country,  and  to  sign,  January  5th,  1831,  the 
new  constitutional  charter,  in  drafting  which  Professor  Jordan,  of 
Marburg,  had  been  especially  active.  But  as  the  citizens  of  Gas- 


126  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

sel  also  insisted  upon  the  departure  of  .Countess  Reichenbnch, 
and  twice  compelled  the  elector  to  send  her  away,  residence  at 
the  capital  or  at  Wilhelmshohe  became  distasteful  to  him,  and  he 
betook  himself  to  Hanau,  and  soon  afterward  to  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main.  But  according  to  the  constitution  he  could  not  rule  the 
country  from  foreign  territory  ;  and  hence,  September  30th,  1831, 
he  appointed  his  son  Frederic  William  co-regent.  The  latter, 
whose  character  was  more  in  harmony  with  that  of  his  father 
than  was  good  either  for  himself  or  the  country,  conducted  the 
business  of  the  government  from  this  time  forward. 

The  neighboring  Upper  Hesse  was  also  affected  by  the  gem- nil 
fever  for  revolutions.  In  September  of  1830  a  peasant  outbreak 
occurred  there,  which  recalls  in  many  of  its  traits  the  years  1524 
and  1525.  A  few  thousand  peasants  came  together,  sought  t<> 
dictate  laws  by  means  of  scythes  and  pitchforks,  spoke  of  equali- 
ty and  liberty,  raved  about  the  abolition  of  imposts  and  customs, 
showed  their  courage  principally  in  burning  custom-houses  and 
baronial  documents,  and  after  a  few  days  were  dispersed  by  the 
troops  of  Prince  Etnil,  of  Hesse. 

In  the  kingdom  of  Saxony  it  was  not  a  court  scandal  which 
excited  revolt  and  brought  about  an  upheaval,  but  an  effete  sys- 
tem of  government.  In  September,  1830,  there  were  street  riots 
in  Leipzig  and  Dresden.  In  the  capital,  the  city  hall  and  police 
head-quarters  were  carried  by  storm,  and  a  citizen  guard  estab- 
lished. The  dismissal  of  the  ministers,  the  adoption  of  a  consti- 
tution granting  representation  of  the  people,  change  of  the  mu- 
nicipal system,  abolition  of  Press  censorship,  and  expulsion  of  the 
Jesuits,  were  demanded  from  the  king.  The  Jesuits  exerted  a  very 
harmful  influence  on  several  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  royal 
house;  and  the  land  that  was  once  the  cradle  of  Protestantism  was 
of  necessity  most  deeply  stirred  when  it  saw  Protestantism's  arch- 
enemies nesting  on  its  hearth.  A  memorial  from  120  village  com- 
munities estimated  that  80,000  peasants  were  without  represen- 
tation in  the  parliament,  and  demanded  representation  for  them. 
The  king  had  to  yield.  He  appointed  his  nephew,  the  universally 
popular  Prince  Frederic,  co-regent,  and,  September  4th,  1831,  he 
took  the  oath  to  the  constitution  drawn  up  by  the  Estates  of  the 
country.  The  movement  for  liberty  spread  over  the  Saxon  duch- 
ies, and  attained  there,  also,  its  immediate  aims. 

The  kingdom  of  Hanover  was  drawn  into  the  new  movement 


THE  PATRICIANS  IN   SWITZERLAND.  127 

from  causes  similar  to  those  operating  in  Saxony.  Here  Junker- 
thum  bloomed  in  fullest  luxuriance.  February  8th,  1831,  an  insur- 
rection, in  which  both  students  and  citizens  took  part,  broke  out 
in  Gottingen.  A  citizen  guard  was  formed,  a  new  constitution 
demanded,  and  an  "  Accusation  of  the  administration  of  Miinster 
before  the  tribunal  of  public  opinion"  circulated  through  the 
country.  The  governor-general,  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  caused 
Gottingen  to  be  occupied  by  soldiers,  before  whom  the  whole 
revolution  vanished.  Moreover,  he  went  thither  in  person,  listened 
to  the  grievances,  and  promised  a  constitution  adapted  to  the  age 
— one  permitting  representation  of  the  people.  By  his  persuasion, 
King  William  was  brought  to  dismiss  Count  Miinster  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  all  that  was  hated.  Cambridge  was  appointed  vice- 
roy of  Hanover;  the  Estates — a  part  of  the  deputies  to  which 
were  newly  elected — met,  and  approved  of  the  draft  of  a  consti- 
tution prepared  by  a  committee  comprising  the  historian  Dahl- 
mann  among  its  members.  This  new  constitution  was  adopted 
in  1833,  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  nobility. 

So  to  the  south -German  constitutions  four  new  ones  were 
added  in  the  north.  The  efforts  of  the  Diet  to  press  these  coun- 
tries down  into  the  old  system  of  Estates  was  frustrated,  and 
thereby  a  victory  won  for  constitutionalism.  Even  the  princes 
were  very  far  from  calling  in  the  Diet  and  the  great  powers, 
whose  dicta  they  feared  more  than  they  did  the  demands  of  the 
people.  The  question  was  how  long  this  would  last;  whether 
the  events  in  Poland  and  Russia  would  not  drive  the  thermometer 
down. 

Where  monarchies  followed  the  liberal  lead,  republics  could  not 
remain  behind.  The  separate  cantons  and  the  general  government 
of  Switzerland  had,  in  the  third  decade  of  this  century,  relapsed 
into  the  same  reaction  as  the  other  countries  of  Europe.  The 
disproportion  which  we  have  found  in  north  Germany,  between 
the  rights  of  the  nobles  and  those  of  the  people,  existed  here  also. 
Most  of  the  cantons  had  an  aristocratic  government,  in  which  a 
few  privileged  families,  the  patricians,  had  so  decided  a  prepon- 
derance that  there  was  practically  no  representation  of  the  people. 
As  formerly,  among  the  Hanseatic  cities,  a  distinction  was  made 
between  Stadt  and  Ami  (city  and  subject  province),  so  now  in 
Switzerland  the  same  distinction  was  made  between  Stadt  and 
Landschaft  (city  and  outlying  district).  The  citizens  of  the  lat- 


128  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

ter  could  send  but  few  representatives  to  the  Great  Council  of  a 
canton. 

With  such  privileges  in  the  hands  of  the  patrician  families,  the 
administration  of  the  country  was  as  bad  as  possible.  The  offi- 
cials were  appointed  rather  on  the  score  of  birth  than  merit ;  the 
finances  were  not  always  managed  in  the  public  interest;  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  was  proverbially  bad.  As  little  attention 
was  paid  to  general  laws  for  the  benefit  of  domestic  intercourse 
and  traffic  as  in  Germany ;  and  the  Swiss  Diet,  which  met  in  one 
of  the  Directorial  Cantons  (Berne,  Zurich,  and  Luzcrne),  did  not 
yield  to  the  German  in  reactionary  sentiment.  It  was  strongly 
attached  to  the  Metternich  system,  and  sent  its  people  as  merce- 
naries to  France  and  Naples,  in  order  to  afford  the  young  patri- 
cians appointments  as  officers. 

With  such  republics  the  young  generation,  which  was  growing 
np  at  the  universities  and  elsewhere,  was  not  satisfied.  There 
sprung  up  everywhere  a  liberal  opposition  to  the  rule  of  the  oli- 
garchies ;  and,  after  the  uprisings  in  north  Germany,  the  demand 
for  constitutional  reform  became  still  more  general.  Societies 
were  formed ;  the  liberal  Press  was  never  weary  of  proclaiming 
the  principles  of  the  new  era — political  equality,  abolition  of  all 
privileges,  equal  representation  for  all  the  citizens  of  a  canton, 
freedom  of  the  Press,  etc.  —  and  demanding  their  adoption  in 
Switzerland.  Berne  —  at  that  time  the  Directorial  Canton,  and 
the  one  whose  government  was  the  most  aristocratic — issued,  Sep- 
tember 22d,  1830,  a  circular  to  the  various  cantonal  governments, 
urging  the  adoption  of  measures  against  the  Press,  and  the  main- 
tenance of  the  old  constitutions.  This  only  fanned  the  excitement 
into  a  blaze.  In  the  months  of  October  and  November  meetings 
of  the  notables  and  people  were  held  in  almost  all  the  cantons ; 
the  principles  of  the  new  constitutions  were  laid  down ;  and  after 
a  few  weeks  the  governments  were  compelled  to  accept  them. 

Before  the  July  revolution,  in  May,  1830,  the  oligarch ico-ul tra- 
montane government  had  been  overthrown  in  Tessin,  and  another 
set  np  on  a  democratic  basis.  In  the  autumn  the  Thurgovians 
were  the  first  to  exact  a  constitutional  assembly  and  a  change  of 
the  constitution,  and  the  new  constitution  was  adopted  by  the 
people  in  March,  1831.  Matters  took  the  same  course  in  Zurich 
— where  the  essential  point  was  the  relative  representation  of  the 
Landschaft  and  the  too  powerful  city ;  in  Aargau,  in  St.  Gallen, 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CHANGES   IN   THE   SWISS  CANTONS.     129 

in  Luzerne,  in  Soleure,  in  Freiburg — where  the  hierarchical  aris- 
tocracy, supported  by  the  Jesuits  and  Congregationalists  who  had 
been  driven  out  of  France,  called  out  the  soldiers,  but  were  over- 
thrown with  all  their  appurtenances;  in  Vaud  —  where,  with 
French  hot- headedness,  the  members  of  the  Great  Council  of 
Lausanne  were  assailed  with  the  cry,  "  Down  with  the  tyrants !" 
and  a  radical  constitution  was  adopted ;  in  Schaff  hausen  and  in 
Berne — where  for  a  long  time  the  government  entertained  the 
mad  plan  of  maintaining  itself  by  the  help  of  the  discharged 
Swiss  guards  of  Charles  X.  In  Basle,  where  there  were  bloody 
collisions  between  the  soldiers  of  the  Landschaft  and  those  of  the 
city,  and  the  troops  of  the  Swiss  Diet  had  to  interfere  to  adjust 
the  quarrel,  the  Great  Council  of  the  city  preferred  a  separation 
from  the  Landschaft  to  submitting  to  its  requirements.  So  in 
the  year  1832  the  two  half-cantons  of  the  city  of  Basle  and  the 
Landschaft  of  Basle  (with  its  government  at  Liestal)  were  form- 
ed. A  similar  desire  for  separation  of  city  and  Landschaft  man- 
ifested itself  in  Switz  and  Valais,  and  was  only  removed  after  bit- 
ter struggles.  In  Uri,  Unterwalden,  Zug,  Geneva,  Glarus,  Appen- 
zell,  and  the  country  of  the  Grisons,  on  the  other  hand,  the  old 
constitutions  remained  in  force.  In  Neuchatel,  where  the  liberal 
party  was  unwilling  longer  to  recognize  the  King  of  Prussia  as 
their  sovereign,  but  was  held  down  by  the  energy  of  the  Prussian 
general  von  Pfuel,  the  movement  ended  in  a  victory  for  the  ex- 
isting government. 

Different  from  all  the  hitherto  depicted  situations  was  the  state 
of  affairs  in  Italy.  This  time  it  was  not  Naples  and  Piedmont, 
as  ten  years  before,  but  the  States  of  the  Church,  which  were  the 
theatre  of  the  movement.  The  government,  which  consisted  of 
nothing  but  cardinals,  was  thoroughly  hated,  and  was  compared, 
and  to  be  compared,  only  with  the  Turkish  government.  In 
spite  of  all  persecutions,  the  Carbonari  had  spread  over  the  whole 
country,  and  had  many  adherents  among  the  educated  classes. 
Upon  these  circles  the  news  of  the  July  revolution  fell  with  con- 
vulsing effect.  The  centre  of  the  new  conspiracy  was  Bologna. 
One  citizen  of  that  place  was  so  delighted  with  the  Great  Week 
in  Paris  that  he  wanted  to  have  it  set  "  by  the  side  of  the  six 
days  of  the  creation."  From  Bologna  the  agitation  spread  to 
other  cities,  and  even  to  Rome  itself.  Pope  Pius  VIII.  died  No- 
vember 30th,  1830.  The  ensuing  interregnum  seemed  a  good 

6* 


130  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

time  to  strike.  Hopes  were  entertained  of  France,  which  had 
long  been  jealous  of  Austria.  The  French  cabinet,  it  is  true,  an- 
nounced, in  answer  to  inquiries,  that  it  would  not  meddle  in  Ital- 
ian affairs,  but  at  the  same  time,  also,  that  it  would  permit  no  in- 
terference on  the  part  of  an}7  other  state.  If  this  non-interven- 
tion principle,  the  very  opposite  of  that  which  had  formerly  been 
adopted  and  put  into  practice  by  the  congresses  of  Troppan,  Lai- 
bach,  and  Verona,  were  strictly  adhered  to,  and  Austria  restrained 
from  intervention,  the  Carbonari  were  sure  of  their  ability  to  dis- 
pose of  the  domestic  government,  and  carry  out  the  national  pro- 
gramme. And  if  Austria  should  interfere,  then  France  would  be 
forced  by  her  pledge  into  armed  participation,  and  out  of  the  con- 
test between  these  two  states  they  hoped  to  see  the  white-red- 
and-green  of  the  national  colors  issue. 

The  Napoleon  family  was  deeply  involved  in  this  movement. 
The  July  revolution  had  inspired  them  with  new  hopes.  Napo- 
leon's son,  the  unfortunate  Duke  of  Reichstadt,  was  pressed  by  se- 
cret agents  and  letters  to  allow  himself  to  be  proclaimed  Napo- 
leon II.  But,  though  "  Europe's  prisoner,"  full  of  talent  and 
zeal  for  military  studies,  like  his  father,  glowed  with  longing  at 
France's  call  to  set  himself  at  her  head,  he  was  condemned,  under 
the  watchful  eyes  of  his  grandfather  and  Mctternich,  to  the  pain 
of  causing  his  holiest  feelings  to  appear  the  opposite  of  what 
they  were,  and,  as  a  Napoleon,  had  to  speak  in  favor  of  the  Bour- 
bons. The  movements  of  the  other  Napoleons  were  less  ham- 
pered. Jerome's  two  sons  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Carbo- 
nari, as  well  as  of  the  Roman  government ;  and  the  two  sons  of 
the  Dutch  ex-king  and  Hortense  threw  themselves  into  the  arms 
of  the  revolution  at  the  instigation  of  the  Modenese  Menotti,  un- 
concerned as  to  whether  this  would  cost  their  aunt,  the  ex-empress 
Marie  Louise,  her  widow's  portion  or  not. 

The  head  of  the  Modenese  conspirators,  Menotti,  designed 
striking  in  Modena,  February  4th,  1831,  but  was  apprehended, 
with  fifteen  of  his  accomplices,  by  the  old  despot,  Duke  Francis 
IV.,  on  the  preceding  evening.  But  since  almost  at  the  same 
time  the  whole  duchy  broke  out  in  rebellion,  Francis  had  to  leave 
the  country,  February  5th,  and  fled  first  to  Mantua  and  then  to 
Vienna,  dragging  Menotti  along  with  him.  A  provisional  gov- 
ernment was  established,  and  the  Modenese  army  placed  under 
the  command  of  General  Zticchi,  a  man  trained  in  the  Napoleonic 


POPE   GREGORY   XVI.— AUSTRIAN   INTERVENTION.        131 

school.  February  13th,  Parma  rose,  and  Marie  Louise  had  to  flee 
to  Piacenza.  Of  most  importance  were  the  proceedings  in  Bo- 
logna. The  news  of  the  occurrences  in  Modena  aroused  immense 
excitement  in  that  city.  The  papal  commissioner  was  obliged  to 
give  his  consent  to  the  organization  of  a  citizen  guard  and  a  pro- 
visional government.  Within  three  weeks  all  the  States  of  the 
Church  were  in  rebellion,  with  the  exception  of  Rome  and  a  few 
cities  in  le  Marche.  The  provisional  government  of  Bologna, 
under  pressure  from  the  Carbonari,  declared,  February  8th,  that 
"  the  temporal  rule  which  the  Romish  High-priest  has  exercised 
over  this  province  has  actually  and  rightfully  ceased  forever," 
and  summoned  the  representatives  of  the  cities  and  provinces  to 
meet  at  Bologna.  This  new  parliament  assembled  in  Bologna 
February  26th,  and  adopted  a  provisional  constitution  for  "the 
united  Italian  provinces."  A  president,  a  council  of  ministers,  and  a 
legislative  assembly,  were  to  stand  at  the  head  of  the  state.  Diplo- 
mats were  sent  to  England  and  France,  and  the  world  enlightened 
by  a  manifesto  regarding  the  situation  in  the  States  of  the  Church. 
In  the  mean  time,  February  2d,  a  new  Pope,  Gregory  XVI., 
had  been  chosen,  who,  with  his  resolute  secretary  of  state,  Cardi- 
nal Bernetti,  had  no  intention  of  letting  himself  be  so  easily 
shaken  out  of  the  saddle.  However,  his  proclamation  to  his 
"  dearly  beloved  subjects  "  found  but  few  listeners ;  and  Cardinal 
Benvenuti's  mission  to  excite  a  counter-revolution  in  the  provinces 
was  thwarted  through  his  capture  by  the  rebels.  These,  poorly 
armed  though  they  were,  advanced  under  Colonel  Sercognani  into 
the  neighborhood  of  Rome,  and  threatened  the  city  with  a  sack, 
but  had  to  retire  in  spite  of  the  fantastic  plans  of  Hortensu's  two 
sons,  who  accompanied  the  expedition.  The  Austrians  pressed 
forward  all  the  more  quickly,  true  to  their  old  principle  of  hur- 
rying with  their  extinguishers  to  any  spot  in  Italy  where  a  crater 
opened.  The  threats  of  the  French  government  gave  them  little 
concern.  They  knew,  furthermore,  that  Louis  Philippe  was  of  a 
quite  different  mind  from  his  ministers — a  double-dealing  which 
so  disgusted  Lafitte,  the  minister  president,  that  he  gave  in  his 
resignation.  Louis  Philippe  was  as  little  inclined  to  rush  into 
war  with  another  power,  and  inflame  the  revolutionary  passions 
of  France  for  Italy  as  for  Belgium.  With  a  protest  against  the 
invasion  of  the  Austrians,  which  the  French  ambassador  was  to 
deliver  at  the  Romish  court,  the  matter  was  at  an  end. 


132  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

The  Austrian  general  Frimont,  who  had  conducted  the  inter- 
vention in  Naples  in  1821,  was  intrusted  with  the  chief  command 
on  this  occasion  also.  February  25th,  the  rebels  were  defeated  at 
Firenzuola,  and  the  whole  of  Parma  was  occupied.  The  Moden- 
ese,  under  Zucchi,  were  defeated  at  Novi,  by  General  Geppert,  after 
a  gallant  resistance;  and  March  9th,  Duke  Francis,  thirsting  fur 
vengeance,  re-entered  his  capital.  Zucchi  fell  back  on  Bulogn.-i, 
where,  trusting  to  France,  but  slight  preparations  for  resist<;ntv 
had  been  made.  In  order  to  give  no  offence  to  Louis  Philippe, 
the  two  Napoleonic  princes  had  been  removed  from  the  armv, 
and  permission  refused  them  to  serve  even  as  volunteers.  On  the 
way  to  Ancona,  the  elder,  Napoleon  Louis,  fell  ill  in  Forli,  and  w;is 
carried  off  by  the  measles,  March  17th,  before  his  mother  could 
reach  him.  The  younger,  Louis  Napoleon,  destined  to  sit  on  the 
imperial  throne  of  France,  was  rescued  from  the  greedy  hands  of 
the  Austrians,  after  various  adventures  and  disguises,  by  the  en- 
ergy and  cunning  of  his  mother. 

Italy's  was  already  a  lost  cause.  A  third  Austrian  division, 
under  General  Bentheim,  crossed  the  Po,  March  6th,  and  occupied 
Ferrara  and  Comachio.  Zucchi,  appointed  to  the  chief  command 
of  the  Bolognesc  army,  fell  back  with  the  provisional  government 
to  Ancona,  The  Austrians  entered  Bologna  March  21st,  were  vic- 
tors in  the  bloody  battle  of  Rimini  on  the  '25th,  and  occupied  An- 
cona, under  General  Geppert,  on  the  29th.  Zucchi  and  the  leaders 
of  the  revolution  had  already  embarked  for  Corfu,  but  were  over- 
taken by  the  boats  sent  in  pursuit  and  brought  back  to  Venice. 

On  the  representations  of  Louis  Philippe,  who  had  to  act  with 
circumspection  in  presence  of  the  opposition  and  the  Press,  the 
Papal  government,  after  the  suppression  of  the  revolt,  behaved 
with  more  moderation  than  men  had  expected.  An  amnesty, 
from  which  only  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion  were  excluded,  was 
published,  and  a  few  improvements  introduced  into  the  adminis- 
tration. The  Duke  of  Modena,  the  only  prince  in  Europe  who 
had  not  recognized  Louis  Philippe,  proved  less  accessible.  He 
executed  Menotti  and  the  lawyer  Borelli,  condemned  others  to 
the  galleys  or  cast  them  into  prison,  and  confiscated  their  estates. 
The  Austrians  evacuated  the  States  of  the  Church  in  July,  1831 ; 
but  January  28th  of  the  following  year,  when  Cardinal  Albani, 
with  his  armed  mob,  gained  possession  of  the  so-called  legations, 
and  committed  a  shameful  massacre  in  the  city  of  Forli  (21st 


POLAND   UNDER  THE   CZAR   NICHOLAS   OF  RUSSIA.      133 

January),  they  re-entered  Bologna,  received  by  the  inhabitants  as 
deliverers.  This  second  invasion  was  very  awkward  for  the  French 
cabinet.  In  order  to  establish  a  counterpoise,  troops  were  hastily 
embarked  in  Toulon,  and  Ancona  was  occupied,  without  Papal 
consent,  on  the  23d  of  February.  However,  the  native  authori- 
ties were  respected,  and  the  occupation  almost  wholly  confined  to 
the  citadel. 

So  this  second  Italian  revolution  had  failed  for  the  same  rea- 
son as  the  first.  Without  help  from  abroad,  limited  to  a  small 
part  of  Italy,  it  was  no  match  for  the  Austrian  arms.  If,  in  18^1, 
the  Carbonari  in  Naples  vainly  expected  a  revolution  in  the  States 
of  the  Church,  while  those  in  Piedmont  awaited  in  vain  the  rising 
of  Milan,  so  now  the  revolutionists  of  central  Italy  saw  themselves 
thrown  on  their  own  resources.  Neither  Naples  nor  Piedmont 
was  willing  to  bleed  a  second  time.  Moreover,  both  states  had 
at  that  time  new  rulers,  who  sought  in  their  first  months  to  make 
themselves  popular  by  liberal  measures.  In  Naples',  King  Ferdi- 
nand I.  had  died  in  1825.  His  son,  Francis  I.,  who  had  played 
the  revolutionist  in  1820,  and  then  as  king  proved  as  bad  as  his 
father,  died  in  November,  1 830.  Ferdinand  II.,  his  twenty-year- 
old  son,  seemed  for  a  short  time  to  be  steering  for  the  hegemony 
of  Italy,  with  the  help  of  the  liberal  party ;  but  he  soon  allowed 
himself  to  be  brought  about  by  Metternich.  In  Piedmont  the 
inflexible  Charles  Felix  had  held  down  with  a  strong  hand  all 
attempts  at  rebellion.  He  died  in  April,  1831,  and  his  successor 
was  Charles  Albert,  that  Prince  of  Carignan  who,  in  1821,  had  so 
completely  compromised  himself  with  both  sides.  But,  as  he  ap- 
peared to  have  broken  utterly  with  the  absolute  system  of  his 
predecessor,  and  to  have  initiated  a  more  liberal  policy,  he  be- 
came again  the  object  of  hopes. 

The  revolution  in  Italy  had  rendered  it  impossible  for  Aus- 
tria to  bestow  her  patriarchal  attention  on  the  changes  in  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland.  The  insurrection  in  Poland  prevented 
the  Emperor  Nicholas,  of  Russia,  from  giving  vent  in  a  military 
way  to  his  rage  at  the  revolutions  in  France  and  Belgium.  He 
had  received  the  kingdom  of  Poland  from  his  brother  Alexander 
as  a  constitutional  monarchy,  having  its  own  army,  the  manage- 
ment of  its  own  finances,  a  separate  administration — in  generalr 
a  moderately  independent  existence.  And  yet  the  Poles,  who 
could  not  forget  the  greatness  of  former  centuries,  felt  that  they 


J 


134  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

were  merely  an  impotent  appendage  of  the  Russian  colossus,  and 
that  they  and  their  constitution  lived  only  by  the  Czar's  favor. 
Their  relations  to  Nicholas  were  disturbed  at  his  very  accession. 
Many  Poles,  who  sought  to  take  advantage  of  that  opportunity 
for  the  reunion  of  Lithuania  with  Poland,  were  involved  in  the 
military  conspiracy  in  St.  Petersburg  in  the  year  1825.  The  tri- 
bunal which  had  to  pronounce  sentence  acquitted  them.  Although 
Nicholas  confirmed  the  sentence,  he  could  not  refrain  from  ex- 
pressing his  displeasure.  The  prosperity  of  the  land  increased 
greatly  under  Prince  Lubecki's  excellent  administration  of  the 
finances,  and  sensible  Poles  preferred  the  furtherance  of  material 
and  intellectual  development  to  that  of  political  and  national. 
The  enthusiasts,  on  the  other  hand,  thought  that  they  could 
make  a  revolution  with  a  handful  of  students  and  lieutenants. 
They  looked  toward  France,  which  had  always  been  closely  con- 
nected with  the  Poles,  especially  by  the  late  brotherhood  of  arms 
during  the  Napoleonic  wars,  and  held  everything  which  the  Em- 
peror Alexander  had  given  them  as  nothing  in  comparison  with 
that  which  they,  in  their  wild  fancies,  hoped  to  be  able  to  obtain. 
Politicians  of  sentiment,  as  they  are  to  this  day,  they  considered 
it  possible,  in  spite  of  the  three  great  neighboring  states,  not  only 
to  rend  Poland  completely  from  Russia,  but  also  to  reunite  into 
one  great  kingdom  of  Poland  all  the  provinces  which  had  been 
torn  from  her  since  the  first  partition  between  Russia,  Austria, 
and  Prussia  in  1772. 

As  commonly  happens  in  such  cases,  a  great  blunder  was  made 
in  filling  the  most  important  post.  Alexander  had  confided  the 
military  command  in  Poland  to  his  eldest  brother,  Constantine. 
This  prince,  who,  on  account  of  his  utter  incapacity,  had  been 
obliged  to  abandon  the  imperial  throne  to  his  younger  brother 
Nicholas,  was  good  enough,  forsooth,  for  Poland.  But  it  was  in 
Poland  that  a  man  of  tact  was,  in  reality,  most  needed.  Constan- 
tine was  guilty  of  the  most  stupid  breaches  of  the  constitution. 
He  interfered  in  the  administration  of  justice;  for  insignificant 
offences  against  "  red  tape "  he  treated  officers  as  dishonorable 
subjects ;  like  his  friend  Metternich,  he  maintained  at  home  and 
abroad  a  horde  of  spies  to  deceive  him  and  plunder  the  land; 
and  he  saw  in  Polish  patriotism  the  most  heinous  of  crimes.  No 
wonder  that,  when  men  spoke  of  hatred  toward  Russia,  Constan- 
tine was  the  name  first  named.  And  yet,  married  to  a  young- 


GRAND-DUKE   CONSTANTINE.— PARTIES   IN   POLAND.      135 

Pole  who  bore  the  title  Princess  of  Lowicz,  he  affected  a  special 
affection  for  that  kingdom. 

A  few  men  wished  to  raise  the  standard  of  rebellion  in  the 
year  1828,  when  Russia  was  occupied  with  the  Turkish  war.  In 
the  following  year,  during  the  presence  of  the  Czar  in  Warsaw, 
the  most  impatient  even  talked  of  assassinating  him  and  the 
princes  that  were  with  him.  Both  plans  were  given  up  because 
it  was  believed  that  they  would  find  too  little  sympathy  among 
the  people,  and  because  the  parties  were  not  united.  It  was  de- 
termined to  await  an  uprising  in  France.  That  came,  and  the 
old  conspirators,  Lieutenants  Zaliwski  and  Wysocki,  at  once  called 
a  council  of  a  few  of  their  friends.  As  they  were  not  yet  pre- 
pared, it  was  decided  to  wait  until  the  following  February.  The 
old  generals  were  applied  to  to  take  the  chief  command,  but  none 
of  them  would  accept  it.  The  other  generals  and  colonels  also 
refused  to  work  with  the  conspirators,  although  they  might  not 
work  against  them.  The  latter  did  not  let  themselves  be  dis- 
mayed, however,  but  named  a  committee  of  direction,  and  sent 
agents  to  Lithuania,  Podolia,  and  Volhynia.  The  undertaking 
seemed  likely  to  be  wrecked  at  the  very  start  on  the  old  disunion 
of  the  Poles.  Each  of  the  different  parties  believed  itself  the 
sole  possessor  of  the  right  means  to  win  the  independence  of  Po- 
land. The  aristocratic  party,  at  whose  head  stood  Prince  Adam 
Czartoryski,  wished  to  avoid  a  premature  collision  with  Russia,  to 
strengthen  the  country  by  reforms  of  every  description,  and  to 
increase  its  power  of  attraction  on  the  sundered  provinces.  The 
democrats,  foremost  among  whom  was  Joachim  Lelewel,  quon- 
dam professor  in  the  university  at  Wilna,  disregarding  the  actual 
conditions  of  politics,  demanded  immediate  action — separation 
from  Russia,  re-establishment  of  the  old  Polish  kingdom,  and  equal- 
ity of  all  classes  in  their  political  rights.  Between  these  two 
there  were  many  shades  of  opinion.  On  one  point  all  were  united 
— the  greatest  possible  freedom  from  Russia.  In  respect  of  the 
means  to  be  used,  and  the  social  ends  to  be  attained,  views  differed 
widely. 

At  the  end  of  October  appeared  a  manifesto  of  the  Czar,  which 
was  looked  upon  as  the  herald  of  a  declaration  of  war  and  the 
formation  of  a  coalition  against  France  and  Belgium.  The  com- 
mand was  issued  to  place  the  Polish  army  on  a  war  footing.  The 
Poles  feared  that  their  army  would  be  led  across  the  frontier,  and 


136  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

put  to  foreign  uses.  It  was  necessary  to  act  all  the  more  quickly. 
At  the  same  time,  it  was  easy  to  see  that  the  secret  of  the  conspir- 
acy was  no  longer  preserved.  There  were  acts  as  imprudent  as 
in  the  August  days  in  Brussels.  Ou  the  Belvedere,  the  pleasure 
residence  of  the  Grand-duke  Constantine,  was  found  posted  this 
placard  :  "To  rent  after  New-year's."  Yet  the  grand-duke  acted 
as  though  there  were  not  the  slightest  danger  in  sight.  The 
evening  of  November  29th,  1830,  had  been  fixed  upon  as  the 
time  for  action,  as  on  that  day  all  the  sentinels  on  duty  would  be 
Poles.  The  officers  of  all  Polish  regiments  were  assembled,  the 
plan  imparted  to  them,  and  their  participation  required  in  the 
name  of  the  nation. 

The  29th  of  November  came.  Six  o'clock  in  the  evening  was 
the  hour  agreed  upon.  The  conflagration  of  a  brewery  at  one 
end  of  the  city  was  to  be  the  signal.  The  flames  were  not  visi- 
ble everywhere,  and  hence  arose  some  confusion  at  the  outset. 
Some  had  undertaken  the  assassination  of  the  grand-duke ;  others, 
the  surprising  and  disarming  of  the  Russian  cavalry  and  infantry  ; 
others,  the  capture  of  the  arsenal.  With  the  cry,  "  Death  to  the 
tyrants !"  about  twenty  men  fell  upon  the  Belvedere,  and  killed 
the  vice-president  and  a  general  who  looked  like  the  grand-duke, 
but  did  not  find  the  grand-duke  himself,  for  at  the  first  alarm  he 
had  fled,  with  the  Prussian  ambassador  Schmidt,  to  a  neighboring 
hut.  The  disarming  of  the  Russian  regiments  also  failed ;  for 
they  had  drawn  up  in  battle  array  before  their  barracks,  and  the 
1GO  ensigns,  with  whom  Wysocki  came  marching  up,  were  repulsed. 
An  attack  on  their  part  would  have  made  an  end  of  the  whole 
matter,  but  no  one  gave  the  command.  Several  of  their  generals 
and  colonels  had  been  shot  on  their  way  to  the  barracks ;  for 
Zaliwski  had  succeeded  in  the  capture  of  the  arsenal,  and  15,000 
muskets  had  been  distributed  among  the  people.  On  the  follow- 
ing morning  the  Russian  troops  found  themselves  hemmed  in  on 
all  sides,  and  Constantine,  in  the  belief  that  it  was  merely  a  popu- 
lar tumult  which  he  might  quietly  leave  to  wear  itself  out,  vacated 
the  city.  He  halted  for  two  days  at  Wierbzna,  about  four  miles 
from  Warsaw,  and  it  was  not  until  the  3d  of  December,  when  the 
Polish  troops  that  had  marched  out  with  him  returned  to  Warsaw, 
that  he  and  his  Russians  marched  to  the  frontier.  The  whole 
country  rose  behind  him.  Both  fortresses  yielded,  with  their 
enormous  military  stores.  In  eight  days  all  was  over,  and  the 


GENERAL   CHLOPICKI  DICTATOR.  137 

country  was  free  from  Russian  garrisons.  Poland  had  bad  its 
"great  week."  The  jubilation  was  indescribable.  After  such 
successes  nothing  was  considered  impossible.  But  the  military 
power  of  Russia  was  a  different  adversary  from  Charles  X.  and 
his  courtiers,  and  not  quite  the  same  as  Holland. 

Prince  Lubecki,  the  most  influential  member  of  the  Council  of 
Administration,  the  highest  tribunal  for  the  internal  affairs  of  Po- 
land, thought  that  by  taking  a  few  popular  aristocrats  into  that 
body  he  could  guide  the  rebellion  into  a  quiet  channel.  But  the 
revolutionists,  who  under  Lelewel's  lead  had  formed  a  patriotic 
club  in  the  city  hall,  were  ill  satisfied  with  this.  Lubecki  had  to 
disband  the  Council  of  Administration,  and  establish  a  provisional 
government,  with  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski  at  its  head.  Lelewel 
was  also  a  member  of  this  government,  but  the  ruling  element 
was  overwhelmingly  aristocratic.  December  5th,  it  appointed  the 
sixty-year-old  General  Joseph  Chlopicki  commander-in-chief,  and 
then  dictator.  This  man,  who  had  served  under  Kosciuszko,  and 
had  made  several  campaigns  under  Napoleon,  possessed  the  most 
popular  name  of  all  the  generals;  but  neither  his  strategical 
knowledge  nor  his  political  sagacity  were  such  as  to  fit  him  for  a 
post  of  this  description.  He  did  not  hope  to  succeed  by  fighting, 
but  by  negotiations.  With  the  well-known  character  of  the  Czar 
Nicholas,  negotiations  were  useless,  and  deprived  the  Poles  of  the 
possibility  of  rapidly  carrying  the  rebellion  over  into  the  old  Po- 
lish provinces.  To  restrain  the  democratic  elements  seemed  to 
him  of  more  importance  than  to  prepare  for  an  implacable  war. 
Hence  it  was  that,  in  a  sitting  of  the  provisional  government,  he 
proclaimed  himself  dictator,  dismissed  Lelewel,  retained  the  other 
members  as  ministers,  sent  back  the  volunteers  who  were  hurry- 
ing up  from  Lithuania,  Galicia,  and  Posen,  and  despatched  Prince 
Lubecki  and  Count  Jezierski  to  St.  Petersburg  as  ambassadors  to 
assure  the  Czar  of  Poland's  fidelity,  and  to  urge  upon  him  three 
wishes — adherence  to  the  constitution,  exclusion  of  Russian  gar- 
risons, and  (as  far  as  possible)  union  of  Lithuania  with  Poland. 

The  Polish  Diet  assembled  December  18th,  sanctioned  the  rev- 
olution of  November  29th  as  the  expression  of  the  popular  will, 
confirmed  Chlopicki  as  dictator,  and  adjourned  at  his  wish  until 
January  19th.  The  dictator  named  a  ministry,  into  which  he  was 
compelled  to  admit  Lelewel,  and  a  national  council  with  Czarto- 
ryski as  president.  He  found  himself  exposed  to  the  attacks  of 


138  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

the  "clubists,"  who  reproached  him  with  inability,  and  even  with 
treason.  They  sought  to  undermine  his  position,  and  to  alienate 
the  army  from  him  ;  and,  although  he  caused  the  arrest  of  Lelewcl 
and  others,  he  was  obliged  to  set  them  free  again.  Then  appeared 
the  Czar's  proclamation  of  December  19th,  in  which  unconditional 
submission  was  required,  and  the  invasion  of  the  Russian  troops 
announced;  and  on  January  13th  Count  Jezierski  returned  and 
reported  that  Nicholas  left  no  other  choice  than  unconditional 
submission  or  war.  Thereupon  Chlopicki  announced  to  the  Na- 
tional Council  that  he  would  only  retain  the  dictatorship  on  con- 
dition that  unlimited  power  be  granted  him.  As  this  was  not  ac- 
cepted, he  laid  down  the  dictatorship  and  the  chief  command, 
January  17th. 

January  19th  the  Diet  reassembled,  and  on  the  25th,  at  the  mo- 
tion of  Count  Roman  Soltyk,  pronounced  the  independence  of 
Poland,  and  the  deposition  of  the  Romanow  dynasty.  A  new  gov- 
ernment of  five  men  was  formed,  in  which  Czartoryski  was  presi- 
dent, while  Lelewel  was  the  only  democrat.  The  army  was  in- 
creased as  quickly  as  possible,  and  the  chief  command  intrusted 
to  Prince  Radziwill,  in  the  expectation  that  his  friend  Chlopicki 
would  assist  him  with  military  counsels. 

The  Russian  field-marshal,  Count  Diebitsch  Zabalkanski,  crossed 
the  Polish  boundaries,  in  the  first  week  of  February,  with  118,000 
men,  and  advanced  upon  Warsaw  in  several  divisions.  After  a 
few  insignificant  engagements,  battle  was  delivered  at  Grochow, 
February  25th.  The  Poles  had  45,000  men,  the  Russians  70,000, 
and  twice  as  many  cannon  as  the  Poles.  Notwithstanding  all 
their  bravery,  the  Poles  had  to  retire  from  the  field,  leaving  8000 
dead  and  wounded  behind  them,  to  12,000  on  the  part  of  the  Rus- 
sians. Then  Radziwill,  to  whom  the  seriously  wounded  Chlopicki 
could  render  no  further  assistance,  laid  down  the  chief  command, 
and  Strzynecki  was  chosen  in  his  stead.  Like  all  the  Polish  gen- 
erals, this  one  was  better  fitted  to  command  a  division  than  to  play 
the  strategist.  He  neglected  to  take  advantage  of  Diebitsch's 
passage  of  the  Vistula,  and  of  his  division  of  his  army  into  small- 
er detachments  to  defeat  the  Russians  in  detail.  And  when  he 
was  in  a  position  to  attack  the  Russian  guards  with  superior  num- 
bers, through  fear  of  a  surprise  of  Warsaw  he  detached  a  consid- 
erable force  for  its  defence,  and  gave  Diebitsch  time  to  come  to 
their  assistance.  So  the  unlucky  battle  of  Ostrolenka  was  brought 


THE  REVOLUTION  IN  THE  OLD  POLISH  PROVINCES  FAILS.  139 

on  (May  26th),  in  which  no  amount  of  personal  valor  could  sup- 
ply the  lack  of  good  generalship.  The  Poles  lost  7000,  and  the 
Russians  9000  men.  Diebitsch,  who  had  showed  less  energy  in 
this  campaign  than  in  the  Turkish  campaign  of  1829,  died  at  Pul- 
tulsk,  June  10th,  of  the  cholera,  and  on  the  27th  of  June  the  Grand- 
duke  Constantine  died  at  Witepsk.  The  former  had  no  heart  for 
this  war,  and  was  hence  frowned  on  by  the  National  Russians. 
The  latter  is  said  to  have  expressed  pleasure  at  the  valor  of  the 
Poles  as  if  that  valor  were  his  doing.  Hence  arose  the  report 
that  the  sudden  deaths  of  both  men  were  not  natural. 

Still  worse  than  the  loss  of  a  battle  was  the  news  which  poured 
in  from  the  old  Polish  provinces.  What  Chlopicki  had  neglected 
in  the  first  weeks  of  his  dictatorship  must  now  be  dearly  paid  for. 
The  bold  Dwernicki,  who  had  won  the  first  advantage  over  the 
Russians,  February  14th,  was  sent  with  6000  men  to  Volhynia, 
to  arouse  that  and  the  mcfre  southern  provinces.  General  Count 
Rudiger  was  opposed  to  him  with  15,000  men,  and  before  his 
superior  numbers  Dwernicki  had  to  retire  (April  27th)  into  Aus- 
trian territory,  where  he  was  held  prisoner  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  His  troops  were  disarmed,  but  the  greater  part  of  them 
stole  back  over  the  Polish  frontier.  In  spite  of  this  mishap,  the 
Polish  nobility  rose  in  Volhynia,  Podolia,  and  the  Ukraine,  and 
set  themselves  at  the  head  of  their  peasants;  but  they  were  easily 
overpowered  by  the  superior  force  of  the  Russians.  Matters  were 
no  better  in  the  north,  in  Samogitia  and  Lithuania.  General 
Gielgud,  one  of  the  richest  landed  proprietors  in  Lithuania,  had 
been  sent  thither  with  12,000  men.  Generals  Chlapowski  and 
Dembinski  were  in  command  under  him.  A  rapid  attack  on  the 
weakly  garrisoned  Wilna  might  have  brought  the  whole  coun- 
try into  their  hands,  and  made  it  a  barrier  against  Russia. 
But  Gielgud,  more  concerned  about  his  estates  than  about  the 
great  cause,  squandered  valuable  time  in  inaction,  was  repulsed 
before  Wilna,  the  garrison  of  which  place  had  been  in  the  mean 
time  strengthened,  and  finally,  July  12th,  he  and  Chlapowski  con- 
cluded to  cross  the  Prussian  frontier  at  Mesnel  and  lay  down 
their  arms.  At  the  moment  of  crossing,  a  Polish  officer  sprung 
out  of  the  ranks,  and  with  the  cry,  "  Die,  traitor !"  shot  Gielgud. 
Dembiuski  behaved  more  heroically,  and,  with  the  4000  men  that 
he  had  separated  from  the  main  body,  fought  his  way  safeiy 
from  the  farthest  limits  of  Samogitia  through  Lithuania,  which 


140  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

was  full  of  Russians,  to  Warsaw,  and  entered  it,  August  3d,  aruid 
the  rejoicings  of  the  people. 

The  failure  of  all  enterprises,  and  the  suspicion  that  the  people 
were  betrayed  by  the  aristocratic  party,  brought  about  in  Warsaw 
the  most  violent  and  terrible  scenes.  All  attempts  to  interest 
foreign  powers,  especially  France  and  England,  came  to  nothing ; 
Poland  was  thrown  on  her  own  resources.  The  democratic  party 
sought  to  arouse  among  the  peasants  zeal  for  the  revolution,  and 
for  that  purpose  demanded  that  the  Diet  should  make  the  peas- 
ants, at  the  expiration  of  their  military  service,  proprietors  of  the 
land  farmed  by  them.  The  aristocracy,  threatened  in  its  purse, 
opposed  this  proposition.  So  there  resulted  finally  the  popular 
excesses  of  August  15th,  when  the  prisons,  where  thirty  or  forty 
persons,  accused  of  being  in  communication  with  the  Russians, 
were  confined,  were  broken  open,  and  all  alike,  guilty  and  inno- 
cent— even  women — murdered.  The  government,  whose  mem- 
bers were  threatened  with  death,  disbanded.  Czartoryski  fled  in 
disguise  into  the  Polish  camp.  The  intriguing  General  Kruko- 
wiecki  had  himself  named  president  of  the  government  by  the 
Diet,  which  was  overawed  by  the  people,  in  order  to  find  an  op- 
portunity to  betray  his  country  to  Russia,  and  receive  his  reward 
from  the  Czar. 

Changes  had  also  been  mado  in  the  command  of  the  army. 
The  incapable  Skrzynecki  had  been  deposed,  August  10th,  and 
succeeded  by  Dembinski.  But  as  he  could  conjure  up  no  vic- 
tories, he  too  had  to  lay  down  the  chief  command.  It  was  then 
intrusted  by  the  new  president  to  the  incapable  Malachowski. 
While  on  the  part  of  the  Poles  the  strength  of  the  nation  was 
being  idly  dissipated  by  such  disunion,  incapacity,  and  treason 
among  the  leaders,  on  the  part  of  the  Russians,  after  Diebitsch's 
death,  the  power  had  been  committed  to  a  strong  hand.  Count 
Paskevitch  Erivanski  had  been  promoted  to  the  chief  command, 
owing  to  his  able  conduct  of  the  war  against  the  Persians,  and 
his  success  in  Asia  Minor.  lie  transferred  the  theatre  of  opera- 
tions to  the  lower  Vistula,  crossed  to  the  left  bank,  and  advanced 
on  Warsaw.  Instead  of  holding  all  his  troops  together  for  the 
defence  of  the  capital,  and  playing  his  last  card  before  its  walls, 
Kruckowiecki  sent  away  several  detachments,  nominally  for  the 
sake  of  procuring  supplies.  Among  these  was  a  detachment  of 
20,000  men  under  the  Genoese  adventurer  Ramorino.  Only 


CAPTURE   OF  WARSAW.  141 

34,000  soldiers  remained  in  the  city,  which  was  attacked  by 
Paskewitch  with  70,000.  He  assaulted  on  the  6th  and  7th  of 
September,  and  lost  20,000  men ;  for  the  Poles,  in  spite  of  bad 
generalship,  fought  with  the  utmost  bravery.  However,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  them  out  of  their  first  two  lines  of  intrench- 
ment.  At  the  same  time,  he  entered  into  negotiations  with 
Kruckovviecki,  who  promised  unconditional  surrender  of  the  city, 
and  the  retreat  of  the  Polish  army  to  Praga.  But  when  General 
Berg,  who  was  conducting  the  negotiations,  returned  to  the  city 
to  make  the  final  arrangements,  he  found  that  Kruckowiecki  had 
been  deposed  by  the  more  resolute  members  of  the  Diet,  and 
Niemojewski  named  president.  A  truce  of  forty-eight  hours  was 
agreed  upon,  and  during  that  time  the  Diet  and  the  army  aban- 
doned Warsaw  and  Praga,  and  retired  to  Modi  in.  September 
8th,  the  Russians  entered  Warsaw,  from  which  they  had  been 
driven  by  the  Poles,  amid  the  most  extravagant  hopes,  on  the 
30th  of  the  previous  November. 

Since,  however,  the  Russians  had  suffered  in  the  assault  great 
losses  which  could  not  be  so  quickly  repaired,  the  Polish  generals 
thought  of  carrying  on  the  war,  and  even  of  attacking  Warsaw, 
where  the  Russians  had  a  difficult  position  among  an  angry  pop- 
ulation. So  Ramorino  received  the  command  to  join  the  main 
army  in  Modlin ;  but,  instead  of  obeying,  he  marched  toward  Ga- 
licia,  and  on  the  16th  of  September  crossed  the  Austrian  frontier 
with  10,000  men,  and  laid  down  his  arms.  The  gallant  General 
Rozycki,  with  a  smaller  detachment,  was  driven  back  by  over- 
whelming numbers,  and  forced  to  flee  to  Cracow,  September 
25th.  On  the  receipt  of  this  news,  Paskewitch  adopted  quite  a 
different  tone.  He  had  entered  into  negotiations  with  head- 
quarters at  Modlin,  and  allowed  it  to  appear  as  though  he  had 
authority  to  grant  a  general  amnesty  and  the  retention  of  the 
constitution  of  1815,  but  now  he  required  unconditional  submis- 
sion. This  the  army  and  the  Diet  would  not  hear  of.  Officers 
and  soldiers  alike  demanded  to  be  led  once  more  against  the  en- 
emy, that  they  might  slake  their  thirst  for  vengeance  in  his 
blood.  But  Rybinski,  who  had  succeeded  the  aged  Malachowski 
in  the  chief  command,  did  not  wish  to  cause  useless  bloodshed, 
and  so,  October  5th,  he  crossed  the  Prussian  frontier  with  the  re- 
mainder of  the  army,  24,000  men  and  ninety-five  guns,  and  gave 
up  his  arms.  Soon  afterward  the  fortresses  of  Modlin  and  Za- 


142  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

mosc  surrendered,  and  for  the  second  time  finis  Polonies  was  pro- 
nounced. 

Czar  Nicholas  was  firmly  resolved  to  annihilate  Poland  as  an 
independent  state,  a  separate  nationality,  and  to  absorb  it  into 
the  grand  total  as  a  Russian  province.  The  constitution  of  1815 
was  abolished,  a  council  of  state  established,  whose  members  were 
nominated  by  the  Czar,  and  Paskewitch,  now  Prince  of  Warsaw, 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  civil  and  military  power  as  gov- 
ernor. The  Polish  contingent  no  longer  constituted  an  indepen- 
dent army,  but  was  lost  in  Russian  regiments,  and  sent  to  the 
most  distant  regions,  especially  to  the  Caucasus.  The  whole  coun- 
try was  disarmed ;  the  rustic  was  deprived  of  his  very  scythe,  and 
the  concealment  of  weapons  was  visited  with  capital  punishment. 
Those  members  of  the  Diet  who  had  voted  for  the  deposition  of 
the  house  of  Romanow  were  sent  to  Siberia ;  in  the  case  of  gen- 
erals, an  investigation  was  set  on  foot,  and  the  miserable  Krucko- 
wiecki  was  confined  in  a  small  town  in  the  interior  of  Russia. 
Most  of  those  who  were  compromised  had  fled  abroad,  to  await, 
in  France,  Italy,  England,  Switzerland,  or  America,  the  return  of 
better  times.  Their  property  was  confiscated,  which,  in  the  case 
of  Czartoryski  alone,  amounted  to  about  20,000,000  Polish  gul- 
den (between  two  and  three  million  dollars). 

A  war  of  annihilation  was  also  waged  against  the  Polish  lan- 
guage and  educational  institutions.  The  universities  of  Warsaw 
and  Wilna  were  closed  temporarily  ;  all  schools  were  established 
on  a  Russian  footing-;  the  acquisition  of  the  Russian  language 
and  history  was  made  a  sine  qua  non  ;  and  Russian  officers  were 
set  at  the  head  of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning.  Every- 
thing was  done  to  promote  the  spread  of  the  Greek  Church 
among  the  Roman  Catholic  Poles,  and  the  children  of  mixed 
marriages  were  brought  up  in  the  Greek  faith.  There  ruled  a 
system  of  terrorism  rivalling  the  government  of  the  most  capri- 
cious pasha.  Under  such  conditions,  further  attempts  at  revolu- 
tion could  not  fail  to  be  made. 

Russia's  position  in  Europe  was  quite  changed  after  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Polish  insurrection.  Germany,  many  of  whose 
princely  houses  were  connected  with  the  Russian  court  by  mar- 
riage, had  to  feel  this.  Even  Austria  and  Prussia  eluded  with 
difficulty  the  iron  grasp  of  the  new  guardian.  This  was  still 
more  difficult  for  the  smaller  states.  In  addition  to  the  chancel- 


SUBJUGATION  OF  THE  CAUCASUS.  143 

lor's  office  at  Vienna,  the  secret  cabinet  at  St.  Petersburg  was  now 
ready  to  give  "  good  "  counsels  to  princes  and  ministers.  The 
reaction  again  dominant  in  Germany  and  the  rest  of  Europe 
could  rely  on  strong  support.  The  name  of  Nicholas  signified, 
not  alone  for  Poland,  but  for  many  other  states  as  well,  stagna- 
tion, retrocession,  the  rest  of  the  grave. 

But  Russia  was  casting  her  eyes  not  only  on  western  Europe, 
but  also  on  Asia.  She  wished  to  advance  against  Central  Asia, 
and  to  become  England's  rival  there ;  and  hence  it  became  neces- 
sary for  her  to  possess  the  Caucasus,  which  was  inhabited  by  free- 
dom-loving, warlike  races  —  the  Tcherkesses,  Tchetchenzes,  Les- 
ghians,  and  others.  Fraudulently  basing  her  claims  upon  the 
treaty  of  Adrianople  of  1829,  Russia  began  to  carry  on  this  war 
in  earnest  in  1834.  She  suffered  at  that  time  considerable  losses, 
especially  from  the  unwearying  Shamyl,  the  leader  of  the  Tchet- 
chenzes;  and  the  same  was  the  case  in  1845,  when  Prince  Wo- 
I'onzoff  commanded  the  Russians.  Shut  in  on  all  sides,  Shamyl 
had  to  surrender  to  General  Bariatynski  in  1859.  By  the  mag- 
nanimity of  Czar  Alexander  II.,  he  was  allowed  to  take  up  his 
residence  in  Kaluga.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1864  that  the 
subjugation  of  the  Caucasian  populations  was  fully  effected.  The 
advance  of  Russia  against  Turkestan  was  at  the  outset  not  favored 
by  fortune.  The  expedition  of  General  Perowski,  with  20,000 
men  and  10,000  camels,  perished  in  the  steppes  between  the  Cas- 
pian sea  and  the  sea  of  Aral,  in  the  snow-storm  of  the  winter  of 
1840.  But  this  loss  was  fully  compensated  by  the  successes  of 
the  following  decades. 


§9. 

SPAIN    AND    PORTUGAL. 

THE  eyes  of  King  Ferdinand  VII.  were  scarcely  closed,  Septem- 
ber 29th,  1833,  when  the  Apostolic  party — whose  strength  lay  in 
the  north  of  Spain,  and  especially  in  Navarre  and  the  Basque 
provinces — proclaimed  his  brother,  Don  Carlos,  king  under  the 
title  of  Charles  V.  In  order  to  offer  a  successful  resistance  to 
the  Carlists,  who  were  fighting  for  absolutism  and  priestcraft, 


144  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

there  was  no  other  course  for  the  regent,  Maria  Christina,  than 
to  throw  herself  into  the  arms  of  the  liberal  party.  So  the 
seven  years'  war  between  Carlists  and  Christines,  from  a  war  of 
succession,  became  a  strife  of  principles  and  a  war  of  citizens. 
At  the  outset,  owing  to  the  skill  of  General  Zumalacarreguy,  to 
whom  the  Christines  could  oppose  no  leader  of  equal  ability,  the 
Carlists  had  the  advantage  in  the  field.  Don  Carlos  threatened 
the  Spanish  frontiers  from  Portugal,  where  he  had  been  living  in 
exile  with  his  dear  nephew,  Don  Miguel.  In  this  strait,  Christina 
applied  to  England  and  France,  and  between  those  two  states  and 
Spain  and  Portugal  was  concluded  the  quadruple  alliance  of  April 
22d,  1834,  the  aim  of  which  was  to  uphold  the  constitutional 
thrones  of  Isabella  and  Maria  da  Gloria,  and  to  drive  out  the  two 
pretenders,  Carlos  and  Miguel.  In  that  year  both  pretenders,  who 
enjoyed  to  a  high  degree  the  favor  of  the  Pope  and  the  Eastern 
powers,  had  to  leave  Portugal.  Carlos  readied  England  on  an 
English  ship  in  June,  but  fled  again  in  July,  and,  after  an  advent- 
urous journey  through  France,  appeared  suddenly  in  Navarre,  to 
inspire  his  followers  with  courage  by  the  royal  presence.  The 
war  was  conducted  with  passion  and  cruelty  on  both  sides.  Af- 
ter the  death  of  Zumalacarreguy  at  the  siege  of  Bilbao,  June  14th, 
1835,  the  Christinos,  who  were  superior  in  point  of  numbers, 
seemed  to  have  the  advantage.  But  they  could  accomplish  little 
against  the  restless  ecclesiastic  Cabrera,  who,  after  receiving  his 
first  ordination,  had  gone  over  to  the  pretender's  camp.  He  was 
the  most  dexterous  of  the  guerilla  chiefs.  The  turning-point  was 
reached  when  the  command  of  the  Christino  army  was  committed 
to  Espartero.  In  1836  he  defeated  the  Carlists  in  the  murderous 
battle  of  Luchana.  In  1837,  when  Carlos  advanced  into  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Madrid,  he  hastened  to  the  succor  of  the  capital,  and 
compelled  him  to  retreat. 

To  these  losses  were  added  disunion  in  the  Carlist  camp.  The 
utterly  incapable,  dependent  pretender  was  the  tool  of  his  Cama- 
rilla, which  made  excellence  in  the  catechism  a  more  important 
requisite  for  the  chief  command  than  military  science,  and  which 
deposed  the  most  capable  generals  to  put  its  own  creatures  in 
command.  The  new  commander-in-chief,  Guergue,  said,  bluntly, 
to  Carlos,  "  We,  the  blockheads  and  ignoramuses,  have  yet  to  con- 
duct your  Majesty  to  Madrid  ;  and  whoever  does  not  belong  in 
that  category  is  a  traitor."  This  Apostolic  hero  was  defeated 


DEFEAT   OF  THE   CARLISTS.— MARIA  CHRISTINA.         145 

several  times  by  Espartero  in  1838,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
northern  provinces  gradually  cooled  down.  He  was  deposed,  and 
the  chief  command  intrusted  to  the  cunning  Maroto.  As  an  en- 
emy of  the  Camarilla,  he  could  only  maintain  himself  against  its 
constant  attacks  by  great  victories;  but,  as  he  did  not  succeed  in 
winning  victories  over  Espartero,  who  overmatched  him,  he  con- 
cluded, instead,  August  31st,  1839,  the  treaty  of  Vergara,  in  ac- 
cordance with  which  he  went  over  to  the  Christines,  with  his 
army,  and  by  that  means  obtained  full  amnesty,  and  the  confir- 
mation of  the  privileges  of  Navarre  and  the  Basque  provinces. 
After  this,  Don  Carlos's  cause  was  hopelessly  lost.  He  fled,  in 
September,  to  France,  with  many  of  his  followers,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  pass  six  years  in  Bourges  under  police  supervision.  In 
1845,  after  he  had  resigned  his  claims  in  favor  of  his  eldest  son, 
the  Duke  of  Montemolin,  he  received  permission  to  depart,  and 
went  to  Italy.  He  died  in  Trieste,  March  10th,  1855.  His  fol- 
lowers, under  Cabrera,  carried  on  the  war  for  some  time  longer 
in  Catalonia.  But  they,  too,  were  overcome  by  Espartero,  and  in 
July,  1840,  they  fled,  about  8000  strong,  to  France,  where  they 
were  put  under  surveillance.  The  civil  war  was  at  an  end,  but 
the  strife  of  principles  continued.  Espartero,  who  had  been  made 
Duke  of  Victory  (Vittoria),  was  the  most  important  and  popular 
personage  in  Spain,  with  whom  the  regent,  as  well  as  everybody 
else,  had  to  reckon. 

In  the  mean  time  Christina  had  contrived  to  alienate  the  respect 
and  affection  of  the  Spaniards,  both  by  her  private  life  and  her 
political  conduct.  Her  liberal  paroxysms  were  not  serious,  and 
gave  way,  as  soon  as  the  momentary  need  was  past,  to  the  most 
opposite  tendency.  On  the  increase  of  the  Carlist  insurrection  in 
1834,  she  had  set  the  once  persecuted  Martinez  de  la  Rosa,  known 
ns  poet  and  author,  at  the  head  of  the  ministry,  and  given  the 
country  a  constitution  that  satisfied  nobody.  After  a  long  inter- 
val the  Cortes  again  came  together,  and  soon  divided  into  the  two 
hostile  parties  of  Moderados  and  Progressists.  Ministries  changed 
rapidly ;  Toreno,  Mendizabal,  Isturiz,  succeeded  one  another. 
Owing  to  the  desperate  condition  of  the  finances,  and  out  of  oppo- 
sition to  the  Apostolical-Carlist  party,  the  Progressists  demanded 
abolition  of  the  monastic  orders,  and  confiscation  of  their  prop- 
erty; which  was  partially  carried  out.  In  a  few  cities  bloody 
excesses  were  committed ;  cloisters  were  demolished,  monks  and 


146  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

nuns  murdered,  and  parish  priests  and  Jesuits  hunted  over  the 
border.  The  constant  wavering,  and  the  frequent  prorogations 
of  the  Cortes,  increased  the  dissatisfaction.  In  1836  the  Progress- 
ists apprehended  a  reaction,  and  sought  to  anticipate  it.  Insur- 
rections were  organized  in  the  larger  cities,  and  the  constitution 
of  1812  was  made  the  programme  of  the  revolt.  The  govern- 
ment replied  by  hanging  the  state  of  siege  over  Madrid,  and  dis- 
banding the  national  guard.  Then  the  insurrection  broke  out  in 
the  summer  residence  of  La  Granja,  whither  Christina  had  retired 
with  her  court.  Soldiers  of  the  guard  forced  their  way  into  the 
palace,  and  compelled  her  to  accept  the  constitution  of  1812. 
A  constitutional  assembly  undertook  a  revision  of  this,  and  there- 
from resulted  the  new  constitution  of  1837.  Christina  swore  to 
it,  but  hoped,  by  controlling  the  elections,  to  bring  the  Moderados 
into  the  Cortes  and  the  ministry.  When  she"  succeeded  in  this, 
in  1840,  she  issued  a  municipal  ordinance  placing  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  municipal  authorities  in  the  hands  of  the  administra- 
tion. This  occasioned  riots  in  Madrid  and  other  cities;  and  when 
Christina  commissioned  Espartero,  who  was  just  returning  victo- 
rious, to  suppress  the  revolt  in  Madrid,  he  refused  to  constitute 
himself  the  tool  of  an  unpopular  policy.  But  he  was  the  only 
man  who  could  hold  in  check  the  revolution  which  threatened  to 
break  out  on  all  sides;  and  so,  September  16th,  1840,  he  had  to 
be  named  minister  president.  He  chose  only  Progressists  into 
his  ministry.  September  29th,  he  made  a  triumphal  entrance 
into  Madrid,  and  October  5th  he  laid  before  the  regent  in  Valen- 
cia his  programme,  demanding  repeal  of  the  municipal  ordinance, 
dissolution  of  the  Cortes,  and  dismissal  of  the  Camarilla.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  regency  had  but  little  charm  for  Christina, 
and  there  were,  moreover,  other  causes  working  with  these  to  the 
same  result.  Soon  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  she  had  be- 
stowed her  favor  on  a  young  lifeguardsman  named  Munoz,  made 
him  her  chamberlain,  and  been  secretly  married  to  him.  This 
union  soon  published  itself  in  a  rich  blessing  of  offspring,  but  it 
was  not  until  the  year  1844  that  her  public  marriage  with  Munoz, 
and  his  elevation  to  the  rank  of  duke  (of  Rianzares)  and  grandee 
of  Spain  took  place.  Having  by  this  course  of  life  forfeited  the 
fame  of  an  honest  woman,  and  exposed  herself  to  all  sorts  of 
attacks,  she  preferred  to  leave  the  country.  October  12th,  she 
abdicated  the  regency,  and  journeyed  to  France. 


ESPARTERO.— ISABELLA   ASSUMES  THE   GOVERNMENT.    147 

May  8th,  1841,  the  newly  elected  Cortes  named  Espartero  re- 
gent of  Spain,  and  guardian  of  Queen  Isabella  and  her  sister,  the 
Infanta  Luisa  Fernanda.  He  on  his  part  showed  himself  not 
unworthy  of  this  high  post,  and  sought  to  establish  order  in  all 
branches  of  the  administration,  and  also  to  preserve  his  dignity 
in  his  dealings  with  the  clergy  and  the  Pope.  But  in  a  country 
where  it  is  to  this  day  the  custom  for  a  popular  officer,  with  a 
couple  of  regiments  and  some  programme  or  other,  to  renounce 
his  allegiance,  it  is,  especially  for  an  upstart,  hard  to  hold  power 
long.  Since  he  knew  how  actively  Christina,  supported  by  Louis 
Philippe,  was  working  against  him  with  gold  and  influence,  he 
entered  into  closer  relations  with  England,  whereupon  his  envious 
foes  and  rivals  accused  him  of  the  sale  of  Spanish  commercial 
interests  to  England.  Because  he  quieted  rebellious  Barcelona 
by  a  bombardment  in  1842,  he  was  accused  of  tyranny.  In  1843 
new  insurrections  broke  out  in  the  south ;  Colonel  Prim  hastened 
to  Catalonia,  and  set  himself  at  the  bead  of  the  soldiers  whom 
Christina's  agents  had  won  over  by  a  liberal  use  of  money ;  Es- 
partero's  deadliest  foe,  General  Narvaez,  landed  in  Valencia,  and 
marched  into  Madrid  at  the  head  of  the  troops.  Espartero, 
against  whom  Progressists  and  Moderados  had  conspired  together, 
found  himself  forsaken,  and  embarked  at  Cadiz,  July  26th,  1843, 
for  England,  whence  he  did  not  dare  to  return  to  his  own  country 
until  1848. 

In  November,  1843,  the  thirteen-year-old  Isabella  was  declared 
of  age.  She  assumed  the  government,  made  Narvaez,  now  Duke 
of  Valencia,  minister  president,  and  recalled  her  mother.  There- 
by gate  and  doors  were  opened  to  the  French  influence,  and  the 
game  of  intrigue  and  reaction  recommenced.  In  1845  the  con- 
stitution of  1837  was  altered  in  the  interests  of  absolutism.  The 
freedom  of  the  Press  was  restricted,  the  national  guard  abolished, 
and  the  Cortes  relegated  to  an  existence  even  more  nominal  than 
that  of  the  French  Chambers.  In  order  to  secure  to  his  house  a 
lasting  influence  in  Spain,  and  acquire  for  it  the  reversion  of  the 
Spanish  throne,  Louis  Philippe,  in  concert  with  Christina,  effect- 
ed, October  1 6th,  1846,  the  marriage  of  Isabella  with  her  kinsman 
Francis  of  Assis,  and  of  the  Infanta  Luisa  with  the  Duke  of 
Montpensier,  his  own  youngest  son.  (At  first  his  plan  was  to 
marry  Isabella  also  to  one  of  his  sons,  the  Duke  of  Aumale,  but 
he  abandoned  it  on  account  of  the  energetic  protest  of  the  Palmer- 


148  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

ston  cabinet,  and,  instead,  chose  for  Isabella,  in  Francis  of  Assis, 
the  person  who,  by  reason  of  his  mental  and  physical  weakness, 
would  be  least  likely  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  son  Montpensier.) 
This  secretly  negotiated  marriage  cost  Louis  Philippe  the  friend- 
ship of  the  English  cabinet.  The  pleasure-loving  Isabella,  who 
followed  in  her  mother's  footsteps,  soon  found  her  Francis  un- 
endurably  tedious,  while  a  young  Progressist,  General  Serrano, 
proved  so  handsome  and  agreeable  that,  in  July,  1847,  she  amused 
herself  with  him  and  other  officers  at  La  Granja,  while  Francis 
found  himself  condemned  to  lead  a  hermit's  life  in  the  hunting 
castle  of  Pardo.  The  marriage  was  in  all  respects  an  unfortunate 
one ;  the  legitimacy  of  the  royal  children  was  matter  of  grave 
doubt ;  and  Christina,  the  evil  genius  of  Spain,  went  one  day  and 
returned  the  next.  The  Spanish  government  won  military  lau- 
rels in  the  winter  of  1860,  when  General  O'Donnell  (Duke  of  Tet- 
uan)  conducted  a  successful  war  against  Morocco. 

Portuguese  politics  ran  a  course  somewhat  similar  to  the  Span- 
ish. On  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  occurrences  at  La  Granja, 
September  9th,  1836,  Lisbon  echoed  with  the  cry,  "  Long  live  the 
constitution  of  1820!"  Queen  Maria  da  Gloria  had  to  summon 
a  ministry  of  Septembrists,  and  a  constitutional  assembly.  In 
1838  this  latter  somewhat  altered  the  constitution  of  1820  in  the 
direction  of  moderation.  Four  years  later  this  was  again  over- 
turned. Don  Pedro's  Charta  of  1826  was  raked  out,  and  a  rigid 
administration  was  conducted  by  the  Duke  of  Terceira  and  Count 
Thomar  (Costa  Cabral).  The  exhausted  land  was  exasperated  by 
the  burden  of  taxation,  and  when  a  new  insurrection  affected  the 
whole  country  the  queen  was  so  hard  pressed  (1847)  that  she  had 
to  appeal  to  the  three  powers  with  which  she  had  concluded  the 
Quadruple  Alliance,  and  quell  the  rebellion  with  the  help  of  an 
English  fleet  and  a  Spanish  army.  Several  years  then  passed  un- 
der the  rivalry  of  Count  Thomar  and  the  Duke  of  Saldanha,  who 
opposed  and  overthrew  one  another  quite  after  the  manner  of 
their  Spanish  prototypes.  The  queen  died,  November  loth, 
1853,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  after  the  country  under  Saldanha's 
strong  rule  had  gradually  settled  into  rest.  Her  husband,  Ferdi- 
nand of  Coburg,  conducted  the  government  for  his  minor  son, 
who  assumed  it  for  himself,  under  the  name  of  Pedro  V.,  Septem- 
ber 17th,  1855.  He  died  in  1861,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother  Luiz,  the  present  king. 


THE  REFORM  BILL.  149 


§  10. 

ENGLAND. 

THE  immediate  question  which  occupied  all  Great  Britain  and. 
Ireland  was  Parliamentary  reform.  The  new  premier,  Earl  Grey, 
kept  his  word ;  he  caused  the  Reform  bill  to  be  brought  before 
the  Lower  House  by  Lord  John  Russell,  March  1st,  1831,  and  an- 
nounced that  he  would  stand  or  fall  by  that  measure.  In  accord- 
ance with  this,  rotten  boroughs  were  to  be  deprived  of  their  rep- 
resentation, which  was  to  be  given  to  the  cities,  and  the  property 
qualification  for  election  was  to  be  diminished.  There  was  no 
talk  of  radical  measures  here ;  the  poorer  classes  would  have  the 
right  to  vote  after  the  bill  as  little  as  before  it ;  the  aristocracy 
would  still  have  the  controlling  influence,  but  the  well-to-do  mid- 
dle class  would  no  longer  be  excluded  from  the  Lower  House. 
The  sittings  of  the  House  were  very  stormy.  The  famous  histo- 
rian Macaulay,  and  the  Irish  agitator  O'Connell,  spoke  in  favor 
of  the  measure  ;  Robert  Peel,  the  son  of  the  cotton-spinner — with 
Wellington,  a  pillar  of  the  aristocracy — spoke  against  it.  The 
bill  did  not  pass,  and  Parliament  was  dissolved.  The  new  elec- 
tions resulted  overwhelmingly  in  favor  of  the  reformers.  Sep- 
tember 21st,  1831,  the  Reform  bill  passed  the  House  with  a  ma- 
jority of  109.  On  the  following  day  it  came  before  the  Lords, 
and  was  rejected.  This  raised  a  great  excitement  in  London  and 
other  cities.  Wellington,  who  had  spoken  very  strongly  against 
the  bill,  barely  escaped  personal  violence.  Men  spoke  of  the 
abolition  of  the  Lords,  as  in  Cromwell's  time,  and  recalled  the 
fate  of  the  Stuarts  and  of  Charles  X.  of  France.  Parliament  was 
prorogued,  and  met  again  in  December.  Again  the  Commons 
passed  the  Reform  bill,  and  again  the  Lords  rejected  it.  Then 
Earl  Grey  desired  of  the  king  power  to  name  new  peers,  in  order 
thereby  to  give  the  ministry  a  majority  in  the  Lords ;  but  the 
king,  under  pressure  of  the  high  nobility,  the  foreign  ambassa- 
dors, and  the  queen,  a  Meiningen  princess,  refused  the  request, 
accepted  the  resignations  which  the  ministers  thereupon  tender- 


150  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

ed,  and  intrusted  the  Duke  of  Wellington  with  the  formation  of 
a  new  cabinet.  He  could  not  have  made  a  worse  choice.  A  Wel- 
lington ministry  meant  revolution — a  "great  week"  in  England 
— it  meant  the  breaking  of  a  terrible  storm  on  the  heads  of  the 
high  nobility.  All  business  came  to  a  stand-still ;  all  armed  for 
the  battle.  In  Birmingham  more  than  100,000  men  assembled, 
and  swore  to  fight,  if  need  be,  for  their  good  rights,  and  sent 
word  to  London  that  they  would  hasten  thither,  arms  in  hand,  at 
the  first  call.  Thousands  of  Scots  declared  themselves  ready  to 
march  over  the  border.  Angry  Ireland  awaited  but,  the  signal. 
The  meetings  had  no  other  words  for  Wellington  than,  "To  the 
gallows  with  him  !"  Men  were  provoked  at  the  queen's  interfer- 
ence, and  said,  "  Petticoats  aren't  good  for  politics ;  she  had  bet- 
ter go  back  across  the  Channel."  Such  an  open  expression  of  the 
popular  feeling  had  its  effect.  Wellington,  it  is  true,  did  not  hes- 
itate even  before  civil  war,  but  the  most  influential  Tories  to  whom 
he  applied  to  accept  seats  in  the  cabinet  refused.  He  had  to 
signify  to  the  king  that  he  could  not  form  a  cabinet,  and  Lord 
Grey  was  once  more  summoned ;  but  he  consented  to  take  office 
only  on  condition  that  he  be  allowed  to  create  more  peers.  The 
Tories,  who  saw  in  this  an  annihilation  of  the  independence  of 
the  Lords,  would  not  push  matters  to  that  extreme.  The  most 
zealous  withdrew  their  resistance,  and  so  the  Reform  bill  passed 
the  Upper  House,  June  4th,  1832,  and  was  confirmed  by  the 
king.  This  was  a  defeat  of  the  aristocracy,  and  must  be  follow- 
ed by  other  defeats,  if  a  citizen  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  to 
find  residence  in  England  possible.  It  was  to  be  hoped  that  with 
the  same  weapons  of  reform  many  more  breaches  would  be  made 
in  the  wall  of  English  feudalism. 

Not  the  mass  of  the  people,  but  only  the  middle  classes,  derived 
any  tangible  benefit  from  the  Reform  bill.  As  formerly  these, 
so  now  those  in  their  turn  believed  themselves  entitled  to  de- 
mand political  equality  with  the  upper  classes.  The  Radical 
party,  which  had  branched  off  from  the  reformers,  and  would  fain 
give  the  principle  of  Parliamentary  reform  a  still  broader  exten- 
sion, attached  itself  to  the  people  —  to  the  numerous  working- 
men's  clubs  —  and  this  new  social-political  party  composed  the 
People's  Charter  (whence  its  members  received  the  name  of 
Chartists),  with  the  following  five  articles  containing  their  de- 
mands: universal  suffrage,  secret  ballot,  annual  parliaments,  abo- 


CHARTIST  AGITATION.  151 

iition  of  the  property  qualification  for  membership  of  the  House, 
and  payment  of  the  members  of  Parliament.  O'Connell,  Hume, 
Atwood,  and  the  Irish  lawyer  O'Connor  conducted  the  agitation 
in  popular  meetings,  through  the  Press,  and  in  Parliament.  In 
Manchester,  a  meeting,  said  to  consist  of  300,000  persons,  de- 
clared in  favor  of  the  Charter;  and  in  Bath  a  meeting  of  4000 
women  did  the  same.  A  Chartist  committee  was  formed,  and  in 
1839  the  National  Petition,  which  had  1,285,000  signatures,  and 
had  to  be  carried  on  a  wagon,  was  presented  to  the  House,  At- 
wood recommending  this  weighty  petition  to  Parliament  as  a  rea- 
son for  granting  the  People's  Charter.  The  rejection  of  a  bill  to 
that  effect  caused  among  the  laboring  classes  an  excitement  which 
could  scarcely  be  allayed.  Trusting  to  their  numerical  superior- 
ity, after  the  February  revolution  of  1848,  the  Chartists  attempt- 
ed to  bring  new  pressure  to  bear  upon  Parliament  and  the  admin- 
istration, and  announced  a  petition  with  5,000,000  signatures. 
But  the  whole  middle  class  arrayed  itself  against  them  in  such 
imposing  numbers,  and  with  such  determination,  that  Feargua 
O'Connor's  exertions  again  proved  futile.  The  time  of  the 
"  fourth  estate "  was  not  yet  come.  But  the  influence  of  the 
Chartist  movement  on  the  course  of  parliamentary  activity  was 
undeniable.  This  showed  itself  most  conspicuously  in  the  bill 
for  the  repeal  of  the  corn-laws,  which  was  introduced  (1846)  by 
the  then  premier,  Robert  Peel,  and  carried  through  both  houses 
of  Parliament  (largely  by  Wellington's  help  in  the  Lords)  not- 
withstanding the  opposition  of  the  aristocracy,  which,  as  possess- 
or of  the  land,  was  interested  in  the  retention  of  the  corn-laws. 
For  this  success  the  nation  had  principally  Richard  Cobden  to 
thank,  the  champion  of  free -trade,  who,  from  having  as  a  boy 
tended  sheep,  rose  to  be  the  first  political  economist  in  England. 
The  next  great  question  which  clamored  for  solution  was  the 
Irish  question.  Notwithstanding  the  Emancipation  Bill  of  1829, 
which  had  rendered  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons  possible  for 
a  Roman  Catholic,  the  most  crying  injustices  toward  the  Irish 
still  continued  in  full  force.  The  rich  property  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  was  still  in  possession  of  the  Protestants ;  the 
6,000,000  Irish  Roman  Catholics  still  had  to  pay  tithes  and  fees 
to  the  Anglican  clergy  ;  while  their  own  churches  and  schools, 
supported  by  private  contributions,  led  an  anxious  existence.  All 
juries  still  consisted  exclusively  of  Protestants.  The  first  demand 


152  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

of  the  Irish  was  the  abolition  of  the  hated  tithes.  In  order  to 
strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil,  O'Connell  agitated  for  the  repeal  of 
the  legislative  union  of  Ireland  with  England,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  separate  Irish  Parliament.  The  word  Repeal  became 
in  a  few  months  the  watchword  of  all  Irishmen,  and  a  network 
of  Repeal  organizations  was  spread  over  the  whole  country.  But, 
although  O'Connell  could  command  his  countrymen  as  a  general 
his  army,  and  although  in  the  monster  meetings  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands received  his  word  as  gospel,  yet  he  was  shrewd  enough  not 
to  overstep  the  limits  of  legality.  However,  the  spirit  which  he 
had  conjured  up  gradually  passed  beyond  his  control.  In  many- 
places  the  payment  of  tithes  was  refused,  ejectment  was  resisted, 
and  revenge  was  wreaked  on  the  hated  "Saxon"  with  fire  and 
sword. 

In  this  English  Poland,  too,  radical  reforms,  ecclesiastical  and 
political,  were  needed  in  order  to  make  of  an  artificial  member  of 
the  national  body  a  natural  and  healthy  one.  But  every  liberal 
measure  was  wrecked  on  the  unreasonableness  of  the  Anglican 
clergy,  who  cried  out  about  papacy,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Stuarts, 
and  on  the  ill-will  of  the  Tories,  who  saw  their  power  and  their 
money-bags  threatened  together.  Only  drop  by  drop  could  leni- 
tives for  Irish  need  be  expressed  from  Parliament.  The  Irish 
Tithe  Bill,  which  was  over  and  over  again  brought  forward  by  the 
Whig  ministries,  finally  came  out  of  the  parliamentary  debates  in 
1838,  but  in  an  emasculated  form.  The  tithes  from  which  the 
Irish  were  exempted  were  rolled  off  on  to  the  landed  proprietors, 
and  they  indemnified  themselves  by  raising  the  rents.  And  when 
Lord  John  Russell  proposed  to  apply  the  surplus  revenue  of  the 
Irish  Church  for  the  general  improvement  of  the  educational  sys- 
tem— that  is,  in  the  main,  for  school  purposes — the  Established 
Church  cried  profanation,  and  the  measure  fell  through.  No  won- 
der that  the  demand  for  Repeal  was  never  extinguished  in  the 
Emerald  Isle — not  even  after  the  death  of  the  great  agitator  in 
1847 — and  that  the  famine  of  1846,  and  the  French  revolution  of 
1848,  fanned  the  fire  again  to  flame.  Thereupon  the  government 
undertook  to  overcome  the  evils  by  armed  force,  instead  of  curing 
them.  The  new  agitator,  Smith  O'Brien,  was  transported  to  Aus- 
tralia (1848)  for  high-treason  ;  but  was  afterward  pardoned,  and 
allowed  to  die  at  home  in  1864.  The  Fenian  conspiracy,  which 
was  the  work  of  Irish-American  revolutionists,  and  which  sought 


THE  ORANGE  LEAGUE.— VICTORIA.  153 

in  the  sixties  to  combat  English  rule,  partly  on  Canadian  and 
partly  on  Irish  soil,  had  likewise  for  its  aim  the  separation  of  Ire- 
land from  England,  but  met  with  no  success  whatever.  The  bill 
for  the  emancipation  of  slavery,  brought  in  by  the  Grey  ministry 
in  1833,  deserves  to  be  mentioned  with  praise.  In  accordance 
with  its  terms,  the  slaves  in  the  West  India  colonies  were  to  be 
made  freemen  after  a  brief  interval  of  apprenticeship,  and  their 
owners  were  to  receive  an  indemnity  of  £20,000,000.  It  was  also 
a  great  step  in  advance  when  the  Jews,  who  had  been  eligible  for 
municipal  offices  since  1828,  were  at  length  admitted  into  the 
House  of  Commons  in  1858,  an  innovation  which  is  perhaps  to 
be  ascribed  to  respect  for  wealth.  Baron  Nathan  de  Rothschild 
was  the  first  Jew  who .  was  allowed  to  tread  the  holy  halls  of 
Westminster. 

The  league  of  the  Orangemen  was  largely  responsible  for  the 
bitterness  of  the  opposition  of  this  period  between  English  and 
Irish.  Founded  at  the  time  of  William  of  Orange  for  the  main- 
tenance of  English  laws  and  of  Protestantism,  it  had  recently, 
since  the  revival  of  the  Irish  question,  reappeared.  All  Tories 
gave  it  their  support.  Lodges  were  established,  as  among  the 
Freemasons.  It  spread  in  the  army  also,  and  the  membership 
rose  to  300,000.  The  ideal  of  this  party,  and  the  head  of  the 
league,  was  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  king's  brother,  who 
shortly  after,  as  King  of  Hanover,  attained  an  unenviable  reputa- 
tion in  the  constitutional  controversy.  Ultimately  the  plans  of 
this  powerful  league  did  not  stop  at  the  maintenance  of  Protes- 
tant supremacy  in  Ireland,  but  aimed  also  at  strengthening  and 
maintaining  the  Tory  rule  in  England.  The  Tories  could  not 
think,  without  a  shudder,  of  the  death  of  the  childless  and  sickly 
William  IV.,  who,  according  to  English  law,  would  be  succeeded 
on  the  throne  by  his  niece,  Victoria,  daughter  of  the  eldest  of  his 
brothers,  the  deceased  Duke  of  Kent.  A  s  she  had  been  brought 
up  in  Whig  principles,  and,  as  niece  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians, 
was  accredited  with  liberal  ideas,  the  Tories  might  reckon  on  a 
decrease  of  their  influence,  while  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  on  the 
other  hand,  would  have  been  quite  the  man  as  king  to  carry  out, 
or  at  least  attempt  to  carry  out,  the  extremest  principles  of  their 
party  with  the  obstinacy  of  a  Charles  X.,  and  the  heedlessness  of 
a  Polignac.  Hence  was  ascribed  to  them  the  plan  of  setting  aside 
the  succession,  and  placing  the  duke  upon  the  throne.  Hume,  a 

7* 


154  POLITICAL   HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

Radical,  brought  the  matter  before  Parliament,  and  moved  the 
suppression  of  the  so-called  Orange  lodges.  Rumors  of  the  mach- 
inations of  the  league  caused  such  a  sensation,  and  so  much  bad 
blood,  that  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  himself  was  obliged  to  rec- 
ommend to  his  party,  in  1836,  the  disbanding  of  the  league.  King 
William  died  June  20th,  1837.  Victoria  ascended  the  throne,  and 
the  continental  princes  began  a  pious  pilgrimage  across  the  Chan- 
nel to  St.  James's  palace  to  have  their  sick  hearts  healed  by  the 
wonder-working  virgin.  Prince  Albert,  of  Saxe-Coburg,  nephew 
of  the  King  of  the  Belgians,  distinguished  for  noble  manliness,  and 
for  his  finished  education,  was  the  fortunate  suitor  to  whom  Vic- 
toria was  married  in  1840,  and  with  whom  she  led  an  unusually 
happy  married  life.  The  prince  consort  had  a  very  difficult  posi- 
tion among  the  English  people,  who  were  jealous  of  his  natural 
influence;  but  he  succeeded,  nevertheless,  in  winning  universal  es- 
teem by  his  sagacity  and  tact  He  died  December  4th,  1861, 
mourned  by  the  queen  her  whole  life  since. 

Under  Victoria's  government,  Great  Britain's  sovereignty  and 
commerce  received  important  accessions  in  Asia.  In  1824  the 
English  had  begun  to  establish  themselves  in  Farther  India.  In 
a  war  with  the  Burmese,  they  took  the  territories  of  Arakan  and 
Assam,  and,  in  1852,  Pegu  and  the  coast  land.  The  advance  of 
the  Russians  involved  them  in  a  war  with  the  Afghans,  among 
whom  they  established  a  friendly  prince  in  1839.  But  the  Af- 
ghans, at  the  instigation  of  the  Russians,  rose  again  in  1841,  and 
the  English  army  was  compelled  to  retreat,  and  almost  utterly 
annihilated.  The  English  took  revenge  in  the  campaign  of  1842 
— devastated  the  country,  and  destroyed  the  cities  of  Candahar 
and  Cabul,  and  then  evacuated  that  remote  territory.  On  the 
other  hand,  Scinde,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Indus,  submitted  to  the 
English,  and  after  a  struggle  of  several  years  (l844-"49)  the  coun- 
try of  the  Sikhs  was  subdued — the  Punjaub,  with  the  city  of  La- 
hore. In  this  last-named  place  enormous  booty  was  found,  and, 
among  the  rest,  the  Koh-i-noor  (mountain  of  light)  diamond.  A 
controversy  about  the  opium  trade,  which  the  Chinese  government 
prohibited,  involved  England,  in  1840,  in  a  war  with  China,  in 
which  Canton  was  captured,  and  Nanking  threatened ;  and  in 
1842  the  Chinese  were  compelled  to  conclude  the  peace  of  Xan- 
king.  By  this  the  island  of  Hong-Kong  was  ceded  to  the  Brit- 
ish, five  Chinese  ports  were  opened  to  commerce,  and  the  trade 


OPENING   OF  CHINA   AND  JAPAN.— IBRAHIM   PASHA.     155 

in  the  enervating  opium  was  perpetuated.  While,  owing  to  the 
rebellion  of  Taiping,  a  destructive  war  was  being  waged  in  the 
interior  of  China,  the  indiscreet  conduct  of  Yeh,  Governor  of  Can- 
ton, gave  the  English  and  French  occasion  to  take  that  city  in 
1857.  The  entrance  of  the  allied  fleet  into  the  river  Peiho  ex- 
tracted the  peace  of  Tientsin  in  1858.  As  this  was  not  kept,  a 
new  French -English  expedition  was  undertaken  in  1860.  The 
Peiho  forts  were  captured ;  the  Chinese  defeated  in  the  field ;  the 
imperial  summer  palace  plundered  by  the  French,  and  destroyed 
by  the  English ;  Pekin,  the  capital,  threatened,  and  a  new  peace 
concluded.  By  this  new  harbors  were  opened,  and  the  Celestial 
Middle  kingdom,  hitherto  so  exclusive,  was  brought  into  active 
communication  with  European  states.  The  similarly  exclusive 
Japan  was  also  opened  to  the  British  in  1854,  and  then  to  other 
nations.  The  decided  ground  taken  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  in  1851 — that  no  nation  has  the  right  to  shut  it- 
self up  against  intercourse  with  other  nations — gave  the  occasion 
for  the  last-mentioned  action. 


§  11. 

TURKEY    AND    EGYPT. 

ENGLAND'S  interest  in  none  of  the  European  questions  was  so 
great  as  in  the  Eastern  question.  This  entered  upon  a  new  phase 
through  the  bold  aggression  of  a  Turkish  vassal.  The  peace  of 
Adrianople  (1829)  had  greatly  discredited  the  authority  of  the 
Porte ;  insurrections  multiplied,  and  Turkish  armies  had  to  enter 
Bosnia  and  Albania.  In  these  and  all  other  matters  by  which 
the  embarrassment  of  the  Porte  was  increased,  the  ambitious  Me- 
hemed  Ali,  Pasha  of  Egypt,  had  a  hand.  As  payment  for  his 
services  against  the  Greeks,  he  had  demanded  the  pashalik  of 
Damascus.  Sultan  Mahmoud  II.  had  refused  the  demand,  and 
only  given  him  the  promised  Candia.  Hence,  while  the  Western 
powers  were  occupied  with  the  consequences  of  the  July  revolu- 
tion, and  all  Europe  appeared  to  be  on  the  verge  of  a  new  up- 
heaval, he  undertook  to  seize  his  booty  for  himself.  In  conse- 
quence of  a  quarrel  with  Abdallah,  Pasha  of  Acre,  Ibrahim  Pasha, 


156  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

notorious  for  his  barbarous  conduct  of  the  war  in  Peloponnesus, 
crossed  the  Egyptian  frontier,  October  20th,  1831,  \vith  an  army 
organized  on  the  European  system,  took  Gaza,  Jaffa,  and  Jerusa- 
lem without  resistance,  and  besieged  Acre,  which  was  resolutely 
defended  by  Abdallali.  Mehcmed  Ali  now  demanded  both  pasha- 
liks — Damascus  and  Acre.  The  sultan  commanded  him  to  evac- 
uate Syria.  The  demand  was  naturally  refused ;  so  Mehemed  and 
his  son  Ibrahim  were  outlawed.  But  the  latter  proceeded  with 
his  operations,  took  Acre  by  storm  May  25th,  1832,  and  entered 
Damascus.  In  the  mean  time,  a  Turkish  army,  under  Hussein 
Pasha,  had  advanced  into  Syria.  Mehemed  Pasha,  Hussein's  lieu- 
tenant, was  defeated  at  Horns,  July  9tb.  Hussein  himself,  attempt- 
ing to  retrieve  this  loss,  was  defeated  at  Beylan  July  27th,  and  his 
army  scattered.  The  sultan  sent  a  new  army  against  Ibrahim,  un- 
der Reshid  Pasha,  the  Grand  Vizier,  who  had  displayed  great  effi- 
ciency in  the  reduction  of  the  Albanians  and  Bosnians.  Reshid 
did  not  have  troops  enough,  and  was  hampered  by  the  jealousy 
of  the  Serasquier,  Chosrew  Pasha.  He  was  utterly  defeated  at 
Konieh  December  20th,  and  was  himself  taken  prisoner.  The 
sultan  was  in  a  critical-  situation.  He  could  not  at  the  moment 
bring  together  another  considerable  army,  while  Ibrahim  had 
100,000  well-trained  troops,  and  the  road  to  Constantinople  lay 
open  before  him.  The  boldest  wishes  of  his  father,  who  even 
aspired  to  the  possession  of  the  imperial  throne,  seemed  near 
fulfilment. 

Russia  had  many  reasons  for  not  desiring  the  satisfaction  of 
this  ambition,  but  she  also  wished  to  use  the  sultan's  need  for 
her  own  advantage.  She  offered  him  her  help,  and  in  his  deserted 
condition  he  had  to  accept  this  "gift  of  the  Danai."  All  was 
in  train :  a  Russian  fleet  appeared  in  the  Bosphorus,  and  landed 
troops  at  Scutari,  while  a  Russian  army  was  on  the  march  from 
the  Danube  to  cover  Constantinople.  What  Peter  the  Great  and 
Catherine  II.  had  held  before  them  as  the  Russian  policy  —  to 
plant  the  Greek  cross  upon  the  church  of  Saint  Sophia,  in  Con- 
stantinople— appeared  in  the  way  of  attainment  under  the  guise 
of  the  most  disinterested  friendship  and  magnanimous  benevo- 
lence. 

At  length  England  and  France  perceived  how  dangerous  it  was 
to  forget  the  East  in  their  study  of  the  Dutch-Belgian  question. 
Their  ambassadors  had  enough  to  do,  by  a  hasty  peace,  to  make 


SECOND  TURCO-EGYPTIAN  WAR.  157 

Russia's  help  unnecessary.  As  their  threats  made  no  impression 
on  the  victorious  Mehemed  Ali,  they  filled  the  sultan  with  dis- 
trust of  Russia,  and  by  representing  a  cession  of  territory  to  his 
vassal  as  the  lesser  of  the  two  evils,  persuaded  him  into  the  peace 
of  Kutayah  (May  6th,  1333),  by  which  Mehemed  Ali  received  the 
whole  of  Syria  and  the  territory  of  Adana,  in  south-eastern  Asia 
Minor.  Russia  had  to  retire  with  her  object  unattained,  but  had 
no  sooner  been  thrown  out  of  the  front  door  than  she  came  in  at 
the  back.  She  called  the  sultan's  attention  to  the  favor  shown 
the  insatiable  pasha  by  England  and  France  in  the  peace  of  Ku- 
tayah, and  concluded  with  him,  July  8th,  1833,  the  treaty  of 
Unkiar-Skelessi,  by  which  he  entered  into  a  defensive  alliance 
with  Russia  for  eight  years,  and  pledged  himself  to  permit  no 
foreign  vessel  of  war  to  pass  through  the  Dardanelles. 

The  Western  powers  took  this  outwitting  very  ill,  and  from 
that  time  on  kept  a  sharp  eye  on  Constantinople.  David  Urqu- 
hart  in  several  journals,  especially  in  the  Portfolio,  started  in 
1835,  subjected  the  Russian  policy  to  an  unsparing  criticism,  and 
so  quickened  the  watchfulness  of  his  government.  This  was 
peculiarly  inconvenient  for  Mehemed  Ali.  He  paid  his  tribute  as 
formerly,  but  raked  up  everything  possible  against  the  Porte,  and 
succeeded  in  representing  himself  as  the  protector  of  Islam  in  op- 
position to  the  heretical  reformer  Mahmoud.  The  west  coast  of 
Arabia,  as  far  as  the  English  post  at  Aden,  had  been  in  his  pos- 
session oince  1829.  He  now  sought  to  extend  his  sway  over  the 
eastern  coast,  and  subdue  the  Sultan  of  Muscat ;  and  with  that  end 
in  view  took  the  Bahrein  islands,  and  threatened  the  important 
commercial  city  of  Basra.  If  this  were  to  continue,  the  two  most 
important  roads  to  the  East  Indies,  by  Suez  and  by  the  Persian 
Gulf,  would  be  in  the  hands  of  Mehemed  Ali;  and  he  was  one 
who  well  understood  how  to  make  the  most  of  such  commercial 
advantages  by  his  oppressive  system  of  monopolies,  and  by  bur- 
dening tlie  trade  of  foreign  nations  with  high  export  and  import 
duties.  With  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Arabia  in  his  hands,  England's 
position  in  the  East  would  receive  a  blow  that  must  be  felt.  So 
it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  which  side  England  would  take.  In 
1838  she  concluded  with  the  Porte  a  commercial  treaty  by  which 
the  abolition  of  all  monopolies,  as  well  as  free  exportation  from 
all  parts  of  the  Turkish  empire,  including  Egypt  and  Syria,  was 
secured  to  her.  Mehemed  Ali  hesitated  about  accepting  this 


158  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

treaty ;  and  Mahmoud,  full  of  hate  against  a  vassal  who  threatened 
ultimately  to  devour  him,  declared  him  a  traitor,  deprived  him  of 
all  his  dignities,  and  caused  an  army  to  advance  into  Syria  under 
Hasiz  Pasha.  But  again  fortune  was  not  favorable  to  the  Turks. 
In  their  camp,  as  military  adviser  of  the  commander-in-chief,  was 
a  Prussian  captain,  Hellmuth  von  Moltke.  For  two  years  he  had 
been  assisting  the  sultan  in  planning  and  putting  into  execution 
military  reforms.  Recognizing  the  weakness  and  unreliable  char- 
acter of  the  Turkish  army,  he  advised  Hasiz  Pasha  to  fall  back  on 
the  strong  camp  at  Biridjik,  bring  up  the  re-enforcements  which 
were  under  way,  and  then  risk  a  battle.  But  the  Pasha  would 
not  listen  to  Moltke's  advice,  pronouncing  retreat  a  disgrace.  He 
was  completely  routed  at  Nisib,  on  the  Euphrates,  June  24th, 
1839,  and  his  army  scattered.  For  the  second  time  the  road  to 
Constantinople  lay  open  to  Ibrahim.  Misfortunes  fell  thick  and 
fast  upon  the  Turks.  Sultan  Mahmoud  died  June  30th,  and  the 
empire  fell  to  a  sixteen -year -old  youth,  his  son  Abdul  Medjid. 
Five  days  later,  capudan  Pasha,  with  the  Turkish  fleet,  sailed  out 
of  the  Dardanelles  under  orders  to  attack  the  Egyptians.  In- 
stead of  this,  he  went  over  to  Mehemed  Ali  with  his  whole  fleet — 
in  consequence  of  French  bribery,  it  was  said.  Fortune  seemed 
to  be  emptying  its  cornucopia  on  the  Egyptian ;  but  he  forgot 
the  ring  of  Poly  crates.  He  was  deaf  to  all  proposals  of  compro- 
mise on  the  part  of  the  Porte,  and  demanded,  as  a  preliminary  to 
peace,  nothing  less  than  the  right  of  hereditary  transmission  of 
all  his  possessions  in  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Candia. 

In  order  to  prevent  Turkey  from  casting  herself  a  second  time 
into  Russia's  arms,  four  great  powers — England,  France,  Austria, 
and  Prussia — declared,  July  27th,  1839, that  they  would  themselves 
take  the  Eastern  question  in  hand.  To  save  herself  from  being 
wholly  left  out,  Russia  had  to  give  her  consent,  and  become  a 
party  to  the  treaty.  But  there  were  very  different  views  as  to 
the  way  in  which  the  question  was  to  be  settled.  France,  which 
was  striving  after  the  control  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  which, 
since  Napoleon's  campaign,  had  turned  its  eyes  toward  Egypt, 
wished  to  leave  its  friend  Mehemed  Ali  in  full  possession.  Eng- 
land saw  her  interests  endangered  by  the  pasha,  thought  France's 
occupation  of  Algiers  quite  enough,  and  was  afraid  that  if  Turkey 
were  too  weak  she  might  become  the  defenceless  prey  of  Russia. 
The  latter  wished  at  no  price  to  allow  the  energetic  pasha  to  en- 


SUBJUGATION    OF   MEHEMED  ALL  159 

ter  upon  the  inheritance  of  Turkey,  or  even  of  a  part  of  it,  and 
was  pleased  at  seeing  the  cordial  understanding  between  France 
and  England  destroyed.  Austria  and  Prussia  supported  England 
and  Russia,  and  so  France  was  left  alone.  The  Anglo-Russian 
view  found  expression  in  the  quadruple  alliance  which  the  great 
powers,  with  the  exception  of  France,  concluded  in  London,  July 
15th,  1840.  By  this  the  hereditary  possession  of  the  pashalik  of 
Egypt,  and  the  possession  for  life  of  a  part  of  Syria,  were  secured 
to  Mehemed  Ali  in  case  he  submitted  to  the  conclusions  of  the 
conference  within  ten  days.  Without  troubling  themselves  very 
much  about  the  warlike  outcry  in  France,  the  military  prepara- 
tions of  Minister  Thiers,  or  the  call  to  the  Rhine  frontier — since 
Louis  Philippe's  disinclination  to  go  to  war  was  too  well  known 
— the  allied  powers  began  hostilities  against  Mehemed  Ali,  who, 
relying  on  French  assistance,  refused  to  submit.  The  Anglo-Aus- 
trian fleet  sailed  to  the  Syrian  coast,  and  took  Beirut  and  Acre ; 
and  Alexandria  was  bombarded  by  Commodore  Napier.  This 
and  the  fall  of  the  Thiers  ministry  brought  Mehemed  Ali  to  a 
full  realization  of  his  mistake.  He  might  consider  himself  lucky 
in  being  allowed  to  hold  Egypt  as  hereditary  pashalik  upon  evac- 
uating Syria,  Arabia,  and  Candia,  and  restoring  the  Turkish  fleet. 
For  this  favor  he  had  to  thank  England,  which  sought  by  this 
means  to  secure  his  friendship  and  the  Suez  road  to  India.  The 
catastrophe  of  the  "  sick  man  "  was  again  put  off  for  a  few  years. 
Later  France  also  assented  to  the  conclusions  of  the  quadruple 
alliance. 


§12. 

GERMANY. AUSTRIA, PRUSSIA. 

THE  fall  of  Warsaw  and  the  passage  through  Germany  of  Po- 
lish refugees  awakened,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Greek  rebellion,  sym- 
pathy for  an  unhappy  people ;  but  it  also  awakened  dissatisfac- 
tion with  existing  conditions.  This  was  still  further  increased  by 
the  fact  that  reaction,  spurred  on  by  Russia,  became  ever  bolder. 
The  political  excitement  displayed  itself  particularly  in  two  events 
— the  Ham  bach  festival  of  May  27th,  1832,  and  the  Frankfort  con- 
spiracy of  April  3d,  1833.  About  30,000  persons  from  all  parts 


160  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIME?. 

of  Germany,  the  men  decked  with  ribbons  of  black,  red,  and  gold, 
and  the  women  wearing  belts  of  the  same  colors,  streamed  from 
Neustadt,  in  Rhenish  Bavaria,  toward  the  ruins  of  llambach  cas- 
tle. The  ideal  and  impracticable  nature  of  German  popular  ora- 
tors was  once  more  well  displayed.  The  speakers,  like  Dr.  Wirth, 
editor  of  the  Deutsche  Tribune,  and  Dr.  Siebenpfeifer,  editor  of 
the  Westboten,  demanded  nothing  less  than  the  republican ization 
of  united  Germany,  or  even  a  "confederation  of  republican  Eu- 
rope," and  the  audience  cried,  "Down  with  the  Princes!  To 
arms !  to  arms  !"  How  little  the  resources  and  deeds  of  this  party 
corresponded  with  their  words  was  soon  shown  when  the  Bava- 
rian field-marshal  Prince  Wrede,  with  but  a  few  troops,  succeeded 
without  trouble  in  bringing  all  Rhenish  Bavaria  into  submission. 
The  doings  in  Frankfort  were  still  madder.  About  seventy  con- 
spirators, including  a  Wurtemberg  lieutenant,  Koseriz,  had  per- 
suaded themselves  that  in  south  Germany  thousands  of  soldiers 
were  only  waiting  for  a  leader ;  and  that  at  the  first  signal  the 
flames  of  rebellion  would  blaze  up  simultaneously  in  Lyons.  Italy, 
and  Poland.  Under  the  lead  of  Dr.  Giirth  and  Dr.  Rauschenplatt 
(already  known  for  his  part  in  the  Gottingen  disturbances  of 
1831),  they  attacked  the  main  guard-house  and  police  head-quar- 
ters, and  overpowered  the  Frankfort  soldiers.  But  when  re-en- 
forcements arrived  the  tide  turned,  and  after  a  short  street  fight, 
the  people  paying  no  heed  to  their  summons,  they  were  put  to 
flight  or  captured.  They  had  fondly  believed  that  the  surprise  of 
Frankfort  and  the  forcible  dissolution  of  the  Diet  would  bring  all 
south-western  Germany  into  the  revolutionary  stream. 

No  better  service  could  be  rendered  to  the  reactionary  longings 
of  the  German  governments  than  by  such  displays  of  swaggering 
impotence.  With  reference  to  the  Hambacher  festival,  Metter- 
nich  wrote :  "  If  well  used,  it  may  prove  a  festival  of  the  good ; 
at  least  the  bad  have  been  much  too  hasty."  The  Diet  was  fully 
informed  beforehand  in  regard  to  the  Frankfort  conspiracy ;  but 
purposely  let  it  pose  with  the  whole  apparatus  of  its  amateur  the- 
atre, even  at  the  cost  of  a  couple  of  soldiers,  in  order,  as  Metter- 
nich  said,  not  "to  lose  an  opportunity  which  mav  never  occur 
again,  and  to  reach  the  very  root  of  an  evil  that  for  years  has  been 
a  grievous  burden  to  princes  as  well  as  people."  Metternich  and 
the  Diet  were  again  as  active  as  after  the  murder  of  Kotzebue. 
The  Carlsbad  resolutions  of  1819  appeared  in  a  new,  revised,  and 


MEASURES  OF  REPRESSION.  161 

enlarged  edition,  as  it  were.  The  resolutions  of  the  Diet  of  June 
25th  and  July  5th,  1832,  and  the  decisions  of  the  ministerial  con- 
ference at  Vienna  in  1834,  which  was  preceded  by  consultations 
of  the  ministers  of  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia  in  Teplitz,  and  a 
meeting  of  the  monarchs  of  those  three  countries  in  Munchen- 
griitz  in  1833,  made  the  most  far-reaching  encroachments  into  the 
rights  of  the  Assemblies  of  the  Estates.  The  right  of  refusing 
taxes  or  rejecting  the  conclusions  of  the  confederation  was  denied 
them  ;  the  Press  censorship  was  extended  even  to  the  publication 
of  the  transactions  of  the  Estates,  and  for  the  adjustment  of  quar- 
rels between  governments  and  Estates  a  tribunal  of  final  appeal 
was  established — the  impartiality  of  which  was  tested  by  the  Han- 
overian controversy  a  few  years  later — consisting  only  of  pleni- 
potentiaries of  the  different  governments.  The  universities  also 
were  to  be  more  closely  watched  over,  and  all  associations  of  stu- 
dents were  forbidden. 

As  in  Mayence,  in  1819,  so  now  in  Frankfort,  a  central  com- 
mittee of  inquiry  was  established  to  thwart  demagogical  machina- 
tions, and  the  sovereign  republic  of  Frankfort  had  to  accept  an 
Austro-Prussian  garrison.  In  all  the  German  states  a  new  wild- 
beast  hunt  after  demagogues  was  started.  About  1800  persons, 
some  of  them  highly  respected  men,  were  thrown  into  prison,  and 
many  of  them  mentally  and  physically  most  shamefully  maltreat- 
ed. In  Darmstadt  Pastor  Weidig  was  driven  to  suicide  by  the 
brutal  treatment  received  from  his  inquisitor,  Georgi,  while  in 
Frankfort  two  of  the  April  prisoners  went  mad,  and  were  put  in 
the  insane  asylum.  Many  suspected  persons  fled  to  Switzerland 
or  Paris,  to  wait  for  better  days,  or  sought  to  begin  a  new  life  in 
America.  Some  of  the  Estates,  especially  those  of  Baden,  attempt- 
ed opposition  to  the  resolutions  of  the  confederation.  But  Baden, 
where,  since  1830,  the  popular  Grand-duke  Leopold  had  sat  upon 
the  throne,  where  absolute  freedom  of  the  Press  existed,  and  where 
delegate  Welcker  had  already  made  a  motion  for  a  German  par- 
liament, was  now  the  very  state  most  strictly  disciplined.  In  con- 
sequence of  a  special  resolution  of  the  Diet,  the  liberal  Press  law 
had  to  be  repealed,  and  censorship  again  introduced.  Professors 
Rotteck  and  Welcker  were  deprived  of  their  position  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Freiburg,  and  the  university  was  for  a  time  closed. 
Even  princes  whom  liberal  Germany  had  formerly  thought  of  for 
the  imperial  throne,  William  of  Wurteinberg,  and  Louis  of  Bava- 


1G2  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

ria,  let  themselves  be  carried  away  by  the  reaction.  The  latter, 
who  had  for  some  time  been  gradually  more  and  more  yielding 
to  Ultramontane  influences,  even  gave  orders  that  political  prison- 
ers should  beg  pardon  of  his  picture,  thus  bringing  back  the  days 
of  Tell  and  Gessler. 

Germany  scarcely  seemed  to  have  become  a  little  calmer,  when 
an  English  ultra-Tory  caused  fresh  agitation.  By  the  death  of 
William  IV.  of  England,  the  personal  union  between  Hanover  and 
England,  which  had  lasted  since  1714,  was  dissolved.  In  Hanover, 
the  Salic  law — the  exclusion  of  the  female  line — was  in  force; 
and  sx>,  while  in  England  Victoria  became  queen,  June  20th,  1837, 
her  uncle  Ernest  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumberland,  obtained  the 
Hanoverian  throne.  It  seemed  as  though  he  were  determined  to 
win  in  Hanover,  also,  the  unpopularity,  or  rather  hatred,  which  he 
had  brought  upon  himself  in  England.  He  made  his  entrance  into 
the  capital  June  28th,  and  on  July  3d  he  announced  that  he  did 
not  recognize  the  constitution  of  1833,  which  had  been  made  with- 
out his  consent,  and  which  did  not  appear  to  him  adapted  to  further 
the  prosperity  of  his  subjects.  And  yet  it  was  the  fundamental 
law  agreed  upon  by  crown  and  Estates,  and  as  little  to  be  done 
away  with  at  the  wish  of  only  one  of  the  parties  as  any  other 
law.  Further,  it  was  asserted,  especially  by  Dahlmann  on  minis- 
terial authority,  that  all  the  male  members  of  the  family — and 
hence  Ernest  Augustus  also — had  given  their  consent  to  the  fam- 
ily law  of  the  Hanoverian  dynasty,  and,  by  that  very  fact,  to  the 
constitution  on  which  that  law  was  based.  A  patent  of  Novem- 
ber 1st  formally  declared  the  constitution  abolished;  and  in  its 
stead  the  old  constitution  of  1819,  with  its  different  estates,  was 
raked  out  of  the  dust,  and  this,  with  a  few  modern  alterations, 
was  to  serve  for  the  Hanoverians.  The  true  reason  for  this  coup 
d'etat  was  the  indebtedness  of  the  English  prince.  By  the  con- 
stitution of  1833,  the  crown-lands  were  declared  state  property, 
and  the  king  received  a  civil  list.  But  it  was  just  the  income 
from  these  crown-lands,  of  which  he  at  once  took  possession,  that 
Ernest  Augustus  could  so  well  use  to  appease  his  English  credit- 
ors; and,  as  a  proposition  to  grant  him  this  income  manifestly 
could  not  pass  the  Assembly  of  the  Estates,  the  whole  constitu- 
tion had  to  fall. 

Some  of  the  officials  from  whom  the  oath  of  allegiance  was  re- 
quired came  into  conflict  with  their  consciences.  Seven  profess- 


THE  "GOTTINGEN  SEVEN."— THE  DIET.  163 

ors  of  the  university  in  Gottingen — Albrecht,  Dahlmann,  Ewald, 
Gervinus,  Weber,  and  the  two  Grimms — refused  to  take  the  oath, 
calling'  attention  at  the  same  time  to  the  continued  validity  of  the 
abolished  constitution.  They  were  deprived  of  their  posts ;  and 
three  of  them — Dahlmann,  Gervinus,  and  Jacob  Grimm,  who  had 
published  their  protestation — received  a  command  to  leave  the 
country  within  three  days.  All  Germany  paid  a  tribute  of  ap- 
plause to  their  firmness ;  and  William  of  Wiirtemberg,  who  open- 
ly disapproved  of  the  new  king's  breach  of  the  constitution,  was 
one  of  the  first  that  attempted  to  make  amends  for  the  injustice 
by  reinstatement  of  the  "  Gottingen  seven  " — he  called  Ewald  to 
Tubingen.  But  Ernest  Augustus  did  not  allow  himself  to  be 
moved  by  this.  He  laid  the  plan  of  a  constitution  before  the 
Assembly  of  the  Estates  of  1838.  That  body  declared  itself  in- 
competent to  vote  in  the  question  of  the  constitution,  inasmuch 
as  it  had  not  been  elected  according  to  the  fundamental  law  of 
1833,  and  resolved  to  lay  a  memorial  before  the  Diet  invoking  its 
protection  for  the  maintenance  of  this  fundamental  law.  There- 
upon it  was  prorogued.  The  governmental  plan,  which  was  com- 
posed in  the  aristocratic  interests,  was  at  length  adopted,  with  a 
few  changes,  in  1840.  The  action  of  the  Diet  in  regard  to  the 
appeal  was  truly  classic.  By  a  majority  of  nine  to  seven  (among 
these  seven  were  the  representatives  of  all  south  Germany),  it  re- 
jected the  complaint  of  the  Hanoverian  Estates,  "  since,  under  ex- 
isting circumstances,  a  cause  founded  on  the  law  of  the  Confed- 
eration for  interference  in  these  internal  affairs  does  not  exist." 
The  king  had  conquered ;  but  expressions  of  the  intensest  scorn 
and  indignation  formed  his  hymn  of  triumph. 

In  Austria,  as  long  as  State-chancellor  Prince  Metternich  re- 
mained in  power,  no  change  of  constitution  was  to  be  thought  of. 
In  this  respect,  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Francis  II.  (1835)  pro- 
duced no  alteration,  for  his  eldest  son  and  successor,  Ferdinand  I. 
— who  was  both  bodily  and  mentally  a  weakling,  and  was,  fur- 
thermore, subject  to  epileptic  attacks  —  abandoned  the  govern- 
ment to  Metternich  more  completely  than  even  his  father  had 
done.  However,  in  the  first  years  of  his  reign,  a  somewhat  milder 
spirit  showed  itself,  as  well  as  a  greater  care  for  the  commercial 
and  general  industrial  interests  of  the  country.  But  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  estates  sunk  to  a  mere  name  on  the  Austrian 
side  of  the  Leytha ;  the  public  schools  were  utterly  neglected ;  in 


164  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

the  higher  schools  and  colleges  the  exact  sciences  were  cultivated 
by  preference ;  and  the  government  appeared  to  aim  at  making 
its  subjects,  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  in  particular,  forget  all 
ideals  in  a  luxurious  PhaBacian  life.  Only  Hungary  maintained 
its  parliamentary  constitution  intact,  and  in  time  began  to  con- 
stitute a  dangerous  opposition.  In  Italy  the  national  spirit  was 
held  down  with  difficulty.  The  Poles  also  began  to  stir  once 
more.  At  a  time  when  there  appeared  no  prospect  of  success  (in 
1846),  a  provisional  government  was  set  up  in  the  free  state  of 
Cracow,  and  the  spread  of  the  insurrection  on  all  sides  was  at 
once  expected.  In  Posen,  Mieroslavski  and  many  other  conspir- 
ators were  arrested.  In  Galicia,  the  imperial  officials  called  out 
the  peasants  against  their  landlords,  the  Polish  nobles,  and  a  sort 
of  war  of  annihilation  between  the  peasants  and  their  former  op- 
pressors was  the  result.  Cracow  itself  was  occupied  by  the  East- 
ern powers,  and  incorporated  in  the  Austrian  empire. 

But  Metternich's  power  was  already  on  the  decline.  Liberal 
ideas  were  too  strong  for  him  to  be  in  a  condition  to  repress 
them  in  the  enormous  province  which  he  once  called  his  own 
(besides  Austria,  Prussia,  all  Germany,  and  Italy,  at  the  least). 
Prussia  was  freeing  herself  more  and  more  from  Austrian  guid- 
ance, and  inclining  toward  Russia.  Since  the  suppression  of  the 
Polish  insurrection,  the  Emperor  Nicholas  had  played  unquestion- 
ably the  first  part  in  eastern  Europe,  from  the  Ural  mountains  to 
the  Rhine.  While  seeking  to  keep  alive  the  mutual  jealousy  of 
Austria  and  Prussia,  that  he  might  have  nothing  to  fear  from 
their  reunion,  he  promoted,  on  the  other  hand,  their  agreement 
so  far  as  was  needful  in  order  always  to  have  a  coalition  ready 
against  revolutionary  western  Europe.  Further,  he  warned  the 
lesser  German  courts  against  the  Austrian  and  Prussian  designs 
of  mediatization,  and  gave  them  plainly  to  understand  that  their 
independence  was  only  to  be  assured  by  accepting  him  as  their 
protector. 

Prussia's  efforts  to  gain  a  firmer  footing  in  Germany  showed 
themselves  in  the  formation  of  the  Zollverein  (customs-union). 
At  the  beginning  of  the  twenties  there  were  as  many  customs 
boundaries  as  there  were  states.  No  industry  could  thrive  under 
such  conditions.  In  the  year  1828  a  customs-union  was  formed 
between  \Viirtemberg  and  Bavaria,  and  scarcely  a  month  later  a 
similar  union  was  entered  into  between  Prussia  and  Hcssc-Darm- 


CONTROVERSY  REGARDING  MIXED   MARRIAGES.          165 

stadt.  In  order  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  and 
attach  to  itself  the  mercantile  interests  of  the  other  parts  of  Ger- 
many, the  Prussian  government  made  every  effort  to  extend  the 
limits  of  the  Zollverein.  It  succeeded  in  effecting  the  accession 
of  Electoral  llesse  in  1831;  Bavaria,  Wurtcmberg,  Saxony,  and 
Thuringia  in  1833  ;  Baden  and  Nassau  in  1835 ;  and  the  free  city 
of  Frankfort  in  1836.  Imperceptibly  the  states  of  the  Zollverein, 
with  a  population  of  about  27,000,000,  came  into  a  certain  de- 
pendence upon  Prussia,  which,  although  at  first  only  affecting  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  interests,  might  readily  be  improved  for 
national  and  political  ends. 

There  was  a  change  of  sovereigns  during  this  period  in  Prussia 
also.  After  an  eventful  reign  of  forty-two  years,  Frederic  William 
III.  died,  June  7th,  1840,  leaving  to  his  eldest  son  a  land  outward- 
ly in  good  condition,  inwardly  full  of  longing  for  freer  forms. 
The  controversy  about  mixed  marriages  was  not  yet  settled.  In 
the  year  1825  the  Prussian  government  had  extended  to  West- 
phalia and  the  Rhine  provinces  the  regulations  already  existing 
in  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  kingdom,  in  accordance  with 
which  the  religious  education  of  the  children,  in  the  case  of  mix- 
ed marriages,  depended  upon  the  will  of  the  father.  In  1834  a 
convention  on  this  subject  was  concluded  with  the  bishops  of 
Westphalia  and  the  Rhine  provinces.  The  Archbishop  of  Co- 
logne, Droste  von  Vischering,  supporting  his  action  on  a  Papal 
brief,  forbade  the  religious  sanction  of  such  a  marriage  if  the 
promise  were  not  first  given  to  educate  the  children  as  Roman 
Catholics,  although  before  his  appointment  as  archbishop  he  had 
recognized  the  convention.  As  he  would  not  submit  to  the  gov- 
ernment, even  denying  the  state  all  right  to  a  voice  in  religious 
matters,  and  as  he  finally  sought  to  excite  the  fanaticism  of  clergy 
and  laity  on  his  side,  he  was  arrested,  November  20th,  1837,  and 
taken  to  the  fortress  of  Minden.  For  similar  reasons  Martin  von 
Dunin,  Archbishop  of  Posen  and  Gnesen,  was  carried  to  Colberg. 
The  new  king,  inspired  by  the  wish  to  grant  the  church  all  the 
freedom  it  could  desire,  at  once  annulled  the  royal  placet,  and  ac- 
corded the  bishops  freer  intercourse  with  Rome.  Through  the 
medium  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Count  Briihl,  he  entered  into  ne- 
gotiations with  the  Pope;  and  in  1841  concluded  a  convention  by 
which  Dun  in  was  to  be  restored  to  his  bishopric,  Droste  was  to 
be  released,  and  Bishop  Geissel,  of  Spires,  be  assigned  him  as  co- 


166  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

adjutor,  and  a  Roman  Catholic  department  was  to  be  added  to 
the  cultiis  ministry.  This  department  was  intrusted  with  the 
protection  of  the  rights  of  the  state  in  matters  of  marriage  as 
against  the  ecclesiastical  authorities ;  but  it  soon  made  itself  the 
representative  of  ecclesiastical  interests  as  against  the  civil  gov- 
ernment. This  was  especially  the  case  in  1850,  when  it  could 
not  do  enough  for  the  church  in  the  draughting  of  the  religious 
paragraphs  of  the  constitution. 

Frederic  William  IV.  was  a  man  of  intellect,  to  whom  all  look- 
ed with  hope.  His  first  official  acts  showed  the  wish  to  concili- 
ate and  to  heal.  Full  amnesty  for  political  offences  was  granted. 
Arndt  was  reinstated  in  his  professorship  at  Bonn ;  Jahn  released 
from  his  confinement  at  Freiburg,  on  the  Unstrut;  and  Jacob  and 
William  Grimm  called  to  Berlin.  But  the  test  question,  the 
touchstone  of  his  ability  to  be  a  great  sovereign  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  was  the  question  of  the  constitution.  The  Landtag  of 
the  province  of  Prussia,  at  the  festival  of  Konigsberg,  on  occasion 
of  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  petitioned  the  king,  in  a  memo- 
rial, to  introduce  a  general  representation  of  the  country.  But 
however  much  inc4ination  he  might  have  toward  free  institutions, 
he  still  had  too  high  a  conception  of  the  authority  of  a  king — of 
the  divine  right — to  \>c  willing  to  share  his  power  with  a  parlia- 
ment. Moreover,  his  gaze  was  directed  toward  former  centuries, 
toward  the  Middle  Ages,  rather  than  the  present.  Only  that  which 
was  rooted  in  the  past  attracted  him  and  was  valid  in  his  eyes, 
and  into  this  he  sought  to  breathe  a  fresher  spirit.  But  old  bot- 
tles are  proverbially  unsuited  to  new  wine;  and  the  political  de- 
velopment of  the  century  was  thoroughly  dissatisfied  with  a  polit- 
ical system  imitated  from  the  Middle  Ages,  and  demanded  rep- 
resentation. The  Prussian  Landtag  received  the  answer  that  the 
provincial  parliaments  would  be  retained,  but  a  parliament  of  the 
whole  kingdom  not  introduced.  There  appeared  two  pamphlets, 
one.  by  Schon,  the  over-president  of  Prussia,  and  the  other  by 
Jakoby,  a  physician  in  Konigsberg,  bearing  respectively  the  titles 
*'  Whence  and  Whither  "  and  ''  Four  Questions."  The  first  repre- 
sented the  granting  of  a  constitution  of  the  realm  as  a  concession 
to  political  necessity,  the  second  represented  it  simply  as  a  right 
of  the  people.  Attention  was  now  turned  to  the  provincial  par- 
liaments, and  they  were  urged  by  petitions  and  addresses  to  take 
the  initiative  in  a  movement  for  the  attainment  of  more  liberties. 


KEL1GIOUS  AFFAIRS.  167 

The  censorship  for  books  of  more  than  twenty  sheets  was  done 
away  with,  and  a  superior  college  of  censors  established.  In 
1842  the  provincial  committees  were  summoned  to  Berlin,  in 
order  to  "  supplement  the  provincial  institutions  by  an  element 
of  unity,"  and  to  consult  regarding  the  common  interests  of  the 
state.  It  was  a  feeble  first  step  toward  a  parliament,  but  its  ten- 
dency was  recognized.  The  attempted  assassination  of  the  king 
by  Burgomaster  Tschech,  July  26th,  1844,  worked,  like  most  such 
attempts,  in  the  interest  of  reaction. 

Side  by  side  with  the  political  went  the  religious  question,  the 
one  playing  over  into  the  other.  The  king  was  strictly  orthodox, 
and  his  minister  of  public  instruction,  Eichhorn,  assumed  a  tute- 
lage and  surveillance  of  religious  teachings  and  writings  that  re- 
calls the  fairest  days  of  Villele'a  ministry  under  Louis  XVIII.  and 
Charles  X.  But  all  prescriptions  and  synods  were  of  no  avail 
against  the  force  of  the  stream,  which  had  its  sources  in  the  philo- 
sophical tendency  of  the  decade.  Philosophy  was  the  ruling  force 
in  those  days.  Men  like  David  Frederic  Strauss,  Frederic  Vischer, 
and  Bruno  Bauer  were  mightier  than  Eichhorn.  Free  congrega- 
tions, the  so-called  Friends  of  Light,  were  formed  under  the  Saxon 
preacher,  U hlich,  under  Wislicenus  in  Halle,  and  Rupp  in  Konigs- 
berg.  Professor  Hengstenberg  declaimed  against  them  in  Berlin, 
and  set  forward  in  his  Evangelische  Kirchenzeitung  the  most  ortho- 
dox principles.  Apostasy  occurred  even  in  the  bosom  of  Roman 
Catholicism.  The  Rhenish  clergy  could  not  refrain  from  some 
public  celebration  of  triumph  over  the  result  of  the  late  religious 
controversy,  and  so  they  exhibited  at  Treves,  in  1844,  the  holy  un- 
seamed coat.  Over  a  million  persons  made  the  pilgrimage  to  this 
relic,  which  was  reported  to  have  wrought  unheard  -  of  miracles. 
Then  appeared  an  open  letter  "against  the  idol-feast  at  Treves  to 
the  bishop  of  that  place,  as  the  Tetzel  of  the  nineteenth  century," 
from  a  suspended  priest  in  Silesia,  Johannes  Ronge.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  the  foundation  of  the  German  Catholic  church 
in  Breslau,  which  soon  won  adherents  in  all  parts  of  Germany. 
At  the  same  time  a  Christian  Catholic  congregation  came  into  be- 
ing in  Schneidemuhl,  in  Poscn,  under  the  Roman  Catholic  pastor 
Czerski.  All  these  religious  movements  had  a  political  coloring. 
The  adherents  of  the  Berlin  court  and  state  theology  were  abso- 
lutists of  the  purest  water,  while  the  rationalists  were  eager  for  a 
parliament  like  England's,  an  example  which  was  often  brought 


168  POLITICAL   HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

up.  In  conflicts  between  the  Roman  Catholic  church  and  the 
German  Catholics,  the  former  was  always  sure  of  protection  from 
the  government. 

It  was  a  time  when  all  Germany  looked  toward  Prussia,  and 
when  it  was  each  day  expected  that  something  was  about  to  hap- 
pen there.  February  3d,  1847,  appeared  a  royal  patent  by  which 
the  "  United  Landtag  "  was  created  on  the  basis  of  trie  hitherto 
existing  provincial  parliaments.  Its  competence  did  not  extend 
over  too  wide  a  field.  Its  consent  was  to  be  requisite  to  the  levy- 
ing of  new  taxes  or  the  increasing  of  those  already  existing,  and 
in  the  conclusion  of  national  loans.  In  the  matter  of  legislation 
it  could,  like  the  provincial  parliaments,  merely  express  its  opin- 
ion. This  Landtag  consisted  of  two  curice,  of  which  the  first,  the 
Herrencurie  (House  of  Lords),  was  composed  of  the  princes  of 
the  blood,  foreign  princes  holding  fiefs  from  the  Prussian  crown, 
standesherren  (mediatized  nobles,  i.  e..  whose  lands  had  in  former 
times  been  independent),  and  the  representatives  of  certain  founda- 
tions and  corporations ;  the  second,  the  Dreistdndecurie  (House 
of  the  three  Estates),  was  composed  of  the  representatives  of  the 
Ritterschaft  (the  lesser  nobility  and  gentry),  the  cities,  and  the 
country  parishes.  It  was  a  second  step  toward  a  parliament,  and 
as  such  was  examined  in  all  its  bearings  by  the  Breslau  jurist 
Henry  Simon,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Accept  or  Refuse." 

April  llth,  the  United  Landtag  was  opened  by  the  king  with 
a  brilliant  speech.  He  had  put  into  it  his  whole  political  creed, 
and  solemnly  announced  :  "No  power  on  earth  shall  ever  succeed 
in  persuading  me  to  exchange  the  natural  relation  between  king 
and  people  for  a  conventional,  constitutional  one ;  and  neither 
now  nor  ever  will  I  permit  a  written  sheet,  like  a  second  provi- 
dence, to  thrust  itself  in  between  our  God  in  heaven  and  this  land 
to  displace  the  old  sacred  fealty."  "  The  Crown  can  and  must 
rule  only  according  to  the  laws  of  God  and  the  country,  and  ac- 
cording to  its  own  free  decision,  and  not  according  to  the  will  of 
majorities.  Prussia  cannot  endure  such  a  condition  !  Throw  a 
glance  upon  the  map  of  Europe,  on  the  situation  of  our  land ; 
above  all,  cast  a  mental  glance  over  our  history !"  The  dissatis^. 
faction  with  this  speech,  which,  ignoring  the  votes  and  wishes  of 
the  people,  commended  an  almost  unlimited  absolutism,  was  so 
great  that  the  delegates  from  the  province  of  Prussia  wished  to 
return  home  on  the  spot.  However,  they  let  themselves  be  per- 


SIEBENER-COXCORDAT   AND  SARNER-BUND.  169 

suadcd,  by  their  fellow-liberals  from  the  Rhine  provinces,  to  help 
in  building  further  on  this  foundation.  Brilliant  oratorical  tal- 
ents were  displayed  in  this  Landtag,  and  a  fresh,  free  spirit  per- 
vaded the  assembly.  The  opposition  had  the  upper  hand,  and 
expressed  to  the  king  the  expectation  that  the  "  patent  of  Feb- 
ruary 3d  will  be  the  beginning  and  not  the  end  of  the  parlia- 
mentary development  of  the  realm."  The  Landtag  was  closed  on 
June  26th,  without  any  other  result  than  to  incite  men  to  strive 
for  something  more.  In  December  the  consultations  of  the  unit- 
ed provincial  committees  began  again  in  the  old  easy-going  way. 
It  was  clear  that  this  could  not  last,  and  just  as  clear  that  the 
king  would  not  sign  that  "  sheet  of  paper,"  that  "  second  provi- 
dence," without  the  pressure  of  outward  necessity.  And  yet 
what  was  the  patent  of  February  3d  ?  Was  it  not  itself  such  a 
written  sheet?  But  it  certainly  had  not  the  value  of  a  second 
providence.  At  this  time  great  attention  was  attracted  by  a 
pamphlet  from  D.  F.  Strauss,  entitled  "  The  Romanticist  on  the 
Throne  of  the  Caesars." 


§  13. 

SWITZERLAND    AND    THE    SONDERBUND. 

THE  party  which  had  effected  the  adoption  of  freer  constitu- 
tions in  most  of  the  cantons  in  1831  was  now  striving  to  bring 
about  a  federal  reform.  1;  carried,  through  the  Diet  of  1832,  the 
appointment  of  a  commission  which  was  to  revise  the  act  of  con- 
federation, and  submit  its  conclusions  to  a  special  session  in  1833. 
The  liberal  cantons — Berne,  Aargau,  Thurgau,  St.  Gallen,  Solothurn, 
Zurich,  and  Lucerne — concluded  the  Siebener-Concordat  (treaty  of 
seven)  for  the  maintenance  and  accomplishment  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty. In  opposition  to  this,  the  conservative  cantons — TJri, 
Schwyz,  Valais,  Neuchatel,  and  Basel  city — united  in  the  Sarner- 
Bund.  In  conjunction  with  the  neutrals,  the  latter  succeeded  in 
frustrating  the  revision  in  1833.  With  this  success,  their  hopes 
and  demands  increased.  Armed  bands  from  Schwyz  and  Basel  city 
entered  (July  30th,  1833)  the  landschafts  of  Ausser-Schwyz  and 
Basel-landschaft,  which  had  seceded  from  them,  in  order  to  force 

8 


170  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

them  to  submission.  The  consequence  was  that  Schwyz  and  Basel 
city  were  occupied  by  federal  troops,  and  the  Sarner-Bund  was 
declared  dissolved.  The  separation  of  Basel  into  two  indepen- 
dent cantons  was  recognized;  Ausser-Schwyz  and  Alt-Schwyz 
were  reunited,  but  with  complete  equality  of  rights. 

The  accumulation  of  fugitives  from  Germany,  Poland,  and  Italy, 
who  found  an  asylum  in  republican  Switzerland,  brought  with  it 
complications  with  foreign  powers,  some  of  the  fugitives  abusing 
the  hospitality  afforded  them.  The  most  active  of  these  revolu- 
tionists was  Joseph  Mazzini,  of  Genoa,  who,  without  the  least  pros- 
pect of  success,  was  constantly  contriving  new  attempts  at  revolu- 
tion, in  order  to  keep  his  Italian  countrymen  in  practice.  "  Young 
Italy,"  which  he  founded  at  this  period,  arranged  an  inroad  into 
Savoy,  February  1st,  1834,  under  the  General  Ramorino  whose 
course  in  Poland  was  so  suspicious,  in  order,  from  Savoy,  to  revo- 
lutionize Piedmont  and  the  rest  of  Italy.  After  the  occupation 
of  a  few  villages,  the  undertaking  fell  through,  owing  to  the  non- 
participation  of  the  people.  From  that  time  on,  Switzerland  was 
regarded  abroad  as  the  hearth  of  radicalism.  Matters  became  se- 
rious when  Mazzini,  wishing  to  extend  his  activity  over  all  Europe, 
founded  "  Young  Europe,"  to  revolutionize  the  continent.  Then 
it  rained  political  notes.  The  neighboring  powers  complained  of 
the  abuse  of  the  rights  of  asylum,  and  held  in  prospect  the  most 
hostile  measures  in  case  Switzerland  did  not  expel  the  participants 
in  the  above-mentioned  inroad,  and  exercise  a  better  surveillance 
over  the  remaining  fugitives.  The  language  of  Louis  Philippe 
was  especially  severe,  and  he  e/en  threatened  war  in  case  Switzer- 
land did  not  expel  Louis  Napoleon,  who  had  returned  from  Amer- 
ica, and  was  living  at  Arenenberg  as  a  Thurgovian  citizen.  To 
free  the  hospitable  republic  from  this  embarrassment,  the  latter 
left  Switzerland  of  his  own  accord,  and  went  to  England. 

The  religious  conflicts  were  still  more  important  in  their  re- 
sults. The  call  of  Dr.  Strauss,  from  Wiirtemberg  to  the  univer- 
sity in  Zurich,  in  1839,  brought  the  country  people  to  arms,  and 
caused  the  overthrow  of  the  liberal  regime  in  Zurich,  and  the  lib- 
erals did  not  come  into  power  again  until  1845.  Of  more  con- 
sequence was  the  monastic  question.  Seven  cantons,  in  a  confer- 
ence at  Baden  in  1834,  had  resolved  upon  the  subjection  of  the 
church  to  the  authority  of  the  state,  and  the  employment  of  the 
cloisters  for  purposes  of  general  usefulness.  The  controversy  on 


FORMATION   OF   THE   SONDERBUXD.— ITS   DEFEAT.        171 

this  point  was  most  violent  in  the  canton  of  Aargau.  The  rad- 
ical government  of  that  canton  finally  (1841)  closed  all  cloisters, 
among  others  the  wealthy  Muri,  and  sequestered  their  property 
for  "  purposes  of  instruction  and  benevolence."  The  excitement 
thereat  among  the  bigoted  Roman  Catholics  was  great,  and  it  was 
the  means  of  bringing  about  the  victory  of  the  ultramontane  par- 
ty in  Lucerne  and  Valais  in  1844.  The  Jesuits  were  called  to 
Lucerne,  and  intrusted  with  the  education  of  the  youth.  Joseph 
Leu,  a  rich  peasant,  and  Sigwart-Miiller  were  especially  active  in 
bringing  this  about.  The  Jesuits  had  also  effected  a  lodgment  in 
Freiburg  andSchwyz.  Their  expulsion  from  Switzerland  was  aimed 
at  by  all  the  liberal  cantons.  A  volunteer  expedition  in  1845, 
under  the  lead  of  Ochsenbein,  of  Berne,  miscarried.  The  govern- 
ment of  Lucerne,  still  more  enraged  by  the  assassination  of  Leu, 
resorted  to  terroristic  measures,  and  demanded  the  punishment  of 
the  volunteers  and  the  restoration  of  the  Argovian  cloisters.  As 
no  heed  was  paid  to  its  demands,  it  formed,  with  Sch wyz,  Uri,  Unter- 
walden,  Zug,  Freiburg,  and  Valais,  a  Sonderbund  (separate  league), 
for  mutual  protection  against  foreign  and  domestic  foes.  This 
league  within  a  league  could  not  be  tolerated;  and,  since  the  lib- 
eral cantons  formed  the  majority,  they  resolved,  at  the  session  of 
the  Diet  in  Berne,  in  July,  1847,  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  Son- 
derbund, as  incompatible  with  the  treaty  of  confederation,  and  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jesuits.  As  the  fanatics  of  Lucerne  would  not 
yield  obedience  to  the  Diet,  a  federal  execution  was  ordered  against 
the  cantons  of  the  Sonderbund,  the  Helvetic  army  called  out,  and 
the  experienced  General  Dufour,  of  Geneva,  put  in  command. 

The  cabinets  of  Vienna,  Berlin,  and  Paris  did  everything  to 
prevent  an  actual  collision ;  but,  as  they  were  too  favorably  dis- 
posed toward  the  Sonderbund,  and  assisted  it  with  money  and 
arms,  so  it,  in  the  hope  of  intervention,  allowed  the  quarrel  to 
terminate  in  war.  The  liberals  sought  to  bring  the  war  to  a  con- 
clusion by  one  rapid  campaign.  The  courier  of  the  French  Prem- 
ier, Guizot,  was  still  under  way  with  despatches  for  the  chiefs 
of  the  Sonderbnnd,  when  they  had  already  fled  across  the  Alps, 
and  all  that  was  left  for  him  was  to  hurry  after  them.  Perhaps 
a  few  months  later  an  intervention  would  have  taken  place ;  but 
before  those  months  were  sped,  Guizot,  Metternich,  and  many  oth- 
ers were  in  exile,  glad  that  there  were  still  states  which  afforded 
political  fugitives  asylum. 


172  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

General  Dufour  settled  the  controversy  quickly  and  completely. 
He  took  Freiburg  by  capitulation,  defeated  the  principal  army  of 
the  Sonderbund  (November  23d),  and  entered  Lucerne.  All  the 
cantons  had  to  yield,  and  accept  the  conditions  of  peace  which 
were  dictated  to  them.  Among  these  were  payment  of  the  ex- 
panses of  the  war,  a  change  of  government  in  the  cantons,  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Sonderbund,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits.  In 
a  few  weeks  all  was  accomplished.  Then  the  reform  of  the  Hel- 
vetian constitution  was  proceeded  with,  and  in  1848  the  new  fed- 
eral state  was  established.  The  Stdnderath  forms  a  sort  of  upper 
house,  which  is  to  represent  the  governments  of  the  several  can- 
tons; while  the  Nationalrath  forms  a  lower  house,  which  is  elect- 
ed by  the  people  in  proportion  to  the  population.  By  this  united 
congress  the  highest  tribunal  of  Switzerland — the  Bundesrath — is 
chosen,  and  at  the  head  of  this  is  a  president. 


FRANCE    UNDER    LOCIS    PHILIPPE. 

NONE  of  the  great  monarchs  had  so  difficult  a  task  as  Louis 
Philippe.  If  he  attached  himself  to  the  majority  of  his  people 
and  showed  himself  in  earnest  with  "  the  republican  institutions 
which  ought  to  surround  the  throne,"  he  had  all  the  continental 
powers  against  him ;  if  he  inclined  toward  the  absolute  system  of 
the  latter,  then  not  alone  the  extreme  parties,  but  also  the  men 
of  the  constitutional  monarchy,  who  held  to  the  royal  word  that 
"  from  now  on  the  constitution  shall  be  a  reality,"  rose  against 
him.  The  former  was  the  lesser  danger,  for  the  foreign  powers 
had  enough  to  do  with  the  revolutionary  spirit  of  their  own  peo- 
ple, and  a  liberal  France  would  have  given  them  still  more.  Louis 
Philippe's  worst  foe  was  the  dissatisfaction  at  home,  which,  if  too 
boldly  challenged,  would  send  him  the  same  way  that  Charles  X. 
went  in  1830.  There  was  in  reality  not  so  much  need  of  skill  in 
balancing  as. of  liberal  principles,  in  putting  which  into  effect  he 
must  keep  pace  with  the  spirit  and  wishes  of  his  people.  His 
system,  which  he  himself  named  a  happy  medium  (juste  milieu), 
would  have  been  a  happy  medium  if  he  had  struck  the  middle  and 


REPUBLICAN  TRIUMVIRATE.— TRIAL  OF  EX-MINISTERS.  173 

kept  it ;  but  he  gradually  swerved  so  much  toward  the  right  that 
the  middle  was  far  to  his  left. 

From  the  outset  he  had  three  parties  against  him — Legitimists, 
Bonapartists,  and  Republicans.  The  two  former  were  in  them- 
selves of  small  moment;  it  was  the  last  which  he  had  to  consider, 
for  they  had  made  the  revolution,  and  naturally  did  not  wish  to 
see  themselves  deprived  of  its  fruits.  As  long  as  three  members 
of  this  party  were  in  possession  of  the  most  important  posts 
(Odilon  Barrot,  prefect  of  the  Seine ;  Dupont  de  1'Eure,  minis- 
ter of  justice ;  Lafayette,  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  national 
guards  of  France,  and  by  that  fact  at  the  head  of  1,500,000  bay- 
onets) the  government  had  to  be  carried  on  with  some  respect  for 
the  wishes  of  the  City  Hall.  But  how  long  would  this  Republi- 
can triumvirate  sit  in  the  king's  council?  The  main-stay  of  his 
throne,  as  he  comprehended  it,  was  the  Bourgeoisie,  the  well-to-do 
middle  class.  After  the  fall  of  the  Bourbons,  under  whose  gov- 
ernment the  nobles  and  clergy  had  disputed  their  rule,  the  Bour- 
geoisie had  quickly  gained  possession  of  the  power  and  brought 
him  to  the  throne ;  and  now,  with  him  as  king,  it  wished  to  have 
peace  at  any  price,  in  order  to  increase  its  prosperity  and  enjoy 
its  riches  in  quiet  and  comfort.  It  was  only  this  class  which  had 
won  in  the  July  revolution,  for  which  it  had  itself  shed  very  little 
blood ;  the  laboring  classes,  the  "  horny-hands,"  on  the  other  hand, 
derived  as  little  advantage  from  the  change  as  the  Roman  Plebe- 
ians from  the  overthrow  of  the  kings.  By  means  of  the  electoral 
law  and  the  provision  that  the  members  of  the  national  guard 
must  themselves  pay  for  their  costly  outfits,  Louis  Philippe  gained 
both  the  Chamber  and  the  national  guard.  The  foreign  powers 
also  showed  themselves  complaisant,  and  recognized  the  July  mon- 
archy. But  the  Emperor  of  Russia  did  not  do  this  without  speak- 
ing of  the  "  deplorable  events  "  which  brought  about  this  change 
of  dynasty,  and  in  addressing  Louis  Philippe  he  did  not  give  him 
the  customary  title,  "  My  Brother." 

The  trial  of  the  ex-ministers  of  Charles  X. — of  whom,  to  the 
embarrassment  of  the  new  government,  three  besides  Polignac 
had  been  arrested  in  their  flight  —  caused  the  first  excitement. 
The  populace  demanded  the  death  of  those  who,  by  signing  the 
ordinances,  had  brought  on  the  revolution,  and  hence  were  indi- 
rectly guilty  of  the  death  of  so  many.  But  even  Lafayette  was 
against  this.  He  was  magnanimous  enough  to  wish  to  rescue 


174  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

them,  for  the  very  reason  that  they  were  his  enemies.  This  caused 
a  split  in  the  ranks  of  the  ministry  also.  Five  members,  among 
them  Gnizot,  withdrew  ;  and,  November  2d,  1830,  Lafitte,  as  min- 
ister president,  undertook  the  formation  of  a  new  ministry  of  lib- 
eral tendencies.  The  Chamber  of  Peers  condemred  the  ex-min- 
isters to  imprisonment  for  life,  and  Polignac,  in  addition,  to  the 
loss  of  his  civil  rights.  In  consequence  of  the  clemency  of  this 
sentence,  there  was  great  excitement  in  Paris  for  two  whole  days. 
The  arms  but  just  laid  down  seemed  about  to  be  resumed.  But 
the  circumstance  that  the  Republican  triumvirate  was  on  the  side 
of  the  administration  and  the  Chambers,  prevented  the  agitation 
from  developing  into  an  actual  outbreak.  Yet  Lafayette  lost  so 
much  of  his  popularity  that  the  king  could  dare  to  cause  a  bill 
to  be  brought  before  the  Chambers  abolishing  the  office  of  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  the  national  guards  of  France.  Thereupon 
Lafayette  gave  in  his  resignation,  and,  after  some  hypocritical 
hesitation,  Louis  Philippe  accepted  it.  Soon  after,  Dupont  left 
the  ministry.  Odilon  Barrot  still  for  a  short  time  remained  at 
his  isolated  post.  The  new  municipal  law,  which  put  the  choice 
of  mayors  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  minister  and  the  prefects, 
was  a  step  backward.  This  was  made  np  for  by  an  improved 
electoral  law,  lowering  the  qualification  for  suffrage,  and  raising 
the  number  of  voters  from  80,000  to  200,000 — certainly  a  low 
enough  figure  with  a  population  of  30,000,000. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  revolution  had  entered  upon  its  march 
through  Europe.  Wherever  it  came  into  danger,  France  was 
looked  upon  and  applied  to  as  its  natural  helper.  Lafitte's  min- 
istry wished  to  conjure  up  no  foreign  complications,  and  hence 
set  up  the  principle  of  non-intervention.  But  what  had  succeed- 
ed in  Belgium  did  not  succeed  in  Italy.  On  the  announcement 
of  the  Austrian  ambassador  that  his  government  was  about  to 
intervene  in  the  States  of  the  Church,  Lafitte  threatened  war. 
Mi'tternich  replied,  "  If  this  intervention  occasion  war,  then  war 
may  come.  We  would  rather  expose  ourselves  to  the  dangers  of 
war  than  perish  in  the  midst  of  rebellions."  He  might  well  vent- 
ure to  speak  in  this  way,  for,  while  Lafitte  was  demanding  non- 
intervention, Louis  Philippe,  behind  his  back,  had  consented  to 
intervention.  When  Lafitte  became  aware  of  this,  he  gave  in  his 
resignation  ;  whereupon,  March  31st,  1831,  Casimir  Perier  formed 
a  new  ministry.  He  was  the  true  representative  of  the  Bour- 


DUCHESS  OF   BERRY'S   REVOLUTION,  AND   DAUGHTER.    175 

geoisie ;  a  banker,  like  Lafitte,  but  possessing  more  energy  and 
political  talent.  He  was  overbearing  enough  to  bend  even  Louis 
Philippe  to  his  will;  and,  as  minister  president,  wished  to  have 
the  actual  conduct  of  affairs,  and  not  merely  the  responsibility. 
Peace  without,  quiet  and  order  at  home,  were  his  aims. 

The  Legitimists,  as  well  as  the  Republicans,  thought  they  had 
found  in  him  their  man.  The  former  were  so  infatuated  as  to 
believe  that  their  time  was  come  again.  February  13th,  1831,  the 
anniversary  of  the  Duke  of  Berry's  assassination,  they  had  ar- 
ranged a  pompous  memorial  service  in  the  church  of  Saint  Ger- 
main 1'Auxerrois,  which  bears  a  bad  reputation  from  the  night  of 
Saint  Bartholomew's.  The  exasperated  populace,  seeing  in  this  a 
challenge,  pressed  into  the  church,  and  destroyed  the  relics,  altars, 
etc.  On  the  following  day  they  stormed  the  Archbishop's  pal- 
ace, and  threw  all  the  movables  into  the  street.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  very  distinct  rebuke,  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  Marie  Caro- 
line, assisted  by  the  ultra -legitimist  Duke  of  Modena,  and  by 
Charles  Albert,  of  Sardinia,  set  out  for  France  with  a  few  trusty 
followers.  She  landed  in  Marseilles;  and,  as  the  people  there  did 
not  respond  to  her  call,  she  traversed  the  whole  country,  after  va- 
rious adventures,  and  presented  herself  in  the  Vendee  as  the  re- 
gent of  France  for  her  son,  the  legitimate  king,  Henry  V.  Spite 
of  all  their  valor,  her  followers  had  to  succumb  before  the  supe- 
rior numbers  of  the  troops  sent  against  them.  The  duchess  her- 
self fled  to  Nantes,  and  remained  four  months  in  hiding  with  a 
family  devoted  to  her  interests.  She  was  finally  discovered,  and 
taken,  November  2d,  1832,  through  the  treachery  of  a  baptized 
Jew  named  Deuz,  who  received  500,000  francs  for  betraying  her. 
Her  kinsman,  Louis  Philippe,  was  extricated  from  his  embarrass- 
ment as  to  what  to  do  with  her  by  her  delivery  of  a  daughter  as 
to  whose  paternity  she  could  give  the  world  no  satisfactory  expla- 
nation. Under  such  interesting  circumstances,  there  was  nothing 
left  for  the  Duchess  of  Berry  but  to  take  ship  for  Palermo,  in  the 
summer  of  1833.  The  Legitimists  lost  for  a  while  all  inclination 
to  risk  their  heroes  and  heroines  on  the  slippery  soil  of  France, 
and  only  rested  their  hopes  on  some  general  change  of  circum- 
stances. 

The  contest  with  the  Republicans  was  more  difficult  for  the 
government.  The  fall  of  Warsaw  aroused  them  to  action.  In 
Paris  barricades  were  erected,  gun-stores  plundered ;  and  the  min- 


176  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

isters,  who,  notwithstanding  all  their  promises  to  the  beseeching, 
hoping  Poles,  had  given  no  help,  were  cursed.  But  the  armed 
power  remained  master.  There  were  also  riots  in  other  cities ; 
among  others,  a  very  bloody  one  in  Lyons,  in  November  of  1831, 
in  consequence  of  the  quarrels  between  the  silk  manufacturers 
and  their  workmen.  Perier  acted  everywhere  with  severity  and 
energy;  but  he  was  scarcely  able  to  silence  the  dissatisfaction, 
far  less  to  suppress  it  altogether,  for  governmental  expenses  were 
being  constantly  increased,  and  business  was  at  a  stand-still.  It 
was  at  a  time  so  ill  chosen  that  Louis  Philippe  asked  from  the 
Chamber  an  increase  of  his  civil  list  to  18,000,000  francs,  al- 
though, at  the  time  of  his  coming  to  the  throne,  he  had  said  to 
Dupont,  "  With  a  civil  list  of  6,000,000,  a  citizen  king  has  enough 
and  to  spare."  The  Chamber  chose  for  the  king  of  the  juste 
milieu  a  happy  medium  between  the  two  sums,  and  voted  him 
12,000,000.  At  the  funeral  of  the  Republican  General  Lamarque, 
June  5th,  1832,  there  was  a  serious  street  fight,  and  cries  of  "Vive 
la  Republique !" 

Fortunately,  the  government  could  show  a  few  things  in  its 
favor.  The  hereditary  character  of  the  Peers  was  taken  away. 
(Later,  the  nomination  of  life  peers  was  conceded  to  the  king,  by 
which  that  Chamber  lost  the  last  vestige  of  its  independence.) 
On  the  second  intervention  of  the  Austrians  in  the  States  of  the 
Church,  Perier  occupied  Ancona,  and  announced  in  the  Chamber 
that  he  sought  to  give  the  Pope's  subjects  some  security  that 
the  Pope  would  keep  his  promises.  "  If  the  Austrians  stay,  then 
we  stay  too ;  if  they  go,  then  we  shall  go  also."  The  occupation 
lasted  seven  years  —  just  as  long  as  the  Austrians  remained  in 
Romagna. 

May  16th,  Prime-minister  Perier  died  of  the  cholera,  and  the 
other  ministers  resigned  at  the  opening  of  the  Chambers.  The 
king's  unchangeable  idea  (la  pensee  immuable)  made  itself  more 
and  more  felt  with  each  new  change  of  ministers.  October  1 1th, 
1832,  Marshal  Soult  became  at  the  same  time  minister., of  war  and 
head  of  a  new  ministry,  in  which  Guizot,  the  quondam  professor 
of  history,  took  public  instruction,  and  the  former  editor  of  the 
National,  Thiers,  the  department  of  the  interior.  It  was  in  great 
part  a  Doctrinaire  ministry,  and  its  programme  was  a  strong  exec- 
utive, and  a  firmer  tone  in  foreign  affairs,  the  department  which 
was  administered  by  Broglie.  New  laws  directed  against  the 


FIESCHFS  INFERNAL  MACHINE.— SEPTEMBER  LAWS.      177 

Press,  societies,  and  juries  created  great  dissatisfaction.  The  of- 
fering for  sale  of  newspapers  in  public  places  was  forbidden ; 
the  existence  and  establishment  of  societies  was  made  dependent 
upon  the  permission  of  the  government;  offenders  against  these 
laws  were  to  be  brought,  not  before  juries,  but  before  police  mag- 
istrates, and,  in  case  of  attacks  upon  the  king  or  the  constitution, 
before  the  Chamber  of  Peers.  The  Republicans,  who  saw  in  this 
their  complete  suppression,  risked  a  new  fight  in  the  streets  of 
Lyons  and  Paris,  in  April,  1834.  They  were  defeated,  and  the 
government  used  the  insurrection  to  carry  through  the  Chambers 
a  law  forbidding,  under  heavy  penalties,  the  carrying  of  weapons 
without  police  permission.  At  the  same  time,  the  standing  army 
was  raised  to  360,000,  and  the  participants  in  the  April  insurrec- 
tion brought  before  the  Court  of  Peers.  The  most  important  of 
the  accused,  Cavaignac  and  Marrast,  escaped  to  England ;  the  rest 
were  condemned  to  imprisonment,  but  none  to  death.  This  trial, 
which  was  accompanied  by  tumultuous  scenes,  brought  the  gov- 
ernment more  injury  than  advantage. 

The  government  gained  more  through  the  infernal  machine  of 
the  Corsican  Fieschi.  July  28th,  1835,  the  king,  attended  by  his 
sons  and  a  brilliant  staff,  rode  to  the  Boulevards  to  review  the 
national  guard  and  the  garrison  of  Paris.  On  his  arrival  at  the 
Boulevard  du  Temple  a  fearful  explosion  took  place,  and  from 
the  windows  of  a  house  opposite  a  hail-storm  of  bullets  burst 
upon  the  crowd.  In  an  instant  sixty  persons  lay  dead  or  wound- 
ed in  the  street.  Marshal  Mortier  and  several  other  members  of 
the  king's  cortege  were  killed ;  he  himself,  for  whom  it  was  in- 
tended, was  not  even  wounded.  Fieschi  and  two  Parisians  whom 
he  named  as  his  accomplices  were  executed.  The  whole  Repub- 
lican party  was  unjustly  made  responsible  for  this  attempt,  and 
new  blows  were  struck  at  the  juries  and  the  Press.  Every  Press 
offence  involving  a  libel  of  the  king  or  the  administration  was  to 
be  tried  from  this  time  on  before  the  Court  of  Peers,  and  the 
composition  of  that  body  rendered  conviction  certain.  With 
these  "  September  laws "  the  reaction  was  complete,  the  power 
of  the  Republicans  was  broken.  Their  activity  did  not  cease, 
however.  Their  numerous  societies  continued  to  exist  in  secret, 
and  to  the  political  affiliated  themselves  the  social  societies,  which, 
after  the  communistic  teachings  of  Count  St.  Simon  and  his  fol- 
lowers, demanded,  among  other  impossibilities,  the  abolition  of 


178  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

private  property.  It  was  these  baleful  excrescences  which  de- 
prived republicanism  of  all  credit,  and  outbreaks  like  that  of  May 
12th,  1839,  where  a  few  hundred  members  of  the  "  Society  of 
the  Seasons,"  with  Barbes  and  Blanqui  at  their  head,  disarmed 
military  posts  and  proclaimed  the  republic,  found  not  the  slight- 
est response.  The  repeated  attempts  which  were  made  on  the 
king's  life  were  also  unsuccessful.  In  the  year  1836  AH  baud 
made  an  attempt,  and  soon  after  him  Meunier  ;  in  1840  Dunnes  ; 
in  1846  Lacomte,  and  after  him  Henri. 

Louis  Philippe  felt  himself  so  secure  upon  his  throne  that  in 
1837  he  published  an  amnesty  by  which  Polignac  and  his  fellows 
again  obtained  their  freedom  and  their  civil  privileges.  His  rela- 
tions to  foreign  powers  became  better  the  mo-re  he  approximated 
to  their  system,  putting  restraints  upon  societies,  the  Press,  and 
juries,  and  energetically  crushing  popular  revolts.  Naturally  he 
was  by  this  very  means  constantly  further  estranging  the  mass  of 
the  people.  It  was  regarded  as  a  humiliation  of  the  nation  that 
he  wished  to  live  at  peace  with  the  great  powers  at  any  price ; 
that  he  sacrificed  Italy,  Poland,  and  Mehemed  Ali,  and  only  vent- 
ured upon  a  threatening  attitude  or  actual  hostilities  against 
weaker  states  —  against  Portugal,  under  Don  Miguel,  against 
Switzerland,  Morocco,  etc.  His  two  eldest  sons,  the  Dukes  of 
Orleans  and  Nemours,  made  a  journey  to  Germany  in  1836,  and 
were  received  with  the  greatest  honor  at  the  courts  of  Berlin  and 
Vienna.  The  former  married  Princess  Helen,  of  Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin,  in  1837,  and  became  by  her  the  father  of  a  son,  the 
Count  of  Paris — the  fourth  royal  child  since  the  unhappy  son  of 
Louis  XVI.  to  enter  the  world  with  golden  hopes  and  brilliant 
expectations,  but  small  part  of  which  were  to  be  realized.  The 
Chamber  readily  voted  an  increase  of  the  establishment  of  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  to  3,000,000  francs ;  but  it  was  regarded  as 
contemptible  avarice  on  the  king's  part  that,  notwithstanding  his 
wealth,  he  was  constantly  requiring  new  appropriations  for  his 
children. 

What  the  Legitimists  and  Republicans  had  not  effected  —  a 
change  of  government — the  Napoleonids  now  took  in  hand.  Af- 
ter the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt  (1832),  Louis  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  son  of  the  ex-king  Louis  of  Holland  and  Hortense 
Beauharnais,  step -daughter  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  regarded 
himself  as  the  regular  heir  of  the  imperial  throne.  Born  April 


LOUIS  NAPOLEON'S  ATTEMPT  AT   STRASBURG.  179 

28th,  1808,  he  had  lived  with  his  mother  in  banishment  since  his 
seventh  year,  first  in  Augsburg,  and  then  in  the  castle  of  Arenen- 
berg,  in  the  canton  of  Thurgovia.  He  entered  the  Swiss  army, 
and  under  General  Dufour's  guidance  studied  gunnery  as  a  science. 
The  rebellion  in  the  States  of  the  Church,  in  1831,  drew  him  and 
his  elder  brother  into  the  ranks  of  the  Carbonari.  The  latter 
met  his  death  there ;  the  former  escaped  to  England.  Thence  he 
returned  to  Arenenberg,  and  busied  himself  with  literary  labors. 
He  composed  the  "  Reveries  Politiques,"  in  which  he  endeavored 
to  show  the  impossibility  for  France  of  any  other  than  the  Napo- 
leonic dynasty.  Perceiving  how  unpopular  the  July  monarchy 
was,  he  believed  his  time  to  be  come.  He  was  in  secret  commu- 
nication with  a  few  officers  of  the  Strasburg  garrison ;  and  hoped, 
by  his  mere  appearance  and  the  magic  of  his  name,  to  win  over 
the  whole  garrison,  and,  as  in  an  avalanche-like  march  of  victory, 
like  that  of  the  great  Napoleon  in  1815,  to  enter  Paris  at  the 
head  of  a  great  army.  October  30th,  1836,  he  suddenly  appeared 
in  the  court  of  the  artillery  barracks  in  Strasburg,  with  a  few 
trusted  followers,  and  was  received  by  the  soldiers  with  the  cry, 
"  Vive  1'Empereur !"  But  in  the  infantry  barracks,  to  which  the 
conspirators  then  marched,  he  did  not  meet  with  the  same  recep- 
tion. The  governor,  Voirol,  succeeded  in  retaining  the  soldiers 
in  their  allegiance,  and  Louis  Napoleon  and  several  of  his  accom- 
plices were  captured.  He  was  brought  to  Paris,  and  Louis  Phi- 
lippe was  generous  enough  to  send  him  off,  without  further  inves- 
tigation, on  a  steamer  for  America.  This  mild  sentence  had  for 
the  king  the  unpleasant  result  that  the  seven  accomplices — some 
of  them  officers  in  active  service — who  were  brought  before  the 
jury  in  Strasburg  were  acquitted,  the  populace  hailing  their  ac- 
quittal with  joy.  The  people  did  not  hold  it  right  that  the 
high-born  principal  should  be  allowed  to  escape,  while  his  more 
humble  creatures  were  punished. 

While  Thiers,  the  historian  of  the  French  Empire,  was  minister 
president  (March  1st  to  October  21st,  1840),  it  was  determined,  in 
order  to  win  over  public  opinion,  to  bring  the  bones  of  Napoleon 
from  the  island  of  St.  Helena  to  France.  The  English  govern- 
ment gave  its  consent.  The  honor  of  escorting  them  was  assign- 
ed to  the  king's  third  son,  the  Prince  of  Joinville.  He  landed  in 
Cherbourg  with  his  precious  freight,  and,  December  15th,  1840, 
the  emperor's  remains  were  borne  in  a  splendid  sarcophagus,  vast 


180  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECEXT   TIMES. 

throngs  of  people  crowding  round,  to  the  Invalides,  where  later  a 
special  monument  was  erected  for  them. 

The  enthusiasm  which  the  mere  preparations  for  this  transfer 
of  the  imperial  remains  had  called  forth  in  France  led  Louis  Na- 
poleon to  make  a  second  attempt  to  present  himself  to  the  na- 
tion as  nephew  and  heir  of  the  emperor.  He  had  returned  from 
North  America  to  Switzerland,  and  had  spontaneously  left  that 
country  and  gone  to  England,  when  Louis  Philippe  de-Handed  his 
expulsion  and  threatened  war.  Thence  he  embarked,  with  about 
sixty  persons,  clothed  in  the  uniform  of  the  old  imperial  guards, 
and  landed  in  the  neighborhood  of  Boulogne,  August  6th,  1840. 
In  order  to  produce  more  effect,  he  had  brought  a  live  eagle  with 
him.  In  a  proclamation  he  declared  that  the  Bourbon-Orleans  dy- 
nasty had  ceased  to  reign,  and  promised  France  the  restoration  of 
her  former  greatness.  A  decree  established  for  the  time  a  provis- 
ional government,  set  Thiers,  then  premier,  at  its  head,  and  made 
Marshal  Clauzet  commander-in-chief  of  the  army.  But  this  at- 
tempt also  came  to  nothing.  The  regiment  of  the  line  in  Boulogne 
remained  passive,  but  the  customs  soldiers  attacked  him,  and  he 
and  his  attendants  had  to  spring  into  a  boat  to  try  and  reach  the 
steamer  that  brought  them  thither.  The  boat  turned  over,  and 
he  was  drawn,  dripping,  out  of  the  water  and  taken  to  prison. 
Set  before  the  Court  of  Peers,  he  developed,  with  the  strength  of 
faith  and  the  obstinacy  peculiar  to  him,  his  Napoleonic  principles 
and  claims.  He  was  condemned  by  the  Court  of  Peers  to  im- 
prisonment for  life,  and  confined  in  the  castle  of  Ham.  Thence 
he  escaped,  clothed  as  a  mason,  May  25th,  1846,  and  succeeded  in 
reaching  England.  All  the  world  laughed  at  his  folly  ;  but  with- 
out the  scenes  of  Strasburg  and  Boulogne,  and  the  martyrdom  of 
a  six  years'  imprisonment,  his  name  certainly  would  not  have  pro- 
duced such  an  effect  in  the  year  1848. 

The  isolation  into  which  France  had  been  brought  by  its  East- 
ern policy  had,  as  has  been  narrated  in  connection  with  the  dis- 
agreement between  Turkey  and  Egypt,  occasioned  Thiers's  dis- 
missal. After  having  made  great  preparations  for  war,  and  per- 
suaded the  Chamber  to  approve  of  the  fortification  of  Paris,  he 
had  to  resign,  since  Louis  Philippe  had  no  desire  to  bring  about 
a  coalition  of  Europe  against  himself.  The  military  preparations 
wore  discontinued,  but  the  fortification  of  Paris  was  energetically 
pushed  forward.  The  reproach  was  made  against  the  government 


ALGERIA  AND   ABD-EL-KADER.  181 

that  the  fortification  was  directed  less  against  an  outward  enemy 
than  against  the  revolution -loving  Parisians  —  an  end  which  it 
certainly  did  not  serve  in  later  years.  The  new  ministry,  in  which 
(October  29th,  1840)  Soult  presided,  and  was  at  the  same  time 
minister  of  war,  while  Guizot  had  foreign  affairs,  Count  Duchatel 
the  interior,  and  Villemain  public  instruction,  maintained  itself  in 
its  principal  members  (Guizot  and  Duchatel)  until  the  February 
revolution,  and  soon  succeeded  in  establishing  good  relations  once 
more  with  the  four  great  powers.  Among  the  people  it  was  very 
unpopular  as  the  "  Ministry  of  Abroad,"  and  Thiers's  active  oppo- 
sition to  his  more  successful  rival  added  greatly  to  this  unpopu- 
larity. As  minister  Thiers  had  succeeded  in  maintaining  an  inr 
dependent  position,  and  had  laid  down  the  principle  :  le  roi  regne, 
mais  il  ne  gouverne  pas.  Guizot  adopted  the  ossified  system  of 
the  aging  king  with  all  the  tenacity  of  an  incorrigible  bureaucrat 
of  honorable  character. 

A  favorable  field  for  military  activity  was  afforded  the  July 
monarchy  in  the  conquest  of  Algiers,  an  inheritance  which  it  had 
received  from  the  Bourbons.  If  this  new  province  did  not  bring 
.in  much  income  to  the  French,  who  are  not  great  masters  in  the 
art  of  colonization,  but  rather  consumed  quantities  of  men  and 
money,  nevertheless  the  war  with  the  fanatical  Bedouin  and  Kabyl 
tribes  was  an  excellent  school  for  the  soldiers,  and  at  the  same 
time  afforded  the  government  a  welcome  channel  to  lead  off  the 
uneasy,  turbulent  Parisian  youth.  Here  were  trained  the  gener- 
als of  the  second  empire,  which  could  show  scarcely  an  officer  of 
distinction  who  had  not  won  his  spurs  in  Algeria.  Among  the 
Arabs  the  Emir  Abd-el-Kader,  a  second  Jugurtha,  far  overtopped 
all  others.  At  once  priest  and  warrior,  he  enjoyed  among  his 
countrymen  unlimited  confidence,  and  by  his  cunning  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  country  succeeded  in  maintaining  himself  for  sev- 
eral years  against  the  French  generals.  Scarcely  was  he  defeated, 
scarcely  had  it  gone  abroad  that  he  was  annihilated,  when  he  ap- 
peared with  fresh  forces  to  resume  a  creditable  offensive.  Mas- 
cara, his  residence,  was  captured,  under  Marshal  Clauzet,  in  1835  ; 
but  the  expedition  against  Constantine,  the  ancient  Cirta,  failed. 
It  was  not  until  the  second  expedition,  in  1837,  that  General  Valee 
carried  the  city  by  storm  (October  13th),  after  General  Damremont 
had  fallen  on  the  first  day  of  the  assault.  At  the  time  of  the 
Eastern  war  France  built  wide-reaching  plans  on  this  new  posses- 


182  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

sion  in  North  Africa.  England's  jealousy  burnt  so  much  the 
more  hotly,  and  it  was  ascribed  to  her  machinations  that  in  1839 
the  Arabs  in  great  numbers  took  the  field  against  the  French  in 
a  holy  war,  carrying  their  incursions  to  the  very  gates  of  Algiers. 
In  1841,  General  Bugeaud  succeeded  to  the  chief  command,  and, 
supported  by  capable  officers,  like  Colonel  Lamoriciere  and  Chan- 
gamier,  gave  a  new  and  surprising  turn  to  the  war.  Abd-el-Ka- 
der,  whose  smalah  (travelling  palace)  had  been  plundered  by  the 
Duke  of  Aumale,  the  king's  fourth  son,  and  from  whom  several 
tribes  had  fallen  away,  was  driven  out  of  Algiers,  and  had  to  seek 
protection  from  Abderrahman.  Emperor  of  Morocco.  The  latter 
allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  into  the  war,  and  sent  out  his  son 
with  an  army.  But  while  the  Prince  of  Joinville  with  the  French 
fleet  bombarded  and  demolished  the  fortifications  of  Tangiers  and 
Morocco,  Bugeaud  won  a  brilliant  victory  at  the  river  Isly  (Au- 
gust 14th,  1844),  and  forced  the  emperor  to  a  peace.  The  war 
was  carried  on  by  the  untiring  Abd-el-Kader,  and  horrible  atroci- 
ties were  committed  on  both  sides.  There  arose  a  storm  of  in- 
dignation in  Europe  when  it  became  known  that  Colonel  Pelissier 
(in  the  Crimean  war  the  Duke  of  Malakoff)  had  caused  a  large 
number  of  Arabs  who,  with  their  wives  and  children,  had  taken  ref- 
uge in  a  cave,  to  be  suffocated  therein — a  proceeding  which,  how- 
ever, the  minister  of  war,  Soult,  accustomed  to  Napoleon's  bloody 
decrees,  deemed  justifiable.  And  when,  finally,  in  1847,  Abd-el- 
Kader,  deserted  by  all,  and  hemmed  in  on  every  side,  surrendered 
to  Lamoriciere  on  condition  of  a  safe  passage  to  Syria  or  Egypt — 
a  condition  assented  to  by  the  Duke  of  Aumale,  Bugeaud's  suc- 
cessor in  the  government — the  royal  father  refused  to  confirm  his 
son's  treaty,  but  caused  Abd-el-Kader  to  be  brought  to  France, 
where  he  was  kept  in  close  confinement  at  Amboise  for  several 
years.  The  Emperor  Napoleon  released  him,  and  assigned  him 
an  annual  revenue,  on  the  promise  that  he  would  live  for  the  rest 
of  his  life  at  Brusa^  Asia  Minor.  He  lived  there  until  the  year 
1855,  when  the  city  was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake.  He  then 
chose  Damascus  for  a  residence,  and  on  occasion  of  the  atroci- 
ties of  the  Druses  and  Turks  against  the  Christians  in  1860,  as- 
sisted the  latter  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  For  this  Napoleon 
conferred  upon  him  the  grand  cross^of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

The  death  of  the  universally  respected  and  beloved  Duke  of 
Orleans  was  the  first  memento  mori  for  the  July  dynasty.     July 


SYMPTOMS  OF  APPRO  ACHING  DISSOLUTION.  183 

13tli,  1842,  he  drove  to  Neuilly  to  take  leave  of  his  family  before 
his  departure  for  the  camp  at  St.  Omer.  The  horses  took  fright ; 
he  leaped  from  the  carnage,  was  dashed  against  the  pavement, 
and  four  hours  afterward  was  dead.  Of  his  two  sons,  the  elder, 
the  Count  of  Paris,  was  only  four  years  of  age,  and  hence  a  long 
minority  was  looked  forward  to,  as  Louis  Philippe  was  then  sixty- 
nine  years  old.  At  the  proposition  of  the  government  the  Cham- 
bers intrusted  the  regency,  in  case  of  the  king's  death,  not  to  the 
beloved  Helen,  Duchess  of  Orleans  {nominally  on  account  of  her 
Protestantism),  but  to  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  unpopular  on  ac- 
count of  his  aristocratic  leanings.  Some  reparation  for  the  loss 
of  his  eldest  son  was  made  to  the  king  in  the  marriage  of  his 
youngest  son,  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  with  the  Infanta,  Lnisa 
Fernanda,  in  1846.  But  this  alliance,  which  held  out  to  the  Or- 
leans family  the  prospect  of  the  Spanish  throne,  broke  up  those 
good  relations  with  the  English  cabinet  which  had  been  restored 
after  the  settlement  of  the  Eastern  question,  that  cabinet  accusing 
Louis  Philippe's  government  of  political  dishonesty.  In  other 
matters,  also,  dark  shadows  fell  upon  the  July  monarchy.  Two 
former  ministers — Teste,  president  of  the  court  of  cassation,  for- 
merly minister  of  public  works,  and  Cubieres,  the  late  minister 
of  war — were  accused  and  convicted  (1847)  of  gross  peculation 
and  venality.  The  murder  of  the  daughter  of  Marshal  Sebastian! 
by  her  husband,  the  Duke  of  Praslin,  made  a  still  worse  impres- 
sion. And  when  he  escaped  condemnation  by  poisoning  himself 
in  prison  it  was  said  that  the  government  had  helped  him  to  the 
means  of  making  away  with  himself  that  they  might  not  have  to 
afford  the  people  the  spectacle  of  the  execution  of  a  duke;  It 
was  difficult  to  furnish  proofs  that  the  king  and  hi»  system  of 
government  were  responsible  for  these  crimes,  but  the  Legitimists 
and  Republicans  held  to  an  inner  connection  between  the  one  and 
the  other,  and  declared  such  crimes  to  be  the  necessary  conse- 
quences of  the  ruling  system.  The  king,  it  was  said,  had  his-  own 
way  in  the  Chambers  without  question,  and  then  gave  himself  up 
to  the  delusion  that  the  majority  of  the  Chambers  was  the  expres- 
sion of  the  popular  will.  Where  the  electors  are  persuaded  to 
elect  the  ministerial  candidates  by  the  prospect  of  the  building 
of  roads  and  railroads  in  their  district,  and  where  these  candidates 
are  led  by  the  distribution  of  profitable  posts  and  dignities  to 
themselves  and  their  families  to  obey  unconditionally  and  follow 


184  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

the  ministry  through  thick  and  thin,  there,  even  if  only  the  well- 
to-do  class  has  the  suffrage,  it  was  said,  the  popular  representa- 
tives are  no  longer  representatives  of  the  people,  and  he  who  as 
king  listens  to  their  voice  is  but  listening  to  his  own. 

This  was  the  position  of  Louis  Philippe  and  the  ministry,  in 
which  Guizot  had  presided  since  Soult's  retirement,  in  September 
of  1847.  Guizot' s  opponent  and  rival,  Thiers,  did  not  hesitate  to 
attack  him  unsparingly  in  the  Chamber.  He  laid  bare  the  cor- 
ruption which,  spreading  downward,  was  constantly  on  the  in- 
crease, and  declaimed  against  the  disgrace  with  which  Guizot  was 
covering  the  country  by  his  partiality  for  the  Jesuits  and  the 
Sonderbund  in  Switzerland.  Neither  Thiers  nor  Odilon  Barrot, 
who  wished  for  the  maintenance  of  the  liberties  that  had  been 
gained  in  1789,  were  for  the  overthrow  of  the  dynasty,  or  even 
for  universal  suffrage.  In  contrast  with  the  lawyer  Ledru-Rollin, 
who  would  fain  raise  the  banner  of  the  red  republic,  and  the  poet 
Lamartine,  who  indulged  in  indefinite  phrases  about  equality, 
these  two  united  in  opposition  alike  to  the  ministry  and  radical- 
ism. They  wished  to  uphold  the  monarchy  and  ward  off  a  new 
revolution — a  thing  only  to  be  effected  by  electoral  reform. 
Hence  they  several  times  offered  in  the  Chamber  a  motion  re- 
ducing the  qualification  for  suffrage,  raising  the  number  of  dele- 
gates, and  excluding  from  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  all  dependent, 
removable  officials.  Each  time  the  ministers  opposed  the  meas- 
ure, and  a  majority  of  the  Chamber  rejected  it.  So  they  resolved 
to  apply  directly  to  the  people,  and  by  this  means  exert  a  pressure 
on  the  Chambers  and  the  ministers.  This  gave  occasion  to  the 
"Reform  Banquets."  There  members  of  the  opposition  and 
journalists  united  in  a  banquet  with  people  of  all  classes,  in  order, 
in  memory  of  the  revolutions  of  1789  and  1830,  to  advocate  sov- 
ereignty of  the  people,  resistance  to  the  system  of  the  adminis- 
tration, and  proper  care  for  the  working -classes,  and  to  sign  a 
petition  for  electoral  reform.  These  banquets,  the  first  of  which 
was  held  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris,  July  9th,  1847,  found  a  re- 
sponse in  the  whole  country,  and  added  to  the  existing  excitement. 

In  the  Chamber,  which  was  opened  December  28tb,  1847,  there 
were  very  stormy  scenes.  The  speech  from  the  throne  spoke  of 
the  "hostile  and  blind  passions"  of  the  opposition,  and  showed 
as  little  disposition  toward  electoral  reform  on  the  part  of  the 
ministry  as  on  that  of  the  majority  of  the  Chamber.  Hence  the 


LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  CHARLES  X.  185 

opposition  concluded  to  hold  a  Reform  Banquet  in  Paris  itself 
on  the  22d  of  February,  and  made  preparations  in  the  grandest 
style.  They  invited  the  national  guard  to  form  a  double  line 
from  the  Place  Madeleine  to  the  place  chosen  for  the  banquet  in 
the  Champs  Elysees,  unarmed,  but  in  uniform,  nominally  for  the 
preservation  of  order,  but,  in  reality,  in  order  to  win  the  national 
guard  for  reform,  and,  by  the  publicity  of  the  matter,  to  force  it 
on  the  notice  of  the  masses.  But  Count  Duchatel,  minister  of  the 
interior,  forbade  this  exhibition  of  the  national  guard,  and  threat- 
ened military  interference.  Thereupon  the  opposition,  the  more 
moderate  part  of  which  wished  to  avoid  an  armed  collision,  gave 
up  altogether  the  plan  of  the  Reform  Banquet,  and  presented  to 
the  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  a  memorial,  signed  by 
fifty-four  delegates,  calling  for  the  impeachment  of  the  ministry 
for  treason  to  the  principles  of  1830. 

The  populace,  who  had  been  looking  forward  to  a  great  spec- 
tacle, were  ill  pleased  with  this.  Some  did  not  know  that  the 
banquet  was  given  up,  and  assembled  on  the  streets  (February 
22d)  in  crowds,  sung  the  Marseillaise,  and  cried,  "  Hurrah  for  re- 
form !  Down  with  Guizot!"  If  the  king  dismissed  the  ministry 
on  that  day,  called  the  reformer  Odilon  Barrot  to  form  a  minis- 
try, and  made  electoral  reform  his  programme,  his  throne  was  safe. 
But  lie  did  nothing  of  the  sort ;  he  allowed  the  excitement  to  in- 
crease, and  was  only  willing  to  yield  when  it  was  already  too  late. 
"  No  more  concessions  !"  Charles  X.  had  said.  Louis  Philippe 
thought  the  same  thing;  and  when  necessity  at  length  compelled 
him  to  make  them  drop  by  drop,  then  no  more  were  made  to 
him.  It  is  remarkable  how  little  perception  the  otherwise  well- 
informed  king  showed  in  those  February  days — how  little  mem- 
ory he  had  for  the  teachings  of  history,  for  the  events  of  1830, 
to  which  he  was  about  to  contribute  a  companion  piece.  Sup- 
ported by  his  bribed  majority  in  the  Chambers,  he  thought  he 
stood  upon  thoroughly  legal  ground — that  he  might  still  name 
the  constitution  a  reality,  and  sharply  distinguish  his  position 
from  that  of  Charles  in  1830.  There  certainly  was  a  distinction. 
Royal  decrees  and  resolutions  of  the  Chambers  are  not  the  same 
thing.  But  for  the  people  it  was  a  matter  of  complete  indiffer- 
ence whether  the  sovereignty  on  which  it  prided  itself  was  ham- 
pered by  ordinances  of  the  king  or  resolutions  of  the  Chambers. 
Therein  lay  the  short-sightedness  of  the  aged  king. 


186  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 


THIKD   PEEIOD.     1848-1863. 

THE   FEBRUARY   REVOLUTION   AND   ITS   CONSEQUENCES.  —  THE 
SECOND  EMPIRE  AND  ITS  ASCENDENCY  IN  EUROPE. 


THE  FEBRUARY  REVOLUTION,  THE  FRENCH  REPUBLIC,  AND 
THE  EMPIRE. 

THE  leaders  of  the  secret  societies  were  ready  to  strike.  They 
wished  only  to  ascertain  beforehand  how  far  they  could  carry 
the  people  with  them  in  this  matter,  and  which  side  the  national 
guard  would  embrace.  Naturally,  they  left  nothing  untried  to 
incite  and  inflame  the  populace.  One  of  their  men,  Charles  La- 
grange,  who  had  distinguished  himself  before  this  in  the  insur- 
rection at  Lyons,  in  1834,  as  a  skilful  conductor  of  revolutions, 
had  already  carefully  studied  out  the  parts  for  his  corps  de  re- 
vanche. Barricades  were  erected  on  the  22d  of  February,  and 
street  fights  took  place.  On  the  23d  this  street -fighting  had 
assumed  a  more  serious  character,  especially  as  the  national  guard 
not  only  did  not  support  the  regular  troops,  but  even  joined  in 
the  cry  of  "  Down  with  Guizot !"  This  influenced  the  king  to 
dismiss  the  Guizot  ministry,  and  call  Count  Mole,  with  some 
members  of  the  Left  Centre,  to  power.  Although  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mole,  who  did  not  materially  differ  from  Guizot  in  his 
principles  of  government,  was  a  blunder,  and  only  Odilon  Barrot, 
the  leader  of  the  reform  party,  was  then  capable  of  stemming 
the  rising  flood,  yet  Guizot's  dismissal,  which  became  known  on 
the  morning  of  the  23d,  brought  about  a  momentary  suspension 
of  hostilities.  In  the  evening  there  was  a  voluntary  illumination 
of  the  city,  and  peace  seemed  once  more  restored. 

At  ten  o'clock  that  night  the  crowd,  shouting  and  singing, 
were  surging  hither  and  thither  on  the  brilliantly-lighted  boule- 


REVOLUTION  OF  FEBRUARY  TWENTY-FOURTH.    187 

vards.  Lagrange,  with  his  wild  crew,  was  among  them.  A  red 
banner  and  torches  were  borne  in  advance,  and  women  and  chil- 
dren followed  on  behind.  They  broke  the  windows  of  Hebert, 
minister  of  justice.  Then  they  moved  toward  the  ministry  of 
foreign  affairs,  to  pay  their  respects  to  M.  Guizot.  There  stood 
a  guard  of  about  fifty  men.  Suddenly  a  shot  was  fired  from 
among  the  crowd  (it  is  said  that  Lagrange  fired  it  with  careful 
calculation  of  the  results).  The  guard  took  this  for  an  attack, 
and  fired  a  volley  into  the  closely-packed  mass.  There  was  a 
startled  scattering,  but  about  fifty  dead  and  wounded  were  left 
upon  the  square  to  be  carried  off  by  the  more  courageous  of 
their  comrades,  put  on  wagons,  and  drawn  through  the  streets 
with  cries  of  "  Murder !  Treason  !  To  arms !"  The  alarm-bell 
sounded ;  barricades  were  erected  in  all  parts  of  the  city,  and 
thousands  of  armed  men  manned  them. 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th  appeared  a  proclamation,  signed 
by  Odilon  Barrot  and  Thiers  as  the  new  ministers,  announcing 
the  dissolution  of  the  Chamber,  and  the  appointment  of  the  be- 
loved General  Lamoriciere  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  national 
guard.  It  was  -vain.  An  article  in  the  Reforme,  a  radical  sheet, 
said:  "Louis  Philippe  lets  the  people  be  shot  down  as  Charles 
X.  did.  Let  us  send  him  after  his  predecessor!"  The  regular 
troops,  who  had  already  been  thirty-six  consecutive  hours  under 
arms,  and  who  were  not  properly  supplied  with  provisions,  hear- 
ing Marshal  Bugeaud,  Duke  of  Isly,  the  only  man  fit  to  cope 
with  snch  an  insurrection,  named  commander  one  minute,  and 
the  decrepit  Marshal  Gerard  the  next,  remained  for  the  most 
part  inactive  on-lookers  at  the  fury  of  the  volcano,  especially  as, 
in  consequence  of  the  proclamation,  the  order  had  been  given 
them  to  withhold  their  fire.  So  the  crowd  succeeded,  between 
ten  and  eleven  A.M.,  in  taking  the  Palais  Royal,  the  private  prop- 
erty of  the  Orleans  family,  and  destroying  all  the  valuables  there. 
The.guard  stationed  opposite  the  Palais  Royal  refused  to  surren- 
der their  arms,  and  were  massacred.  Then  the  crowd  moved  on 
the  Tuileries. 

There  everything  was  already  in  a  state  of  disorganization. 
Emil  Girardin,  the  editor  of  the  Presse,  entered  unannounced, 
and  asked,  as  the  price  of  the  salvation  of  the  throne,  the  imme- 
diate abdication  of  the  king.  The  queen  opposed  this  most  res- 
olutely, and  others  added  their  words  to  hers,  especially — and  in 


188  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

a  very  offensive  manner — the  Duke  of  Montpcnsier.  Bugeaud, 
who  had  prepared  a  complete  plan  of  attack,  to  the  last  moment, 
urged  a  life  or  death  fight.  At  length  Louis  Philippe  drew  up 
a  declaration  of  abdication  in  favor  of  his  grandson,  the  Count 
of  Paris.  The  news  spread  rapidly  on  all  sides,  but  was  too  late 
to  check  the  storm  of  popular  passion.  When  the  king,  in  civil- 
ian's clothes,  a  round  hat  on  his  head,  gave  his  arm  to  his  wife, 
to  wander  forth  in  his  old  age  from  the  fulness  of  prosperity 
into  the  land  of  banishment,  all,  even  the  soldiers,  were  moved. 
"  This  is  your  work,  sir !  You  have  brought  it  to  this  pass ! 
You  did  not  deserve  to  have  so  good  a  king!"  said  the  queen 
to  Thiers,  comprehending  with  a  true  instinct  that  his  bill  for 
electoral  reform  had  given  the  first  impulse  to  rebellion.  The 
royal  pair,  accompanied  by  the  Duchess  of  Nemours  and  her 
children,  went  on  foot  through  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries  to 
the  Place  de  la,  Concorde,  entered  two  cabs  which  awaited  them 
there,  and  drove  to  St.  Cloud.  There  they  were  soon  joined  by 
their  children,  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  and  Duchess  Clemen- 
tine of  Coburg ;  and  all  proceeded  on  the  same  day,  by  way  of 
Trianon,  to  Castle  Dreux,  where  the  king  hoped  to  be  able  to  rest 
for  a  few  days. 

At  his  command,  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  had  remained  behind 
to  guard  the  interests  of  her  son.  By  Dupin's  advice,  she  wont 
on  foot  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  attended  by  her  two  sons 
and  the  Duke  of  Nemours.  She  had  scarcely  left  the  Tuileries 
when  the  barricaders  pressed  in,  with  the  cry,  "Vive  la  repu- 
blique !"  and  gave  free  course  to  their  rage  of  destruction.  The 
duchess  was  respectfully  received  by  the  deputies,  and  Dupin 
with  timid  voice  called  upon  them  to  proclaim  the  Count  of 
Paris  king,  and  the  duchess  regent.  But,  from  fear  of  the  peo- 
ple, now  pressing  in  in  constantly  increasing  crowds,  the  Cham- 
ber did  not  dare  to  raise  its  voice  for  the  monarchy;  and  even 
Odilon  Barrot's  words,  effectively  calculated  though  they  were — 
"  The  July  monarchy  now  rests  on  the  heads  of  a  woman  and  a 
child" — had  no  effect.  To  prevent  them  from  coming  to  any 
decision,  and  to  produce  a  division  among  the  supporters  of  the 
monarchy,  a  republican  delegate,  Marie,  declared  that,  by  the  law 
adopted  by  the  Chambers,  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  and  not  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans,  was  made  regent;  but  nevertheless,  as  though 
that  were  consistent,  he  moved  the  establishment  of  a  provis- 


OVERTHROW   OF   THE   CHAMBERS.  189 

ional  government.  The  galleries  shouted  their  approbation.  New 
crowds  pressed  in.  Smock-clad,  drunken  men,  who  had  wandered 
into  the  cellars  of  the  Tuileries,  broke  into  the  hall  with  the  force 
of  an  overflowing  stream,  crying,  "  Down  with  the  Bourbons, 
new  and  old  !  Down  with  the  regency !  Down  with  the  bribed 
Chamber !  Down  with  all  traitors !" 

This  was  the  mortal  hour  of  the  July  monarchy ;  in  that  mo- 
ment all  was  lost.  After  Guizot  had  been  overthrown  and  the 
king  forced  to  abdicate,  the  Chamber  might  still  have  rescued 
the  monarchy  by  its  vote,  as  was  the  case  in  1830.  But  then 
the  people  and  the  majority  of  the  Chamber  were  in  harmony ; 
now  they  were  not.  The  Chamber  was  now  regarded  as  acces- 
sory to  the  hated  system  of  administration,  and  in  its  conscious- 
ness of  guilt  dared  do  nothing.  Consequently  it  was  unresist- 
ingly set  aside  by  the  same  popular  power  which  broke  in  pieces 
the  throne  in  the  Tuileries,  and  ceased  to  rule  as  completely  as 
the  king.  From  the  moment  when  those  rough  working-men, 
black  with  powder  and  smoke,  and  drunken  with  the  costly  wines 
from  the  palace  cellar,  broke  into  the  council-hall,  there  was  no 
longer  monarchy  or  Chamber;  the  claims  of  the  Count  of  Paris 
were  no  more  regarded  than  those  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  in 
the  July  days  of  1830.  Most  of  the  delegates  fled  precipitately. 
The  duchess  with  her  children  had  to  break  a  way  through  the 
terrible  crowd.  Several  times  she  was  almost  suffocated ;  her 
children  were  torn  from  her;  and  she  herself  finally  escaped  into 
the  garden,  and  thence  into  the  neighboring  house  of  President 
Sauzet,  only  by  the  self-sacrifice  of  her  attendants.  She  was  in 
despair  at  the  loss  of  her  children.  The  Count  of  Paris  soon  re- 
appeared, after  having  been  rescued  from  the  dangerous  embrace 
of  a  murderous  ruffian.  The  recovery  of  the  younger  son,  the 
seven-year-old  Duke  of  Chartres,  was  not  effected  without  costing 
the  luckless  widow  an  anxious  night  and  an  anxious  day.  The 
poor  child  came  near  being  crushed  and  trampled  underfoot  in 
the  crowd.  He  was  finally  rescued  by  a  door -keeper  of  the 
Chamber,  and  was  brought  to  his  mother  the  next  day  at  the 
castle  Ligny,  whither  she  had  gone.  Soon  after  she  journeyed 
with  her  children  to  Germany  by  way  of  Belgium.  The  Duke 
of  Nemours  had  taken  refuge  in  an  out-house.  Aware  of  his  un- 
popularity, he  thought  it  prudent  to  effect  his  escape  disguised  as 
a  soldier  of  the  national  guard. 


190  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

When  Louis  Philippe  learned,  on  the  morning  of  February  25th, 
that  the  republic  had  been  proclaimed  in  Paris,  he  esteemed  it  no 
longer  safe  to  linger  at  Dreux.  While  the  other  members  of  the 
family  sought  to  reach  their  future  asylum  in  other  ways,  the  king 
and  queen,  with  borrowed  money  and  a  false  pass,  made  for  the 
coast  of  Normandy  in  order  to  cross  to  England  on  a  fishing- 
smack.  The  stormy  weather  forbade  this,  and  the  king  had  to 
make  up  his  mind  to  a  journey  to  Havre,  spite  of  the  danger  of 
being  recognized.  But  as  few  difficulties  were  thrown  in  the  way 
of  his  departure  as  formerly  in  that  of  Charles  X.  He  embarked 
on  the  English  packet  in  Havre  and  landed  safely  in  England, 
where  the  other  members  of  his  family  shortly  joined  him,  the 
Prince  of  Joinville  and  the  Duke  d'Aumale  being  the  last.  The 
former  of  these  was  in  command  of  the  fleet  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean; the  latter,  as  governor  of  Algeria,  was  at  the  head  of  100,- 
000  men.  The  provisional  government  felt  some  uneasiness  at 
the  outset  in  view  of  the  great  power  of  the  two  princes,  but,  af- 
ter all  France  had  followed  the  example  of  the  capital  and  declared 
for  the  republic,  a  restoration  from  Algeria  was  no  longer  to  be 
thought  of.  The  princes  laid  down  their  commands,  and  travelled 
to  England  by  way  of  Gibraltar.  There  the  royal  family  took  up 
its  abode  at  Clarcmont,  the  property  of  Leopold  of  Belgium,  the 
king's  son-in-law,  and  there  Louis  Philippe  died,  August  26th, 
1850,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  Guizot  and  the  other  min- 
isters also  succeeded  in  making  good  their  escape  into  foreign 
parts. 

It  was  the  Republicans  and  the  Socialists  who  by  a  daring  coup- 
de-main  had  overturned  the  July  monarchy,  which  the  most  intel- 
ligent opponents  of  the  Guizot  system  wished  to  maintain.  But 
since  intelligence  seldom  throws  itself  behind  barricades,  so  now 
the  men  of  the  barricades  overrode  it  and  for  a  time  had  their 
own  way.  The  matter  was  settled  when  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
allowed  itself  to  be  surprised.  After  the  flight  of  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  matters  there  took  the  most  extravagant  turn.  A  butch- 
er's employe  strode  gravely  up  and  down  in  the  middle  of  the 
hall,  a  bloody  apron  on,  and  a  butcher's  knife  in  his  hand.  One 
"  smock-man  "  levelled  his  gun  at  the  president,  another  at  Lamar- 
tine.  To  seem  to  stand  above  the  mass  was  a  criminal  offence. 
The  old  republican,  Dupont  de  1'Eure,  took  the  chair,  and  finally 
succeeded  in  bringing  about  some  sort  of  order.  The  difficult 


A  PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT  ESTABLISHED.  191 

problem  of  forming  a  provisional  government  was  solved  by  La- 
martine.  He  caused  all  present — delegates,  members  of  the  na- 
tional guard,  students,  and  "  smock-men  " — to  write  down  the  per- 
sons of  their  choice.  He  received  these  ballots,  and  after  some 
consideration  drew  up  from  them  a  list.  This  he  handed  to  Du- 
pont,  who  read  it  aloud  amid  universal  applause.  The  names  were 
Dupont  de  1'Eure,  Lamartine,  Arago,  Marie,  Garnier-Pages,  Ledru 
Rollin,  and  Cremieux.  This  provisional  government  hastened  to 
declare  its  entrance  into  office  by  taking  possession  of  the  city  hall. 
It  was  high  time,  for  after  the  seven  provisional  rulers,  attended 
by  a  few  hundred  armed  men,  had  forced  their  way  through  the 
countless  mass  of  people  filling  the  city  hall  and  its  environs  and 
found  accommodation  in  a  small  room,  they  learned  that  a  pro- 
visional government  had  likewise  been  set  up  in  the  editorial 
rooms  of  the  two  papers  Reforme  and  National.  In  this  govern- 
ment were  the  same  names  as  on  Lamartine's  list,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  five  more.  This  difficulty  was  settled  by  accepting  these 
five  as  secretaries  of  the  provisional  government.  But  only  one 
of  them,  Pagnerre,  the  leading  publisher  of  Republican  writings, 
was  content  with  this  subordinate  position ;  the  others — Flocon 
and  Armand  Marrast,  editors  of  the  above-mentioned  journals, 
Louis  Blanc,  the  spokesman  of  socialism,  and  Albert,  who  as  a 
locksmith's  hand  was  a  representative  of  the  laboring  classes — 
soon  rose  from  the  position  of  mere  consulting  members  to  that 
of  voting  ones. 

The  new  government  had  scarcely  been  installed,  with  Dupont 
as  president  (February  25th),  when  about  30,000  armed  men  sur- 
rounded the  city  hall,  and  the  government  was  in  danger  of  being 
overturned  by  the  red  republic.  As  the  third  estate  had  acquired 
the  sovereignty  in  1789,  so  now  the  fourth  estate  sought  to  grasp 
the  reins.'  The  crowd,  misguided  by  socialistic  and  communistic 
twaddle,  cried,  "Hurrah  for  the  democratic  and  socialistic  repub- 
lic !"  and  one  of  their  number,  a  factory  hand,  made  his  way  into 
the  council  chamber  of  the  provisional  government,  struck  the 
stock  of  his  loaded  gun  against  the  floor  with  such  force  that 
the  whole  room  shook,  and  demanded,  in  the  name  of  the  people, 
the  introduction  of  the  system  of  community  of  property,  the  in- 
stitution of  a  proletarian  government,  and  the  adoption  of  the  red 
flag  and  cockade  instead  of  the  tri-color.  That  the  February  rev- 
olution did  not  result  in  the  rule  of  the  masses  is  to  be  attributed 


192  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

principally  to  Lamartine,  who  during  this  period,  in  addition  to 
an  irresistible,  popular  eloquence,  displayed  admirable  presence 
of  mind,  and  utter  fearlessness  of  death.  The  first  decree  of  the 
government  contained  a  ratification  of  the  republic,  and  was  sol- 
emnly published  at  the  Place  de  la  Bastille,  February  27th,  in 
presence  of  hundreds  of  thousands.  The  streets  of  Paris  gradu- 
ally resumed  their  wonted  appearance,  even  before  the  ruins  of 
the  burnt  and  plundered  palace  of  Neuilly  had  ceased  to  smoke. 
At  this  latter  auto-da-fe  several  plunderers  in  the  cellars,  quite 
too  forgetful  of  self,  shared  the  fate  of  the  building. 

With  such  unruly  elements,  the  task  of  the  government  was 
one  of  enormous  difficulty.  With  its  recognition  of  the  so-called 
"right  to  labor,"  it  had  assumed  the  duty  of  "guaranteeing  the 
support  of  the  workman  by  work,"  and  all  who  had  no  work, 
as  well  as  those  who  wished  none,  now  called  upon  the  govern- 
ment to  support  them,  as  though  they  were  government  officials. 
Naturally,  in  those  unsettled  times  all  trade  and  industry  stood 
still,  while  at  the  same  time  the  influx  into  Paris,  and  conse- 
quently the  number  of  breadlcss  workmen  there,  increased  greatly. 
This  led  to  the  establishment  of  national  workshops,  in  which 
all  were  offered  work  and  wages  by  the  state.  These  works, 
in  which  about  100,000  persons,  among  them  even  scholars  and 
artists,  were  engaged,  were  confined  to  useless  excavations  and  the 
like  in  Paris  and  a  few  other  cities,  and  finally  developed  into 
complete  idleness.  If  this  state  of  affairs  were  to  last  a  couple  of 
months,  financial  and  moral  bankruptcy  would  be  not  merely  im- 
minent, but  actually  present.  The  condition  of  the  treasury  was 
in  any  case  desperate  enough,  so  that  the  minister  of  finance 
found  himself  obliged  to  raise  the  direct  taxes  forty-five  per 
cent.,  a  measure  which  markedly  diminished  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  country  people  for  a  republic.  And  yet  the  fourth  estate 
believed  that  the  state  was  nothing  but  an  experimental  machine 
for  eccentric  and  crack-brained  communists.  In  the  Luxembourg 
palace,  where  the  Chamber  of  Peers  had  lately  burnt  its  incense 
before  the  encroaching  monarchy,  a  "  Working-men's  Parliament" 
was  in  session,  with  the  "apostle"  Louis  Blanc  as  president.  This 
body,  consisting  chiefly  of  journeymen  mechanics  and  day -labor- 
ers, debated  the  question  of  national  economy — how  with  less 
work  a  man  is  to  secure  a  larger  income.  The  watchwords  liberte, 
eyalite,  fraternite  were  here  the  order  of  the  day,  and  one  had  to 


SOCIAL  DEMOCRATS.  193 

be  prepared  at  any  moment  to  see  the  baldest  and  crudest  com- 
munism converted  from  theory  into  practice.  The  democratic  Press 
and  the  political  clubs  likewise  urged  the  people  on.  A  crowd  of 
new  papers  had  sprung  up,  and  several  hundred  political  clubs  had 
been  organized.  Not  merely  the  old  revolutionists,  like  Barbes, 
Blanqui,  Cabct,  Raspail,  and  the  like,  but  also  others  not  so  well 
known,  sought  to  gather  their  little  parliaments  about  them.  They 
were  the  sworn  foes  of  all  civil  order,  and  as  such  made  several 
attempts  to  overthrow  the  Provisional  Government  and  defer  the 
elections  for  the  National  Assembly,  which  had  been  fixed  for  the 
month  of  April.  They  well  understood  that  they  would  not  have 
the  majority  in  this  assembly,  and  that  it  would  be  far  more  diffi- 
cult to  set  this  aside,  inasmuch  as  it  would  be  the  expression  of 
the  popular  will.  But  neither  on  March  16th  nor  on  April  16th 
did  the  Social  Democrats,  as  the  united  ultra-republicans  and  so- 
cialists named  themselves,  succeed  in  carrying  out  their  purpose, 
notwithstanding  the  enormous  crowds  they  brought  together. 
The  newly-formed  garde  mobile  and  the  national  guard,  thanks 
to  Lamartine's  firmness,  carried  the  day. 

The  fateful  elections  to  the  National  Assembly  approached. 
By  a  decree  of  the  Provisional  Government  each  Frenchman  who 
had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one  was  entitled  to  vote,  and  any 
Frenchman  over  twenty-five  was  eligible  for  election.  The  num- 
ber of  the  delegates  was  fixed  at  900,  one  for  each  40,000  of  the 
population.  The  result  of  the  elections  was  an  overwhelming  de- 
feat of  the  Social  Democrats.  The  sittings  began  May  4th,  and 
the  republic,  first  proclaimed  February  24th,  was  once  more  pro- 
nounced the  permanent  form  of  government.  The  resignation  of 
the  Provisional  Government  was  accepted,  and  an  account  of  its 
doings  rendered.  The  proposition  to  commit  the  executive  power 
provisionally  into  the  hands  of  one  man,  the  popular  Lamartine, 
who  had  been  elected  in  ten  electoral  districts  and  had  received 
in  all  over  2,000,000  votes,  was  rejected  by  Lamartine  himself, 
from  fear  of  the  strong  measures  necessary  to  hold  down  the  in- 
subordinate opposition.  Hence  (Mav  10th)  the  National  Assem 
bly  elected  an  executive  commission  consisting  of  five  members. 
Their  choice  fell  on  Arago,  Gamier-Pages,  Marie,  Lamartine,  and 
Ledru-Rollin,  and  these  five  were  to  conduct  the  government  by  a 
responsible  ministry  until  the  constitution  about  to  be  discussed 
was  completed.  Arago,  as  the  one  first  chosen,  presided  over  the 

9 


194  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

Executive  Commission.  The  nomination  most  important  in  its 
consequences  was  that  of  Cavaignac  as  minister  of  war. 

In  opposition  to  the  political  order  thus  being  restored,  the  clubs 
resolved  to  overthrow  the  National  Assembly  and  the  Executive 
Commission,  and  set  up  a  Social-democratic  dictatorship.  The 
presentation  of  a  monster  petition  for  the  re-establishment  of  a 
free  and  independent  Poland  formed  the  pretext  under  which,  on 
May  15th,  a  crowd  of  100,000  persons,  under  the  leadership  of 
Blanqui,  Raspail,  Sobrier,  and  tluber,  gathered  on  the  Place  de  la 
Bastille  and  marched  against  the  palace  of  the  National  Assem- 
bly. Drunken  men  with  savage,  murderous  faces  crowded  into 
the  hall.  All  was  wild  confusion.  Huber,  "  in  the  name  of  the 
people  deceived  by  its  own  representatives,"  declared  the  Assem- 
bly dissolved.  Its  members  left  the  hall,  and  the  victorious  revolt 
established  a  new  government.  The  news  of  the  approach  of 
troops  disturbed  them  in  their  work,  and  they  repaired  with  all 
speed  to  the  city  hall,  formed  a  government  under  Louis  Blanc, 
Bianqui,  Ledru-Rollin,  Raspail,  Proudhon,  Albert,  and  five  others, 
and  drew  up  a  declaration  of  war  on  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia, 
in  case  they  should  oppose  the  restoration  of  Poland.  But,  owing 
to  Lamartine's  energy,  the  national  guard  was  quickly  called  out, 
the  city  hall  retaken,  and  Blanqui,  Raspail,  and  their  fellow-con- 
spirators were  sent  as  prisoners  to  Vincennes.  In  order  to  be 
prepared  for  similar  risings,  the  garrison  of  Paris  was  raised  to 
55,000  men,  and  these  were  placed  under  the  command  of  the 
new  minister  of  war,  Cavaignac,  who  had  been  summoned  back 
from  Algeria. 

The  supplementary  elections,  which  took  place  early  in  June, 
brought  new  and  important  members  into  the  National  Assembly, 
such  as  Thiers,  Changarnier,  and  Victor  Hugo.  But  all  these 
names  were  outweighed  by  one  which  was  already  setting  all 
France  in  commotion — the  name  of  Louis  Napoleon.  Elected  a 
delegate  in  Paris  and  three  other  electoral  districts,  he  was  ready 
to  follow  France's  call ;  but  the  Executive  Commission,  mindful 
that  his  attempts  at  Strasburg  and  Boulogne  qualified  him  less  for 
a  deputy  than  for  a  pretender,  moved  that  the  decree  of  banish- 
ment issued  against  the  Napoleonids  in  1832  be  enforced  against 
Louis  Napoleon.  The  National  Assembly,  however,  which  had 
already  consented  to  the  admission  of  his  cousins,  the  sons  of 
Jerome  and  Lucien,  declared  his  election  valid.  Fur  the  present, 


CAVAIGNAC  PUTS  DOWN  THE  JUNE  INSURRECTION.     195 

after  he  had  recognized  the  government  by  a  brief  visit  in  Paris, 
he  continued  to  reside  in  England,  observing  the  development  of 
affairs  from  a  distance. 

The  question  of  the  national  workshops  was  the  first  which 
demanded  solution.  The  number  of  workmen  enrolled  had  risen 
to  117,000,  each  one  of  whom  received  two  francs  daily.  Their 
complete  suppression  had  to  be  preceded  by  a  few  preparatory 
measures,  such  as  the  order  that  the  work  should  be  paid  by 
the  job,  and  that  a  part  of  the  workmen  should  be  removed  from 
Paris  and  employed  in  remote  provinces.  The  Social  Democrats, 
perceiving  the  tendency  of  these  measures,  armed  themselves  for 
a  life  or  death  struggle.  But  the  government  was  also  armed. 
Cavaignac  had  prepared  a  regular  plan  of  campaign  for  these 
street  fights.  The  battle,  for  which  the  rebels  mustered  40,000 
men,  began  on  June  23d,  at  the  gate  of  St.  Denis,  with  an  attack 
on  the  national  guard.  On  the  24th  it  had  assumed  so  serious  a 
character  that  the  National  Assembly  decided  to  declare  Paris  in 
a  state  of  siege,  and  to  intrust  General  Cavaignac  with  dictatorial 
power.  The  battle  raged  until  the  26th,  and  more  than  10,000 
persons  were  killed.  Notwithstanding  his  character  as  the  bearer 
of  terms,  General  Brea  was  shamefully  murdered  by  the  insur- 
gents; and  Archbishop  Affre,  who  addressed  them  with  words  of 
conciliation,  was  mortally  wounded.  With  the  bombardment  of 
the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  the  victory  of  the  party  of  order  was 
assured.  It  was  the  fiercest  street  fight  which  Paris  had  ever 
seen.  From  12,000  to  14,000  of  the  rebels  were  taken  prisoners, 
and  those  who  were  convicted  of  participation  were  condemned 
to  transportation  to  a  transatlantic  colony,  while  the  leaders  were 
referred  to  a  court-martial. 

On  July  28th,  after  the  retirement  of  the  Executive  Commis- 
sion, the  National  Assembly  made  General  Cavaignac  chief  of 
the  executive  and  president  of  the  cabinet,  as  a  token  of  grati- 
tude for  the  rescue  of  the  country.  He  at  once  formed  a  new 
ministry,  and  named  General  Changarnier  commander -in -chief 
of  the  Parisian  national  guard.  It  was  natural  that,  after  those 
bloody  June  days,  a  reaction  against  the  wild  outgrowths  of  the 
revolution  should  set  in.  The  national  workshops  were  closed, 
the  most  unruly  clubs  and  papers  suppressed,  and  the  state  of 
siege  protracted.  The  majority  of  the  National  Assembly  was 
in  favor  of  a  strong  government,  and  supported  Cavaignac.  In 


196  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

November  the  debates  on  the  new  constitution  reached  a  conclu- 
sion. The  last  question  was  whether  the  election  of  the  presi- 
dent should  proceed  from  the  National  Assembly  or  directly  from 
the  people.  The  latter  plan  was  adopted,  although  the  poet  Felix 
Pyat  foretold  the  results  of  such  an  election  in  the  most  forcible 
manner.  November  12th  the  new  constitution  was  solemnly  pro 
raulgated  on  the  Place  de  la  Concorde.  The  presidential  election 
was  to  take  place  on  the  10th  of  December.  Louis  Napoleon 
bad  appeared  in  the  National  Assembly  for  the  first  time  on  Sep- 
tember 26th,  and  had  made  no  very  marked  impression,  either 
by  his  personal  appearance  or  by  the  explanation  which  he  then 
read.  Bis  friends  pressed  his  claims  for  the  presidency  with  all 
their  power,  and  befooled  the  country  people  with  the  notion 
that,  as  president,  the  emperor's  nephew  would  pay  back,  out  of 
his  own  pocket,  the  forty -five  per  cent,  increase  on  the  land- 
tax.  This  proved  extraordinarily  effective,  although,  in  reality, 
the  nephew's  pockets  were  full  of  nothing  but  bills.  The  coun- 
try population,  which  hated  the  February  revolution,  the  repub- 
lic, and  everything  belonging  to  them,  had  the  decision ;  and 
hence,  in  the  presidential  contest  between  Cavaignac  and  Louis 
Napoleon,  the  latter  came  out  victor.  Of  7,300,000  votes  which 
were  cast  he  received  5,430,000,  and  Cavaignac  only  1,448,000; 
while  the  remainder  were  divided  between  Ledru-Rollin,  Raspail, 
Lamartine,  and  Changarnier.  The  word  "  Napoleon  "  was  still 
all-powerful  among  the  masses ;  and  there  were,  further,  many 
who  voted  for  him  and  against  Cavaignac,  because  the  latter' s 
energetic  suppression  of  the  June  revolt  held  out  the  prospect 
of  a  too  rigid  rule;  while  they  regarded  Napoleon  as  weak  and 
incapable,  and  hoped  to  be  able  to  use  him  for  their  party  pur- 
poses. This  singular  judgment,  for  which  a  few  eccentricities 
had,  perhaps,  furnished  the  occasion,  might  at  that  time  have 
been  heard  almost  anywhere  in  France  and  Switzerland.  The 
disillusion  was  soon  to  follow. 

December  20th  Cavaignac  laid  down  his  office,  and  Louis  Na- 
poleon was  proclaimed  president,  and  took  the  oath.  He  swore 
to  remain  true  to  the  one  and  indivisible  democratic  republic, 
and  then  added,  "  My  duties  are  prescribed  for  me,  and  I  will 
fulfil  them  as  a  man  of  honor."  At  the  conclusion  of  his  ad- 
dress he  went  up  to  Cavaignac  (who  had  resumed  his  place  as 
delegate),  seized  his  hand,  and  said,  "  General,  I  am  proud  to  be 


LOUIS  NAPOLEON   PRESIDENT.  197 

the  successor  of  such  a  man  as  you."  Cavaignac  mutely  thanked 
him  by  a  bow.  Accompanied  by  several  officials  of  the  National 
Assembly  and  numerous  officers,  he  repaired  to  the  Palace  Elysee 
Bourbon,  which  had  been  assigned  him,  and  was  there  received 
by  his  kinsmen  and  partisans,  who  already  saw  in  him  their 
sovereign. 

The  constituant  assembly  expired  May  26th,  1849,  and  on 
May  28th  the  legislative  assembly  began  its  sessions.  Here  the 
Legitimists  and  Orlcanists  had  the  majority :  the  republic  was 
already  almost  a  thing  of  the  past — a  fact  which  worked  princi- 
pally to  the  advantage  of  the  president.  The  inherent  hostility 
between  him  and  the  representatives  of  the  people  became  each 
day  more  irreconcilable.  From  the  Social  Democrats  there  was 
hardly  anything  more  to  be  feared.  Their  outbreak  of  June 
13th,  on  occasion  of  Ledru-Rollin's  motion  to  impeach  the  pres- 
ident and  his  ministers  because  of  the  expedition  against  the 
Roman  republic — a  motion  which  fell  through  in  the  Assembly 
— was  quickly  and  without  much  trouble  suppressed  by  General 
Changarnier,  comraander-in-chief  of  the  national  guard  and  reg- 
ular troops  in  Paris.  Ledru-Rollin  had  to  flee ;  Paris  was  de- 
clared in  a  state  of  siege,  Social-democratic  papers  forbidden,  and 
all  political  associations,  with  the  exception  of  electoral  assem- 
blies, prohibited.  By  these  constant  limitations  of  the  popular 
rights,  and  by  the  petty  party  quarrels  of  the  various  coteries 
which  were  aiming  at  such  different  results,  the  representatives 
of  the  nation  lost  popularity  and  respect  among  the  people.  The 
"Prince  President"  made  use  of  the  popular  mood,  and  repre- 
sented himself  on  all  occasions  as  the  one  from  whom  the  coun- 
try, if  it  would  only  let  him  rule  alone,  might  expect  the  fulness 
of  fortune's  horn.  Most  of  the  June  prisoners  were  pardoned  by 
him ;  frequent  tours  were  made  in  the  provinces,  and  occasion 
found  to  say  constantly  more  and  more  about  the  great  uncle  and 
the  splendor  of  the  old  empire.  When  opportunity  offered  the 
taciturn  man  allowed  even  his  most  secret  wishes  to  shine  through. 
So,  in  Lyons,  in  the  fall  of  1851,  on  occasion  of  receiving  the  re- 
spects of  the  well-to-do  classes,  he  condescended  to  explain  that 
"he  was  ready  to  carry  out  the  popular  will,  whether  it  bade  him 
to  resign  or  persevere."  In  Normandy  he  expressed  himself  still 
more  definitely,  and  referred  to  the  great  blunders  of  the  consti- 
tution, as  the  greatest  of  which  he  regarded  Article  45,  whereby 


198  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

the  presidential  term  was  limited  to  four  years,  while  the  retiring 
president  could  not  be  chosen  again  until  after  an  intervening 
period  of  four  years. 

This  provision  thwarted  Napoleon's  ambitious  aspirations; 
hence  he  instigated  a  rain  of  petitions  for  a  revision  of  the  con- 
stitution. For  such  a  change  a  majority  of  three-fourths  of  the 
National  Assembly  was  legally  necessary,  and  that  majority  was 
not  to  be  had.  The  matter  was  brought  before  the  general  coun- 
cils of  the  departments,  and  eighty  out  of  eighty-five  declared  in 
favor  of  revision.  The  breach  grew  ever  more  serious.  Every 
one  felt  that  a  dictatorship  of  some  sort  was  imminent;  the  ques- 
tion was,  who  was  the  dictator  to  be?  As  the  popular  representa- 
tives and  their  followers  were  hopelessly  split  up — some  inclining 
toward  Count  Chambord  (Duke  of  Bordeaux),  others  toward  the 
Prince  of  Joinville,  or  Changarnier,  while  the  Socialists  leaned 
toward  Carnot — Napoleon  had  an  easy  game,  provided  he  did  not 
shrink  from  extreme  measures,  which  was  by  no  means  his  weak 
side.  His  principle  was  to  persuade  as  many  as  possible,  and 
compel  the  rest.  He  endeavored  to  win  the  officers  and  soldiers 
by  banquets  with  unlimited  wine  and  cigars.  He  took  away  from 
the  incorruptible  Changarnier  the  command  of  the  troops  in  Paris. 
By  frequent  changes  of  ministry  he  had  discredited  the  most  fa- 
mous names,  and  beginning  with  Odillon  Barrot,  as  president  of 
the  cabinet,  had  ended  with  his  trusty  St.  Arnaud  as  minister  of 
war.  The  next  step  in  the  plan  was  to  secure  continuance  in 
office,  notwithstanding  Article  45,  by  a  new  popular  election,  for 
it  was  thought  that  the  outspoken  will  of  the  people  would  have 
more  force  than  a  paragraph  on  paper.  For  this  purpose  the 
president  caused  a  bill  to  be  brought  forward  for  the  restoration 
of  universal  suffrage,  which  had  been  somewhat  limited  by  a  law 
of  May  31st,  1850.  The  National  Assembly  rejected  the  bill,  and, 
in  expectation  of  an  approaching  struggle,  sought  to  take  from 
the  hands  of  the  minister  of  war  the  disposition  of  the  armed 
forces.  But  this  measure  fell  through,  owing  to  the  opposition 
of  la  Montayne  (the  extreme  party),  which  was  exasperated  by  the 
limitation  of  the  suffrage,  and  so  the  National  Assembly  was  left 
a  defenceless  prey  for  the  next  energetic  coup-de-main.  There 
were  not  wanting  sagacious  and  bold  men  who  gave  good  counsel 
— not  to  wait  and  let  themselves  be  sent  to  Vincennes  by  the  prince 
president,  but  to  seize  him  in  his  palace,  the  Elysee  Bourbon,  and 


THE  COUP  D'ETAT  OF  DECEMBER  SECOND,  1851.        199 

secure  him  in  Vincennes  behind  bolts  and  bars.  But  it  required 
more  courage  and  military  strength  to  carry  this  out  than  the 
Orleanist  party  possessed,  and  so  there  was  only  the  other  alterna- 
tive left. 

Only  a  few  persons  were  admitted  into  the  secret — St.  Arnaud, 
minister  of  war;  Count  Morny,  a  delegate  to  the  Assembly  and  a 
natural  brother  of  Napoleon  (son  of  ex-queen  Hortense  and  the 
imperial  adjutant,  Count  Flahaut) ;  Maupas,  prefect  of  police;  and, 
as  far  as  was  necessary,  General  Magnan,  commander  of  the  first 
military  division.  Napoleon  had  perfected  the  whole  plan  with  a 
quondam  non-commissioned  officer,  Persigny,  who  in  Strasburg 
and  Boulogne  had  already  shown  himself  his  most  resolute  adhe- 
rent. December  2d,  1851,  the  anniversary  of  the  coronation  of 
Napoleon  I.  and  of  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  was  chosen  for  the 
coup-d'etat.  On  the  previous  evening  there  was  a  brilliant  gath- 
ering in  the  Elysee.  The  president  was  very  cheerful,  and  on 
taking  leave  asked  his  cousin,  the  Princess  Mathilde  (daughter  of 
the  ex-king  Jerome,  and  divorced  wife  of  the  Russian  Count  Demi- 
doff),  for  a  friendly  token,  in  case  they  should  not  meet  again. 
Morny  is  said  to  have  shown  far  more  courage  and  determination 
than  Napoleon  in  the  matter  of  the  coup-d'etat,  and  to  have  been, 
in  fact,  the  leading  spirit. 

After  the  company  had  separated  at  midnight  the  prefect  of 
police,  under  pretext  of  a  Social-democratic  conspiracy,  arrested 
about  100  persons,  members  of  the  National  Assembly,  chiefs 
of  the  secret  societies,  and  popular  leaders  from  the  faubourgs. 
Among  those  apprehended  were  generals  Changarnier,  Cavaignac, 
Larnoriciere,  and  Bedeau,  as  well  as  Colonel  Charras,  Thiers,  and 
Lagrange.  Simultaneously  the  most  important  points  in  the  city 
were  occupied  by  troops,  and  several  decrees  were  posted.  These 
informed  the  people  of  the  dissolution  of  the  council  of  state  and 
the  National  Assembly,  announcing  that  the  latter  had  come  to 
be  a  mere  nest  of  conspirators,  and  that  it  was  forging  weapons 
for  a  civil  war.  The  decrees  also  announced  the  restoration  of 
universal  suffrage,  and  the  suspension  of  the  state  of  siege  over 
Paris  and  ten  neighboring  departments,  and  summoned  primary 
assemblies  of  the  French  people  to  vote  on  the  principles  of  the 
new  constitution.  These  principles  were  to  be  a  presidential  term 
of  ten  years,  exclusive  dependence  of  the  ministers  on  the  head  of 
the  state,  the  elaboration  of  legislative  measures  by  the  council  of 


200  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

state,  and  the  establishment  of  a  senate  and  a  legislative  body.  It 
was  a  faithful  copy  of  the  consular  constitution  of  1799. 

On  the  morning  of  December  2d  the  Parisians  read  these  de- 

j  o 

crees,  signed  by  Morny,  as  minister  of  the  interior,  and  learned 
that  a  new  government  had  been  set  up  overnight,  and  that  they 
were  now  nearer  the  empire  than  the  republic.  The  general  im- 
pression was  more  one  of  astonishment  than  indignation,  but 
with  a  great  part  of  the  delegates  to  the  National  Assembly  the 
latter  feeling  naturally  predominated.  As  the  place  where  they 
held  their  regular  sittings  was  guarded  by  troops,  about  200  of 
them  assembled  in  the  mairie  of  the  tenth  district,  deposed  the 
president,  declared  that  the  executive  power  had  passed  over  to 
the  National  Assembly,  and  named  General  Oudinot  commander 
of  the  military  force  in  Paris.  They  were  soon  enabled  to  per- 
ceive how  ineffective  their  decrees  were.  The  police  ordered 
them  to  disperse,  and  on  their  declaration  that  they  would  yield 
only  to  force  they  were  seized  and  carried  off  in  the  wagons  of 
the  galley  prisoners  to  various  jails  and  forts.  AH  newspapers 
were  subjected  to  censorship,  and  several  were  totally  suppressed. 
The  barricaders  of  December  3d  and  4th  were  mercilessly  mowed 
down  by  a  force,  of  80,000  soldiers,  and  the  casemates  of  the 
Parisian  forts  were  filled  with  several  hundred  prisoners.  Most 
of  these,  by  virtue  of  a  "  general  measure  of  safety,"  were  trans- 
ported to  Cayenne  or  Algeria.  Of  the  delegates  arrested  on  the 
2d  of  December  the  majority  were  set  free,  but  about  eighty  of 
them — among  whom  were  Thiers,  Victor  Hugo,  Changamier,  Ca- 
vaignac,  Lamoriciere,  and  Bedeau — were  banished  from  the  coun- 
try. How  the  country  took  the  coup-d"1  etat  was  shown  by  the 
plebiscite  of  December  20th  and  21st,  when  seven  and  a  half 
million  votes  were  cast  in  favor  of  prolonging  the  president's 
term  to  ten  years,  and  650,000  against  it.  Louis  Napoleon  now 
left  the  Elysec  Bourbon  and  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  Tuile- 
rics.  January  14th  he  promulgated,  the  new  constitution,  and 
in  a  decree  of  January  22d  he  announced  the  confiscation  of  all 
those  possessions  of  the  Orleans  family  which  Louis  Philippe,  on 
ascending  the  throne,  had  made  over  to  his  children,  instead  of 
uniting  them,  according  to  ancient  custom,  with  the  public  do- 
main. Even  Moray  disapproved  of  this  measure,  and  laid  down 
his  office  as  minister  of  the  interior,  to  be  succeeded  by  Persigny. 
On  March  29th  the  senate  and  the  legislative  body,  to  which 


THE  NEW  EMPIRE  UNDER  NAPOLEON  III.  201 

scarcely  any  but  Bonapartists  had  been  elected,  were  opened,  and 
the  coup-d'etat  was  justified  by  the  necessity  of  a  "  rescuing  act." 
The  sole  activity  of  the  senate  consisted  in  the  increase  of  the 
salary  of  the  prince  president  to  twelve  million  francs.  The  leg- 
islative body  had  to  regulate  the  budget,  and  accepted  with  due 
submissiveness  the  propositions  of  the  government.  In  order  to 
win  over  the  working-classes,  eighty  million  francs  were  appro- 
priated for  public  works ;  and  in  the  year  1852  began  the  execu- 
tion of  those  magnificent  works  which  were  intended  to  make 
Paris  the  finest  city  in  the  world,  to  give  the  working-classes  a 
rich  harvest,  and  to  lessen  the  possibility  of  barricade  fights. 

On  a  new  tour  through  France  Napoleon  met  with  an  enthu- 
siastic reception  everywhere,  and  was  openly  invited,  especially 
among  the  country  people,  to  go  one  step  farther.  "  Vive  1'Em- 
pereur!"  was  a  cry  frequently  heard,  and  one  for  which  he  had 
ardently  longed.  He  caused  it  to  appear  as  though  he  were  not 
striving  after  this  new  dignity,  but  would  not  refuse  to  take  it,  if 
such  were  France's  earnest  wish.  But  there  was  one  serious  dif- 
ficulty— that  at  home,  and  still  more  abroad,  no  one  could  think 
of  the  empire  without  war  and  conquests.  To  allay  these  qualms 
Napoleon  said  at  a  banquet  at  Bordeaux  :  "  France  seems  to  wish 
to  return  to  the  empire.  Many  think  that  the  empire  is  war.  No, 
gentlemen,  the  empire  is  peace."  The  general  councils  again  re- 
ceived a  hint  to  send  in  to  the  senate  petitions  for  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  empire.  A  few  maires  were  impatient  enough,  with- 
out waiting  for  anything  further,  to  proclaim  the  empire  in  their 
districts  on  their  own  responsibility.  The  senate,  which  was 
called  together  November  4th,  accepted  the  proposed  change  of 
constitution  and  voted  the  restoration  of  the  empire  on  the  7th. 
The  people  confirmed  this  senatus  consultum  November  21st  and 
22d  with  7,800,000  votes  against  253,000,  and  on  December  2d, 
1852,  the  anniversary  of  the  coup-d'etat,  Napoleon  III.  was  pro- 
claimed "  Emperor  of  the  French  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  will 
of  the  people."  The  foreign  powers,  who  had  welcomed  the  coup- 
d'etot  as  a  safeguard  against  the  revolution,  were  not  so  well  pleased 
with  the  new  empire ;  but,  their  wishes  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing, there  was  nothing  for  them  to  do  but  to  recognize  it. 
The  three  Eastern  powers  delayed  the  longest ;  and,  as  in  the  case  \ 
of  Louis  Philippe,  so  now  in  the  case  of  Napoleon,  Czar  Nicholas 
could  not  prevail  upon  himself  to  give  him  the  customary  title  of 

9* 


202  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

"  brother,"  and  so  named  him  his  "  good  friend."  After  the  ex- 
ample of  his  uncle  on  occasion  of  his  second  marriage,  the  'par- 
venu emperor  looked  about  him  for  a  bride  from  one  of  the  ancient 
princely  houses ;  but  the  Eastern  powers  succeeded  in  thwarting 
his  suit,  for  Princess  Charlotte  of  Vasa.  Thereupon  he  married 
(January  30th,  1853)  the  beautiful  Spaniard,  Eugenie  Montijo, 
Duchess  of  Teba;  and  on  the  16th  of  March,  1856,  she  bore  him 
an  heir,  Prince  Napoleon  Eugene. 


§  1«. 

ITALY. 

THE  revolution  of  1831,  which  affected  the  States  of  the 
Church,  Modi-na,  and  Parma,  had  been  suppressed,  like  the  still 
earlier  rebellions  in  Naples  and  Piedmont,  by  Austrian  interven- 
tion. If  revolution  had  fair  play  in  Italy,  it  was  sure  of  the 
victory.  It  was  only  foreign  power  for  which  it  was  not  yet  a 
match.  Hence,  all  the  hatred  of  the  Italians  was  directed  against 
foreign  rule,  as  the  only  obstacle  to  the  freedom  and  unity  of 
the  peninsula.  As  in  the  times  of  Barbarossa  and  his  grandson, 
so  also  in  the  forties  the  watchword  was :  "  Death  to  the  Ger- 
mans !" — by  which  the  Austrians  were  now  meant.  The  secret 
societies  and  the  exiles  in  communication  with  them — especially 
Joseph  Mazzini,  who  issued  his  commands  from  London — took 
care  that  the  national  spirit  should  not  be  buried  beneath  mate- 
rial interests,  but  should  remain  ever  wakeful. 

Singularly,  the  first  encouragement  came  from  the  very  quar- 
ter in  which  formerly  nothing  but  a  fondness  for  Chinese  meth- 
ods had  been  experienced.  Pope  Gregory  XVI.,  a  man  of  the 
olden  time,  who  thought  of  nothing  beyond  spiritual  rule  and 
Austrian  bayonets,  had  died  June  1st,  1846,  and  been  succeeded 
by  the  fifty -four-year- old  Cardinal  Count  Mastai  Ferretti,  who 
took  the  name  Pius  IX.  If  the  pious  world  which  visited  him 
was  charmed  by  the  amiability  and  clemency  of  its  new  head, 
the  cardinals  were  dismayed  at  the  reforms  which  this  new  head 
would  fain  introduce  in  the  States  of  the  Church  and  in  all  Italy. 
He  published  an  amnesty  for  all  political  offences;  permitted  the 


A   REFORMING   POPE.  203 

exiles  to  return  with  impunity ;  allowed  the  Press  freer  scope ; 
threw  open  the  highest  civil  offices  to  laymen ;  summoned  from 
the  notables  of  the  provinces  a  council  of  state,  which  was  to 
propose  reforms ;  bestowed  a  liberal  municipal  constitution  on 
the  city  of  Rome;  and  endeavored  to  bring  about  an  Italian  con- 
federation, in  which  all  Italian  states  should  take  part — Rome 
being  the  federal  city  in  which  they  were  to  consult  regarding 
peace  and  war,  customs'  duties,  commercial  treaties,  and  other 
common  matters.  After  the  French  revolution  of  1848  he 
granted  a  constitution.  There  was  a  first  chamber,  to  be  named 
by  the  Pope,  and  a  second  chamber,  to  be  elected  by  the  people, 
while  the  irresponsible  college  of  cardinals  formed  a  sort  of  privy 
council.  A  new  era  appeared  to  be  dawning.  The  old-world 
capital,  Rome,  once  the  mistress  of  the  nations,  still  the  mistress 
of  all  Roman  Catholic  hearts,  was  to  become  the  central  point  of 
Italy,  to  break  the  way  for  the  century,  to  raise  the  national  ban- 
ner, and  unite  in  one  irresistible  whole  the  scattered  strength  of 
Young  Italy.  It  was  as  though  the  Pope  himself  were  become 
a  Carbonaro.  Before  the  February  revolution  drove  European 
monarchs  into  the  liberal  camp  for  the  rescue  of  their  thrones, 
all  Rome  was  already  full  of  the  new  reformer,  full  of  vivas  for 
Pio  Nono,  full  of  hopes  of  final  liberty.  In  Milan  and  Modena 
a  viva  to  the  Pope  was  looked  on  as  political  heresy,  as  a  revo- 
lutionary cry — something  which  had  not  happened  for  centuries. 
But  when  the  flames  of  war  broke  out  in  the  north,  and  the 
fate  of  Italy  was  about  to  be  decided  between  Sardinia  and  Aus- 
tria on  the  old  battle-fields  of  Lombardy,  the  Romans  demanded 
from  the  Pope  a  declaration  of  war  against  Austria,  and  the  de- 
spatch of  Roman  troops  to  join  Charles  Albert's  army.  Pius  re- 
jected their  demands  as  unsuited  to  his  papal  office,  and  so  broke 
with  the  men  of  the  extreme  party,  who,  just  amnestied  and  re- 
called by  him,  now  wished  to  lord  it  over  him.  In  this  time  of 
agitation  Pius  thought  that  in  Count  Pellegrino  Rossi  of  Carra- 
ra, who  had  been  Louis  Philippe's  ambassador  in  Rome,  he  had 
found  the  right  man  to  carry  out  a  policy  of  moderate  liberal- 
ism, and  on  the  17th  of  September,  1848,  he  set  him  at  the  head 
of  a  new  ministry.  The  anarchists,  who  saw  their  only  chance 
in  Rome,  as  in  Paris,  in  general  subversion,  could  not  forgive 
Rossi  for  grasping  the  reins  with  a  firm  hand,  for  endeavoring  to 
establish  law  and  order,  and  for  being  intellectually  far  superior 


204  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENTT   TIME.?. 

to  all  the  babblers  and  demagogues  of  the  capital.  And  he  had 
against  him  not  merely  the  radical  party,  but  also  the  extreme 
hierarchical  party.  November  15th,  notwithstanding  all  warn- 
ings, he  drove  to  the  Chambers,  in  order  to  open  them  after 
their  prorogation  with  a  speech.  In  this  speech  he  was  about  to 
promise  abolition  of  the  rule  of  the  cardinals  and  introduction 
of  a  lay  government,  and  to  insist  upon  Italy's  independence  and 
unity.  He  had  scarcely  alighted  from  his  carriage  when  some 
miscreant  in  the  mob  thrust  a  dagger  into  his  neck,  and  he  sunk 
to  the  earth  without  a  sound.  The  next  day  an  armed  crowd 
appeared  before  the  Quirinal  and  attacked  the  guard,  which  con- 
sisted of  Swiss  mercenaries,  some  of  the  bullets  flying  into  the 
Pope's  antechamber.  He  had  to  accept  a  radical  ministry  and 
dismiss  the  Swiss  troops.  Defenceless,  as  he  now  was,  abandon- 
ed to  the  coercion  of  the  party  of  subversion — to  which  Prince 
Charles  of  Canino,  a  son  of  Lucien  Bonaparte,  belonged — Pius 
fled  in  disguise  from  Rome  to  Gaeta,  November  24th,  and  sought 
shelter  with  the  King  of  Naples. 

Mazzini  and  his  party  had  free  scope.  A  constitutional  con- 
vention was  summoned,  which  declared  the  temporal  power  of 
the  Pope  abolished  (February  5th,  1849),  and  Home  a  republic. 
To  them  attached  itself  Tuscany.  Grand-duke  Leopold  II.  had 
granted  a  constitution,  February  17th,  1848,  but,  nevertheless,  the 
republican-minded  ministry  of  Guerrazzi  compelled  him  to  join  the 
Pope  at  Gaeta,  February  21st,  1849.  The  republic  was  then  pro- 
claimed in  Tuscany,  and  union  with  Rome  resolved  upon.  But 
there  things  did  not  go  so  smoothly  after  the  flight  of  the  Pope 
as  was  expected,  for  he  had  applied  to  the  Roman  Catholic  powers 
for  their  assistance,  and  Louis  Napoleon,  president  of  the  French 
republic,  had  more  than  one  reason  for  wishing  to  send  troops 
against  the  Roman  republic.  The  inconsistency  of  causing  one 
republic  to  suppress  another  occasioned  him  no  conscientious 
scruples.  For  him  the  essential  point  was  that,  by  supporting 
the  papacy,  he  would  win  over  the  French  clergy,  whose  influence 
on  the  people  he  hoped  to  use  for  the  furtherance  of  his  own 
plans.  Further,  it  would  give  him  prestige  if,  after  Louis  Phi- 
lippe's government  had  been  so  long  accused  of  disgraceful  cring- 
ing and  servility  toward  foreign  powers,  he  could  cause  French 
banners  to  wave  once  more  in  foreign  capitals,  and  could  give  the 
Austrian  hegemony  in  Italy  check.  Accordingly,  Marshal  Oudi- 


THE   ROMAN   REPUBLIC   AND   FRENCH  OCCUPATION.      205 

not  was  despatched  with  8000  men.  llo  landed  in  Civita  Vecchia, 
April  26th,  1849,  and  appeared  before  the  walls  of  Rome  on  the 
30th,  expecting  to  take  the  city  without  any  trouble.  But  there, 
after  the  defeat  of  the  Sardinian  army,  a  crowd  of  desperate  men 
from  all  the  countries  of  Europe  had  assembled.  Joseph  Gari- 
baldi, of  Nice,  the  daring  leader  of  volunteers,  had  returned  to 
Italy  after  long  years  of  battle  in  the  service  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can republics.  At  Mazzini's  invitation  he  set  himself  at  the  head 
of  Rome's  defenders,  and  they  received  the  marshal  with  such  a 
well-directed  fire  that,  after  a  fight  of  sftveral  hours,  he  had  to 
retreat  to  Civita  Vecchia  with  a  loss  of  700  men.  A  few  days 
later  the  Neapolitan  army,  which  was  to  attack  the  rebels  from 
the  south,  was  defeated  at  Velletri ;  and  the  Spanish  troops,  the 
third  in  the  league  against  the  red  republic,  prudently  avoided  a 
battle.  But  Oudinot  received  considerable  re-enforcements,  and 
on  June  3d  he  advanced  against  Rome  for  the  second  time,  with 
35,000  men,  while  the  force  in  the  city  consisted  of  about  19,000, 
mostly  volunteers  and  national  guards.  In  spite  of  the  bravery 
of  Garibaldi  and  the  volunteers,  into  whom  he  breathed  his  spirit, 
Rome  had  to  capitulate,  after  a  long  and  bloody  struggle,  owing 
to  the  superiority  of  the  French  artillery.  On  the  4th  of  July 
Oudinot  entered  the  silent  capital.  Garibaldi,  Mazzini,  and  their 
followers  fled,  and  the  foreign  rule,  against  which  the  rebellion 
had  been  undertaken,  was  re-established  in  another  form.  Pius, 
for  whose  nerves  the  Roman  atmosphere  was  still  too  strong,  did 
not  return  until  the  4th  of  April,  1850.  His  ardor  for  reform 
was  cooled.  He,  as  little  as  the  King  of  Naples,  could  be  pre- 
vailed on  to  restore  the  constitution ;  and  although  he  did  grant 
laymen  some  privileges  with  regard  to  the  council  of  state  and 
municipal  administration,  all  higher  offices  and  the  whole  govern- 
ment machine  again  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  cardinals.  Their 
peacock-like  display  of  their  power  seemed  all  the  stranger  the 
more  evident  their  impotence  became.  In  the  Legations  they  had 
to  protect  themselves  by  Austrian  bayonets,  and  in  Rome  and 
Civita  Vecchia  by  French.  This  lasted  in  the  Legations  until 
1859,  and  in  Rome  and  Civita  Vecchia  until  1866  and  1870. 

Simultaneously  with  Rome  the  south  of  Italy  had  entered  into 
the  movement  so  characteristic  of  the  year  1848.  The  scenes  of 
1820  and  1821  were  repeated.  Sicily  once  more  sought  to  raise 
herself  from  the  position  of  a  province  to  that  of  an  independent 


206  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

kingdom.  On  the  12th  of  January  the  revolt  broke  out  in  Pa- 
lermo. The  city  was  bombarded  from  the  citadel,  but  finally  the 
Neapolitan  garrison,  beset  on  every  side,  had  to  return  to  Naples 
on  French  and  English  ships  of  war.  King  Ferdinand  II.  be- 
lieved that  he  could  allay  the  excitement  in  no  other  way  than 
by  promising  the  introduction  of  a  constitution  after  the  French 
pattern  of  1830.  This  constitution  was  sworn  to  on  the  24th  of 
February,  the  day  of  the  revolution  in  Paris,  and  a  liberal  ministry 
was  appointed.  But,  as  it  created  a  united  parliament  for  Naples 
and  Sicily,  the  Sicilian  provisional  government,  with  the  venerable 
Rear-admiral  Ruggiero  Settimo  at  its  head,  refused  to  accept  it,  and 
demanded  the  Sicilian  constitution  of  1812  and  a  separate  Sicilian 
parliament.  After  the  February  revolution  in  Paris,  King  Ferdi- 
nand in  his  alarm  consented  to  their  demands,  summoned  a  Sicil- 
ian parliament,  and  named  Settimo  governor -general  of  Sicily. 
But  the  Sicilians,  likewise  affected  by  the  Parisian  revolution, 
now  went  still  farther,  and  required  that  the  union  between  Na- 
ples and  Sicily  should  be  a  mere  personal  one,  and  that  in  addi- 
tion to  its  own  parliament  Sicily  should  have  its  own  ministry, 
separate  finances,  and  a  separate  army.  These  demands  seemed 
to  Ferdinand  excessive,  and  he  rejected  them,  acting  therein  in 
harmony  with  the  Neapolitans.  Thereupon  the  Sicilian  parlia- 
ment declared  that  the  king  had  forfeited  the  Sicilian  crown,  and 
voted  the  perpetual  exclusion  of  the  Bourbon  dynasty.  On  the 
llth  of  July  they  chose  the  Duke  of  Genoa,  son  of  Charles  Al- 
bert, King  of  Sicily.  But  Charles  Albert,  who  was  scarcely  able 
to  save  his  own  throne  in  his  struggle  with  the  Austrians,  did  not 
dare  to  accept  a  second  one  for  his  family  ;  and  England,  which 
favored  the  separation,  went  no  farther  in  its  selfish  sympathy  for 
the  island  than  pious  wishes  and  unctuous  speeches.  If  Sicily 
would  be  free,  she  must  win  freedom  with  l>er  own  arm. 

In  Naples  itself  monarchy  seemed  to  be  rapidly  rolling  down 
an  inclined  plane.  April  7th  Ferdinand  was  obliged  to  declare 
war  on  Austria,  and  send  13,000  Neapolitans,  under  the  old  revo- 
lutionist William  Pepe,  to  join  Charles  Albert's  army  in  upper 
Italy.  The  radicals,  pointing  to  Paris,  already  spoke  of  a  consti- 
tutional assembly,  and  of  setting  up  a  republic.  At  the  opening 
of  the  Chambers,  May  1 5th,  barricades  were  erected  in  the  streets 
of  Naples.  Ferdinand  ordered  his  Swiss  troops  to  charge,  and 
the  revolt  was  suppressed  in.  an  hour,  The  city  was  given  over 


SICILY  IS  SUBDUED.  207 

to  the  revenge  of  the  soldiers  and  the  robbery  of  the  lazzaroni. 
The  national  guard  was  at  once  disarmed,  the  Chambers  dissolved, 
a  new  ministry  formed  after  the  king's  liking,  and  the  Neapolitan 
contingent  recalled  from  upper  Italy.  Only  about  1500  men  re- 
fused obedience,  and  marched  on  to  Venice  with  Pepe  to  assist 
in  its  defence;  more  than  11,000  returned  home,  and  were  sadly 
missed  by  Charles  Albert  on  the  battle-fields  of  Lombard}7.  The 
democracy  in  Naples  had  been  annihilated,  and  the  Bourbon  Fer- 
dinand was  the  first  of  the  monarchs  to  master  the  revolution.  But 
the  subjugation  of  seceded  Sicily  still  remained  to  be  achieved. 

The  Austrians  had  just  driven  Charles  Albert  back  across  the 
Ticino,  and  reoccupied  Lombardy,  when  King  Ferdinand  sent  a 
fleet,  with  8000  land  troops,  to  Sicily,  under  General  Filangieri, 
Prince  of  Satriano.  The  city  of  Messina  was  bombarded  for 
several  days  without  intermission  from  the  fleet  and  the  cita- 
del, which  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Neapolitans,  and,  after  being 
partially  reduced  to  a  heap  of  ruins,  was  carried  by  assault  and 
plundered,  on  the  7th  of  September,  1848.  The  fugitives  found 
shelter  on  the  French  and  English  fleets,  the  admirals  of  which 
attempted  mediation.  Ferdinand  consented  to  offer  a  separate 
parliament  and  administration,  as  well  as  a  pretty  inclusive  am- 
nesty, but  refused  to  consent  to  a  special  ministry  for  war  and 
foreign  affairs.  The  Sicilians,  not  content  with  this,  began  the 
war  anew  simultaneously  with  Charles  Albert's  second  campaign. 
Mieroslawski,  a  Pole,  was  made  commander-in-chief.  He  threw 
himself  into  Catania,  and  Filangieri  attacked  him  there.  The 
Neapolitans  were  repulsed ;  but  when  the  Swiss  troops  came  up 
the  city  was  carried  by  storm,  April  6th,  1849.  Filangieri  next 
marched  against  Palermo.  The  government  disbanded,  and  fled 
to  Malta.  The  populace  would  not  hear  of  capitulation ;  but  the 
artillery  fire  of  army  and  fleet  brought  them  to  terms,  and  Filan- 
gieri entered  Palermo  on  the  17th  of  May.  He  ordered  a  gen- 
eral disarmament,  and  established  an  oppressive  military  rule  over 
the  whole  island;  and  there  was  no  more  talk  of  parliament  and 
constitution. 

All  these  struggles  in  central  and  southern  Italy  stood  in  close 
connection  with  the  events  of  1848  and  1849  in  upper  Italy. 
If  the  cast  of  the  dice  were  favorable — if  the  national  cause  tri- 
umphed there — both  Pius  and  Ferdinand  would  have  to  tread 
more  popular  paths;  but  if  the  fates  ordained  disaster  on  the 


208  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

Po,  then  the  doom  of  the  revolutions  in  the  south  was  sealed. 
In  the  north  the  struggle  was  to  shake  off  the  Austrian  yoke. 
Austria  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  reconciling  Italian  hearts,  nor 
won  over  even  the  smallest  party.  The  reforms  of  Pope  Pius 
IX.  in  1847  revived  the  national  wishes  and  aspirations  once 
more.  Demands  similar  to  those  of  Sicily  were  now  made  on 
Austria — a  vice-kingdom,  with  separate  parliament,  Italian  min- 
isters, and  only  Italian  troops.  The  imperial  state  was  at  that 
time  still  in  a  condition  in  which  it  could  venture  to  refuse  these 
demands.  In  order  to  diminish  the  Austrian  revenues,  the  Ital- 
ians refrained  from  tobacco  and  lotteries,  in  both  of  which  the 
state  had  a  monopoly.  During  the  month  of  January,  1848, 
there  was  constant  friction  between  the  citizens  and  the  military 
in  Milan  and  the  university  cities  of  Pavia  and  Padua.  Sicily 
was  in  flames — Ferdinand  had  already  been  compelled  to  grant 
Naples  a  constitution — Tuscany  and  Rome  had  been  drawn  into 
the  stream,  and  Charles  Albert  had  become  a  convert  (February 
8th)  to  a  constitutional  system ;  but  Austria  still  believed  that 
she  could  best  hold  political  passions  in  Lombardy  in  check 
by  means  of  martial  law  (February  22d,  1848).  The  bow  was 
stretched  to  the  breaking -point.  Two  days  later  Paris  rose. 
On  March  13th  even  good-natured  Vienna  was  in  rebellion;  and 
then  no  chain  was  strong  enough  to  hold  the  insurrection  down. 
March  18th,  Milan  rose.  All  classes  took  part  in  the  fight;  and 
the  eighty-two-year-old  field-marshal  Count  Joseph  Radetzky,  a 
glory-crowned  veteran  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  was  obliged,  after 
a  street  fight  of  two  days,  to  draw  his  troops  out  of  the  city,  call 
up  as  quickly  as  possible  the  garrisons  of  the  neighboring  cities, 
and  take  up  his  position  in  the  famous  Quadrilateral,  between 
Peschiera,  Verona,  Legnago,  and  Mantua.  March  22d,  Venice, 
where  Count  Zichy  commanded,  was  lost  for  the  Austrians.  Ma- 
nin,  a  lawyer,  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  a  provisional  govern- 
ment in  the  city  of  lagoons,  and  other  cities  followed  the  lead  of 
Venice.  The  little  duchies  of  Modena  and  Parma  could  hold  out 
no  longer;  Dukes  Francis  and  Charles  fled  to  Austria,  and  pro- 
visional governments  sprung  up  behind  them.  Like  Naples,  the 
duchies  and  Tuscany  also  sent  their  troops  across  the  Po  to  help 
the  Sardinians  in  the  decisive  struggle. 

The  hopes  of  all  Italy  were  centred  on  Sardinia  and  its  king. 
The  character  of  the  Sardinian  people  had  in  it  something  sturdy 


CHARLES  ALBERT  IS   DRIVEN  OUT   OF  LOMBARDY.      209 

and  soldierly.  There  was  also  considerable  culture  among  them. 
Gioberti,  philosopher  and  enemy  of  the  Jesuits,  and  the  historian 
C;i's;ir  Balbo  had  their  home  in  Sardinia;  and  literary  merit,  unit- 
ing itself  to  patriotism,  exercised  great  influence.  The  army  was 
in  good  fighting  trim.  Former  rulers  had  sought  to  escape  from 
the  Austrian  guardianship ;  but  Charles  Albert,  whose  succession 
Metternich  had  disputed,  had  additional  reasons  for  disliking  that 
guardianship.  The  house  of  Savoy,  from  which  the  king  was  de- 
scended, like  the  house  of  Hohenzollern,  is  instinctively  led,  by 
the  history  of  centuries,  to  extend  its  power,  whether  by  peaceful 
or  by  warlike  means ;  and  so  Charles  Albert,  called  to  the  aid  of 
Lombardy,  entered  Milan  to  win  for  himself  the  Lombardo-Vene- 
tian  kingdom  and  the  hegemony  in  Italy.  He  presented  himself 
as  the  liberator  of  the  peninsula,  but  it  was  not  a  part  for  which 
he  was  qualified  by  his  antecedents.  One  who,  after  being  a  Car- 
bonaro,  had  fought  under  the  Duke  of  Angouleme  against  the 
Spanish  revolution,  and  surrendered  himself  to  the  most  bigoted 
absolutism,  was  better  suited  for  the  camp  of  the  Austrians  than 
for  the  Italian  tricolor.  His  hatred  against  Austria  was  not  na- 
tional, but  dynastic.  He  was  a  brave  soldier,  but  a  poor  captain, 
and  so  full  of  distrust  and  jealousy  of  the  good  commanders  of 
his  own  country  that  he  preferred  to  set  doubtful  strangers  at  the 
head  of  the  army  rather  than  tried  and  trusty  countrymen.  His 
opponent,  Radetzky,  was  old,  but  his  spirit  was  still  young  and 
fresh.  He  had  a  practised  eye,  abundant  energy  and  resolution, 
skilled  generals,  and  a  well-disciplined  army.  The  re-enforcements 
which  Naples  and  the  duchies  brought  to  the  Sardinian  army 
were  not  worth  much.  The  Neapolitans  were  early  recalled ; 
the  duchies  sent  untrained  troops ;  and  even  Milan,  with  all  its 
speeches  and  demonstrations,  gathered  scarcely  8000  men. 

Radetzky  received  re-enforcements  from  Austria,  and  on  the 
6th  of  May  repelled  the  attack  of  the  Sardinian  king  south-west 
of  Verona.  May  29th,  he  carried  the  intrenchments  at  Carta- 
tone ;  but  as  the  Sardinians  were  victorious  at  Goito  and  took 
Peschiera,  while  Garibaldi  with  his  Alpine  rangers  threatened  the 
Austrian  rear,  he  had  to  desist  from  further  advances,  and  limit 
his  operations  to  the  recapture  of  Vicenza  and  the  other  cities  of 
the  Venetian  main-land.  In  the  mean  time  the  Austrian  court, 
chiefly  at  the  instigation  of  the  British  embassy,  had  opened 
negotiations  with  the  Lombards,  and  offered  them  their  indepen- 


210  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

deuce  on  condition  of  their  assuming  a  considerable  share  of  the 
public  debt,  and  concluding  a  favorable  commercial  treaty  with 
Austria.  But,  as  the  Lombards  felt  sure  of  acquiring  their  free- 
dom more  cheaply,  they  did  not  accept  the  proposition.  Ra- 
detzky  was  now  in  a  position  to  assume  an  active  offensive.  He 
won  a  brilliant  victory  at  Custozza,  July  25th.  The  Sardinians 
attempted  to  make  a  stand  at  Goito  and  again  at  Volta,  but  were 
driven  back,  and  Radetzky  advanced  on  Milan.  Charles  Albert 
had  to  evacuate  the  city  in  which,  again  accused  of  treason,  he 
barely  escaped  the  popular  rage,  and  Radetzky,  so  recently  ex- 
pelled, had  the  satisfaction  of  receiving  a  municipal  deputation 
beseeching  him  to  enter  the  city  with  all  speed,  and  put  a  check 
on  the  fury  of  the  unchained  populace.  He  entered  Milan,  and 
on  August  9th  concluded  an  armistice  with  Charles  Albert,  who 
had  to  withdraw  his  troops  from  Lombardy  and  the  duchies. 

This  was  so  great  a  humiliation  for  the  king  who  had  called 
forth  and  fostered  such  extravagant  hopes,  that  he  gladly  yielded 
to  the  pressure  of  the  radical  party  in  Turin,  and  tried  once  more 
the  chance  of  war.  He  intrusted  the  chief  command  to  the 
Polish  general  Chrzanowski,  who  had  fought  with  distinction 
under  Napoleon,  and  also  in  1831  in  Poland,  but  who  proved  to 
be  nothing  more  than  a  capable  division  commander.  He  also 
intrusted  General  Ramorino,  who  was  a  favorite  among  the  radi- 
cals, with  a  command.  March  20th,  1849,  he  put  an  end  to  the 
armistice,  with  the  intention  of  marching  into  Lombardy,  the  in- 
habitants of  which  had  given  him  much  valuable  information 
regarding  their  enthusiasm  for  freedom  and  the  poor  condition 
of  the  Austrian  army.  But  the  disillusion  speedily  followed. 
Radetzky  crossed  the  Ticino,  and  in  a  four  days'  campaign  on 
Sardinian  soil  defeated  the  foe  so  completely  —  March  21st  at 
Mortara,  and  March  23d  at  Novara — that  there  could  be  no  more 
thought  of  a  renewal  of  the  struggle.  The  Genoese,  Ramorino, 
who  failed  to  occupy  the  post  assigned  him  on  the  river  Po, 
thereby  facilitating  the  advance  of  the  Austrians,  was  court- 
martialed.  The  court  condemned  him  to  death,  without  decid- 
ing whether  the  accusation  of  treason  was  well  grounded  or  not, 
and  he  was  shot  at  Turin,  May  22d.  Charles  Albert,  who  had 
vainly  sought  death  upon  the  battle-field,  was  weary  of  his  throne 
and  his  life.  In  the  night  of  March  23d,  at  Novara,  he  laid  down 
the  crown  and  declared  his  eldest  son  king  of  Sardinia,  under  the 


BRESCIA   AND  VENICE.  211 

title  of  Victor  Emmanuel  II.  He  hoped  that  the  latter  would 
obtain  a  more  favorable  peace  from  the  Austrians  than  he  him- 
self, who  was  so  hated  by  them,  could  hope  to  do.  Then,  saying 
farewell  to  his  wife  by  letter,  attended  by  but  two  servants,  he 
travelled  through  France  and  Spain  to  Portugal.  He  died  at 
Oporto,  July  26th,  1849,  of  repeated  strokes  of  apoplexy.  The 
new  king  had  a  meeting  with  Radetzky  at  a  farm-house  near 
Novara,  March  24th,  and  concluded  an  armistice  with  him.  The 
negotiations  for  peace,  which  were  carried  on  in  Milan,  dragged, 
owing  to  the  high  demands  of  Austria,  and  it  was  not  until*  Au- 
gust 6th  that  they  were  brought  to  a  conclusion,  Austria  having 
somewhat  moderated  her  claims  through  the  representations  of 
France  and  England.  Sardinia  retained  its  boundaries  intact,  and 
paid  seventy-five  million  lire  as  indemnity. 

The  false  report  of  a  Sardinian  victory  at  Novara  had  caused 
the  population  of  Brescia  to  fall  upon  the  Austrian  garrison  and 
drive  them  into  the  citadel.  General  Haynau  hastened  thither 
with  4000  men,  well  provided  with  artillery.  The  city  was  bom- 
barded, and  on  the  1  st  of  April  it  was  reoccupied,  after  a  fearful 
street  fight,  in  which  even  women  took  part ;  but  Haynau  stain- 
ed his  name  by  inhuman  cruelties,  especially  toward  the  gentler 
sex.  Venice  was  not  able  to  hold  out  much  longer.  It  had  at 
first  attached  itself  to  Sardinia,  but  after  the  defeat  of  the  Sar- 
dinians the  republic  was  proclaimed.  Without  the  city,  in  Hay 
nau's  camp,  swamp  fever  raged  ;  within,  hunger  and  cholera.  On 
the  news  of  the  capitulation  of  Hungary,  August  22d,  it  surren- 
dered, and  the  heads  of  the  revolution,  Man  in  and  Pepe,  went 
into  exile. 

All  Italy  was  again  brought  under  its  old  masters.  The  ex- 
pelled princes  returned;  the  Austrians  occupied  Bologna  and 
Ancona,  and,  owing  to  the  valor  of  their  armies  and  the  skill  of 
their  generals,  their  dominion  seemed  invincible.  The  storm  that 
had  raged  over  the  whole  peninsula  had  subsided,  and  the  Ital- 
ian sun  smiled  once  more;  but  Italian  hatred  of  foreign  rule 
grew  ever  darker  and  darker.  They  thought  that  they  now 
knew  the  country  which  under  more  favorable  constellations 
would  renew  the  fight  with  Austria.  Notwithstanding  Custozza 
and  Novara,  the  Savoyard  cross  continued  to  be  the  hope  of  Italy. 


212  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 


§17. 

REVOLUTIONS    IN    GERMANY,  AUSTRIA,  AND    PRUSSIA. 

IN  no  country  was  so  much  inflammable  material  heaped  up 
as  in  Germany.  The  intelligence  and  patriotism  to  be  found 
there  were  wholly  out  of  proportion  to  the  amount  of  freedom 
and  power  which  the  cabinets  allowed  the  people,  and  hence  they 
everywhere  met  with  opposition.  Every  government  measure 
was  subjected  to  an  unsparing  criticism.  In  the  forties  a  few 
young  philosophers  greatly  distinguished  themselves  in  that  field. 
The  political  songs  from  the  pens  of  various  talented  poets, 
which  appeared  at  that  time,  also  had  no  small  effect  in  kindling 
and  maintaining  the  patriotic  fire.  In  1847  every  one  became 
convinced  that  the  existing  state  of  affairs  would  not  continue, 
and  that  an  explosion  must  shortly  take  place.  Even  such  pop- 
ular princes  as  William  of  Wiirtembcrg  were,  in  that  year  of 
scarcity,  subjected  to  personal  insult — in  his  case  on  occasion  of 
a  bread-riot.  Men  felt  themselves  too  much  tied  down ;  they 
had  outgrown  their  guardians,  and  were  confident  of  their  ability 
to  raise  the  nation  to  a  higher  position  at  home  and  abroad  than 
those  who  had  hitherto  occupied  the  green  chairs  at  Frankfort  ei- 
ther could  do  or  would  do.  The  disgraceful  conduct  of  the  Diet, 
and  the  objectionable  character  of  Metternich's  system,  had  never 
been  so  keenly  felt,  and  so  fearlessly  denounced,  as  just  at  that 
time.  Germans  were  tired  of  being  constantly  admired  or  ridi- 
culed in  English  papers  as  the  "nation  of  thinkers."  A  people 
which  had  had  a  not  inglorious  history  reaching  over  centuries, 
whose  scattered  and  discordant  parts  needed  merely  to  be  united 
under  a  single  will  to  enable  it  to  assume  the  first  place  in  Eu- 
rope— it  longed  to  escape  from  the  pettiness  and  powerlessness  of 
a  system  of  small  states.  The  German  people  wished  to  turn  a 
confederation  of  states  into  a  federal  state,  place  a  strong  central 
government  at  its  head,  and  give  that  the  firm  support  of  a  na- 
tional parliament.  The  Diet,  which  had  generally  shown  itself 
nothing  more  than  a  league  of  police  directors,  was  regarded  as 


SYMPATHY  WITH  SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.  213 

an  antiquated  institution  that  would  be  overturned  by  the  next 
squall.  The  most  modest  wishes  contemplated  nothing  less  than 
the  supplementing  of  the  Diet,  as  the  representative  of  the  princes, 
by  a  parliament  chosen  by  the  people,  as  the  representative  of 
the  people. 

The  speedy  conclusion  and  the  consequences  of  the  Sonder- 
bund  war,  by  which  Switzerland  became  a  strongly  concentrated 
commonwealth  resting  on  popular  sovereignty,  met  with  the 
most  hearty  favor  in  Germany.  This  was  in  miniature  what 
they  would  like  to  carry  out  at  home  on  a  larger  scale.  On  the 
top  of  this  came  the  excitement  regarding  Schleswig-Holstein, 
which  by  the  open  letter  of  King  Christian  VIII.,  July  8th,  1846, 
was  made  a  German  "  martyr-child."  Arrogant  little  Denmark 
must  not  be  allowed  to  perpetrate  so  flagrant  a  breach  of  justice ; 
new  pieces  must  not  be  broken  from  the  body  of  Germany ;  and 
gallant  countrymen,  whose  hearts  beat  longingly  for  return  to 
the  paternal  home,  must  no  longer  be  abandoned  to  the  abuse 
of  a  brutal  sailor-folk.  The  sympathy  for  Schleswig-Holstein's 
rights  and  wishes  penetrated  all  classes  of  the  German  people, 
so  that  scarcely  a  city  could  be  found  in  which  "  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein, stammverwandt"  (Schleswig-Holstein,  kith  and  kin)  was 
not  sung  with  great  fervor. 

Perhaps  they  would  have  been  content  with  singing  for  a  good 
while  to  come,  if  the  February  revolution  had  not  given  an  out- 
ward impulse  to  an  energetic  carrying  out  of  all  that  was  con- 
sidered as  demanded  by  the  German  people.  The  grand-duchy 
of  Baden,  whose  chamber  was  an  ornament  to  all  Germany,  was 
most  exposed  to  the  influences  of  the  revolution,  not  alone  through 
its  proximity  to  France,  but  still  more  through  the  political  devel- 
opment and  tendencies  of  the  lively  and  susceptible  race  which 
inhabits  it.  In  September,  1847,  Hecker,  a  lawyer,  and  Struve, 
a  journalist,  had  spoken  at  a  meeting  atOffenburg  in  behalf  of  self- 
government  by  the  people,  a  general  armament,  and  a  labor-guar- 
antee on  the  part  of  the  state,  thus  showing  themselves  comrades 
in  point  of  doctrine  of  the  social  democrats  of  Paris.  In  Octo- 
ber a  meeting  at  Heppenheim  discussed  popular  representation 
in  the  Diet.  February  12th,  1848,  in  the  Baden  Chamber,  Bas- 
sermann,  of  Mannheim,  brought  in  a  bill  to  summon  a  German  par- 
liament, in  order  to  fill  up  the  deep  gulf  that  had  been  formed 
between  princes  and  people  by  means  of  the  Diet. 


214  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT    TIMES. 

The  princes  were  unpleasantly  astonished  at  the  course  of 
events  in  Paris.  But  they  thought  that  they  could  remedy  the 
evil  in  their  usual  manner  with  a  few  innocent  reforms — by  put- 
ting on  a  little  sticking-plaster.  The  courts  of  Berlin  and  Vi- 
enna decided  to  hold  a  congress  of  princes  at  Dresden,  March 
loth,  and  discuss  the  welfare  of  Germany,  the  meaning  of  which 
was  ambiguous.  But  the  inexorable  logic  of  events  saved  diplo- 
macy the  trouble.  In  Baden  a  popular  meeting  at  Mannheim, 
followed  by  an  armed  procession  to  Carlsruhe,  February  27th, 
called  upon  the  government  to  establish  freedom  of  the  Press 
and  trial  by  jury,  to  arm  the  people,  and  to  endeavor  to  bring 
about  the  establishment  of  a  German  parliament.  The  govern- 
ment agreed  to  everything.  The  other  German  governments 
were  also  unable  to  resist  the  pressure.  Similar  demands  were 
everywhere  made  and  granted,  and  the  former  heads  of  the  op- 
position were  summoned  into  the  ministries — Homer  in  Wiirtem- 
berg,  Wipperman  in  Electoral  Hesse,  Stiive  von  Osnabriick  in 
Hanover,  and  Henry  von  Gagern  in  Hesse-Darmstadt.  In  Bava- 
ria there  was  even  a  change  of  monarchs.  King  Louis,  who, 
once  an  enthusiastic  friend  of  the  Greeks  and  an  opponent  of 
Metternich's  policy,  had  afterward  become  a  tool  of  the  ultra- 
montane party,  and  occasioned  much  indignation  by  his  knee- 
bowing  edict,  had  had  his  old  head  completely  turned  by  an  ad- 
venturous danseuse,  Lola  Montez.  In  February,  1847,  he  made 
her  countess  of  Landsfeld,  and  her  influence  in  the  government 
almost  challenges  comparison  with  that  of  the  Marchioness  de 
Pompadour  or  Countess  Dubarry  under  Louis  X\7.  This  brought 
him  into  conflict  with  his  ultramontane  minister  Abel,  and  led  to 
the  formation  of  the  so-called  "  Lola  ministry."  But  there  was 
such  indignation  over  this  government  of  mistresses  in  the  cham- 
|ber,  and  among  the  students  and  people  in  general,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  banish  the  countess  from  Bavaria;  and,  March  20th, 
1848,  deprived  of  respect  and  confidence,  he  had  to  abdicate  in 
favor  of  his  eldest  son,  Maximilian  II.  (l848-'64). 

In  south-western  Germany  the  liberal  party  set  itself  at  the 
head  of  the  movement,  as  the  liberal  party  in  Paris  had  done  dur- 
ing the  July  revolution  of  1830.  The  Heidelberg  assembly  of 
March  5th,  consisting  of  the  former  opposition  leaders  in  the 
various  Chambers,  issued  a  call  to  the  German  nation,  and  chose 
a  commission  of  seven  men,  who  were  to  make  propositions  with 


PRELIMINARY  PARLIAMENT  IN  FRANKFORT.  215 

regard  to  a  permanent  parliament  and  to  summon  a  preliminary 
parliament  at  Frankfort.  This  preliminary  parliament  assembled 
in  St.  Paul's  church,  March  31st,  with  Mittermaier,  a  Heidelberg 
professor,  as  presiding  officer.  The  majority,  consisting  of  con- 
stitutional monarchists,  resolved  that  an  assembly  chosen  by  direct 
vote  of  the  people,  the  suffrage  to  be  independent  of  property, 
rank,  or  religious  belief,  should  meet  in  the  month  of  May,  with 
full  and  sovereign  power  to  frame  a  constitution  for  all  Germany, 
and  that  a  committee  of  fifty  men  should  watch  over  the  exact 
fulfilment  of  these  resolutions  on  the  part  of  the  governments. 
These  measures  did  not  satisfy  the  radical  party,  whose  leaders 
were  Hecker  and  Struve.  As  their  proposition  to  set  up  a  sov- 
ereign assembly,  and  republicanize  Germany,  was  rejected,  they 
left  Frankfort,  and  held  in  the  highlands  of  Baden  popular  meet- 
ings at  which  they  demanded  the  proclamation  of  the  republic. 
A  Hesse-Darmstadt  corps  under  Frederic  von  Gagern,  who  had 
formerly  been  in  the  Dutch  service,  was  sent  to  disperse  them. 
An  engagement  took  place  at  Kandern,  in  which  Gagern  was  shot, 
but  Hecker  and  his  followers  were  put  to  flight.  The  German 
laborers  from  France,  who  entered  Baden  under  the  lead  of  the 
poet  Herwegh,  were  scattered  by  the  Wiirtemberg  troops  at  Dof- 
fenbach,  and  the  republican  party  was  suppressed  for  the  time 
being.  The  disturbances  in  Odenwald,  and  in  the  Main  and  Tau- 
ber  districts,  once  the  home  of  the  peasant  war,  were  of  a  differ- 
ent description.  There  the  country  people  rose  against  the  landed  l 
proprietors,  destroyed  the  archives,  with  the  odious  tithe  and  rental 
books,  and  demolished  a  few  castles. 

The  Diet,  which  in  the  mean  time  continued  its  illusory  exist- 
ence, thought  to  extricate  itself  from  the  present  difficulties  by  a 
few  concessions.  It  adopted  the  arms  and  the  formerly  repudi- 
ated colors  of  the  empire — the  eagle,  and  the  black,  red,  and  gold — 
and  invited  the  governments  to  send  confidential  delegates  to  un- 
dertake, along  with  its  members,  a  revision  of  the  constitution  of 
the  confederation.  One  delegate  was  to  be  sent  for  each  one  of 
the  seventeen  votes  of  the  existing  Diet.  These  confidential 
delegates,  among  them  the  poet  Uhland,  from  Wiirtemberg,  began 
their  work  on  the  30th  of  March. 

The  elections  for  the  National  Assembly  stirred  to  their  inner- 
most fibres  the  German  people,  dreaming  of  the  restoration  of 
their  former  greatness.  May  18th  about  320  delegates  assein- 


216  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

bled  in  the  Imperial  Hall,  in  the  Romer  (the  Rathkaus),  at  Frank- 
fort, marched  in  solemn  procession  to  St.  Paul's  church,  and  de- 
clared the  National  Assembly  organized.  Henry  von  Gagern,  an 
imposing  personage,  was  chosen  president  on  the  following  day. 
Never  has  a  political  assembly  contained  a  greater  number  of 
intellectual  and  scholarly  men — men  of  character  and  capable  of 
self-sacrifice  ; 'but  it  certainly  was  not  the  forte  of  these  numer- 
ous professors  and  jurists  to  conduct  practical  politics.  The 
moderate  party  was  decidedly  in  the  majority  ;  neither  the  repub- 
licans nor  the  reactionists  had  much  strength  at  their  disposal. 
The  first  questions,  concerning  the  validity  of  the  acts  of  the 
National  Assembly,  and  the  institution  of  a  central  executive, 
were  decided  in  favor  of  popular  sovereignty.  It  was  decided 
that  such  provisions  of  individual  constitutions  as  might  be  in 
conflict  with  the  general  constitution  about  to  be  adopted  were 
invalid,  and  that  a  provisional  central  executive  should  be  created 
in  the  place  of  the  Diet,  and  created,  not  by  the  Xational  Assem- 
bly in  concert  with  the  princes,  but  by  the  National  Assembly 
alone.  June  27th,  following  out  the  bold  conception  of  its  presi- 
dent, the  assembly  decided  to  appoint  an  irresponsible  adminis- 
trator, with  a  responsible  ministry;  and  June  29th,  Archduke 
John  of  Austria  was  chosed  Administrator  of  Germany  by  436 
votes  out  of  546.  He  made  his  entry  into  Frankfort  July 
llth,  and  entered  upon  his  office  on  the  following  day.  The 
hour  of  the  Diet  had  struck,  apparently  for  the  last  time.  It  re- 
signed its  authority  into  the  hands  of  the  Administrator,  and 
after  an  existence  of  thirty-two  years  left  the  stage  unmourned. 

Archduke  John  was  a  popular  prince,  who  found  more  pleas- 
ure in  the  mountain  air  of  Tyrol  and  Styria  than  in  the  per- 
fumed atmosphere  of  the  Vienna  court.  But,  as  a  novice  sixty- 
six  years  of  age,  he  was  not  equal  to  the  task  of  governing,  and 
as  a  thorough  Austrian  he  lacked  a  heart  for  all  Germany.  The 
main  question  for  him  and  for  the  National  Assembly  was,  what 
force  they  could  apply  in  case  the  individual  governments  re- 
fused obedience  to  the  decrees  issued  in  the  name  of  the  Nation- 
al Assembly.  This  was  the  Achilles's  heel  of  the  German  revo- 
lution. To  begin  with,  they  must  be  clear  on  this  point  —  in 
what  way  the  National  Assembly  could  enforce  the  pronounced 
will  of  the  people  against  the  governments  of  the  thirty-five  sov- 
ereign states  of  the  confederation,  thirty-one  of  which  had  a  m<>- 


THE   SCHLESW1G-HOLSTELV   QUESTION.  217 

narcbical  form  of  government,  two  of  them  being  great  powers. 
How  was  it  possible  to  accustom  the  great  military  states,  Aus- 
tria and  Prussia,  to  the  commands  of  Frankfort?  And  if  they 
did  not  obey,  what  was  to  be  expected  of  the  secondary  and 
smaller  states,  which  were  accustomed  to  seek  and  find  help  in 
Vienna  and  Berlin  ?  Nothing  was  more  certain  than  that  all 
these  princes  would  put  up  with  the  National  Assembly  not  one 
hour  longer  than  the  danger  on  their  own  hearths  compelled 
them  to.  Orders  were  issued  by  the  federal  minister  of  war 
that  all  the  troops  of  the  Confederation  should  swear  allegiance 
to  the  federal  administrator  on  the  6th  of  August;  but  Prussia 
and  Austria,  with  the  exception  of  the  Vienna  garrison,  paid  no 
attention  to  these  orders ;  Ernest  Augustus,  in  Hanover,  success- 
fully set  his  hard  head  against  them,  and  only  the  lesser  states 
obeyed.  And  even  where  this  allegiance  was  recognized,  it  was 
hardly  to  be  expected  that  in  old  monarchical  states  the  officers 
would  pay  more  heed  to  the  commands  of  the  distant  central 
government  than  to  their  own  princes  and  military  chiefs.  There 
certainly  was  no  other  way  out  of  the  difficulty  than  by  the  for- 
mation of  a  parliamentary  army,  such  as  the  English  revolution 
created  and  led  to  victory  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  Na- 
tional Assembly  must  be  prepared  to  strike  to  the  ground  the, 
first  refractory  government,  and  venture  upon  a  life  or  death 
struggle  for  the  maintenance  of  its  authority.  With  mere  reso- 
lutions and  hypotheses,  with  long  speeches  and  sentimentalities, 
no  real  step  could  be  made  in  advance.  Either  it  must  act  bold- 
ly, or  it  must  soon  become  the  defenceless  victim  of  those  who 
would.  Instead  of  meeting  these  dangers  resolutely,  and  in  a 
common- sense  way,  the  Assembly  left  matters  to  go  as  they 
would,  outside  of  Frankfort.  One  humiliation  was  submitted  to 
after  another,  while  the  Assembly,  busying  itself  for  months  with 
a  theoretical  question,  as  if  it  were  a  juristic  faculty,  entered  into 
a  detailed  consideration  of  the  fundamental  rights  of  the  German 
people. 

The  Schleswig-Holstein  question,  which  had  just  entered  upon 
a  new  phase  of  its  existence,  was  the  first  matter  of  any  impor- 
tance to  manifest  the  disagreement  between  the  central  adminis- 
tration and  the  separate  governments;  and  it  opened,  as  well,  a 
dangerous  gulf  in  the  Assembly  itself.  The  question  at  issue 
was  one  of  succession.  According  to  Danish  law,  on  the  extinc- 

10 


218  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

lion  of  the  male  line  of  the  Oldenburg  house  the  succession  would 
pass  to  the  female  line ;  but  according  to  Schleswig-Holstein  law 
the  succession  was  confined  to  males.  As  the  son  and  brother 
of  Christian  VIII.  were  childless,  the  time  was  approaching  when 
Denmark  must  lose  both  duchies,  with  their  desirable  coast  line 
and  the  harbor  of  Kiel,  and  be  confined  to  her  own  restricted 
territory.  In  Denmark  the  succession  would  fall  to  the  king's 
sister,  who  was  married  to  Prince  William  of  Hesse,  and  her  son 
Frederic ;  in  Schleswig-Holstein  it  would  fall  to  Duke  Christian 
Augustus  of  Augustenburg.  The  pride  of  the  Danes,  long  ac- 
customed to  misuse  and  impoverish  the  duchies,  protested  against 
the  diminution  of  the  kingdom,  and  in  1846  the  king  issued  a 
manifesto  extending  the  Danish  law  of  succession  to  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  and  affirming  their  union  with  Denmark.  To  sweeten 
this  bitter  pill,  King  Frederic  VII.,  who  succeeded  his  father  on 
the  throne,  January  20th,  1848,  published  a  liberal  constitution 
for  all  parts  of  his  realm.  But  the  duchies  protested  against  a 
common  constitution  for  all  the  states,  and  insisted  upon  their 
rights — separate  succession,  separate  constitution,  and  indivisibil- 
ity. The  February  revolution  hastened  the  course  of  events. 
The  Estates  of  the  duchies  established  a  provisional  government, 
applied  at  Frankfort  for  the  admission  of  Schleswig  into  the  Ger- 
man confederation,  and  besought  armed  assistance  both  there  and 
at  Berlin.  The  preliminary  parliament  approved  the  application 
of  Schleswig  for  admission,  and  commissioned  Prussia,  in  con- 
junction with  the  tenth  army  corps  of  the  Confederation,  to  oc- 
cupy Schleswig  and  Holstein.  On  the  21st  of  April,  1848,  Gen- 
eral Wrangel  crossed  the  Eider  as  commander  of  the  forces  of 
the  Confederation;  and  on  the  23d,  in  conjunction  with  the 
Schleswig-Holstein  troops,  he  drove  the  Danes  out  of  the  Dane- 
werk.  On  the  following  day  the  Danes  were  defeated  at  Oever- 
see  by  the  tenth  army  corps,  and  all  Schle.swig-Holstein  was  free. 
Wrangel  entered  Jutland  and  imposed  a  war  tax  of  3,000,000 
thalers  (about  $2,250,000).  He  meant  to  occupy  this  province 
until  the  Danes — who,  owing  to  the  inexcusable  smallness  of  the 
Prussian  navy,  were  in  a  position  unhindered  to  injure  the  com- 
merce of  the  Baltic — had  indemnified  Prussia  for  her  losses ;  but 
Prussia,  touched  to  the  quick  by  the  destruction  of  her  commerce, 
and  intimidated  by  the  threatening  attitude  of  Russia,  Sweden, 
and  England,  recalled  her  troops,  and  concluded  an  armistice  at 


ARMISTICE   OF   MALMO   AND   NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY.      219 

Mai  mo,  in  Sweden,  on  the  26th  of  August.  All  measures  of  the 
provisional  government  were  pronounced  invalid;  a  common 
government  for  the  duchies  was  to  be  appointed,  one  half  by 
Denmark,  and  the  other  by  the  German  confederation ;  the 
Schleswig  troops  were  to  be  separated  from  those  of  Holstein ; 
and  the  war  was  not  to  be  renewed  before  the  1st  of  April,  1849 
— i.  e.,  not  in  the  winter,  a  time  unfavorable  for  the  Danes. 

This  treaty  was  unquestionably  no  masterpiece  on  the  part  of 
the  Prussians.  All  the  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  con- 
quered Danes,  and  the  incorporation  of  Schleswig  with  Denmark 
was  as  good  as  granted.  The  news  of  this  treaty  aroused  univer- 
sal indignation  at  Frankfort.  It  was  not  merely  the  radicals  who 
urged,  if  not  the  final  rejection,  at  least  a  provisional  cessation  of 
the  armistice,  and  the  countermanding  of  the  order  to  retreat; 
the  conservative  historian  Dahlmann,  an  old  friend  and  defender 
of  the  "  forsaken  brother-race,"  was  foremost  in  contending  for 
such  action.  A  bill  to  that  effect,  demanded  by  the  honor  of 
Germany,  had  scarcely  been  passed  by  the  majority,  on  the  5th  of 
September,  when  the  moderate  party  reflected  that  such  action, 
involving  a  breach  with  Prussia,  must  lead  to  civil  war  and  revolu- 
tion, and  call  into  play  the  wildest  passions  of  the  already  excited 
people.  In  consequence  of  this  the  previous  vote  was  rescinded, 
and  the  armistice  of  Malmo  accepted  by  the  Assembly,  after  the 
most  excited  debates,  September  16th.  This  gave  the  radicals  a 
welcome  opportunity  to  appeal  to  the  fists  of  the  lower  classes, 
and  imitate  the  June  outbreak  of  the  social  democrats  in  Paris. 
On  the  lYth  of  September  a  popular  gathering  was  held  on  the 
Pftngstweide,  the  democratic  associations  of  the  whole  surround- 
ing country  flocking  in  to  attend  it.  Under  pretence  of  suscepti- 
bility for  the  national  honor  genuine  thunder-bolts  were  hurled 
against  both  monarchs  and  National  Assembly.  The  majority  in 
the  latter  were  pronounced  traitors  to  the  German  nation,  and  a 
petition  was  resolved  upon  to  be  presented  by  the  whole  mass  of 
the  people,  on  the  following  day,  in  St.  Paul's  church.  It  was 
manifestly  the  aim  of  the  leaders  to  dissolve  the  Assembly  by 
force,  proclaim  a  republic,  and  rule  by  means  of  a  sovereign 
assembly.  The  next  morning  the  crowd  attempted  to  press  into 
the  church ;  but  the  ministry,  informed  of  the  danger,  had  brought 
up  a  few  battalions  of  Austrians  and  Prussians  from  Maycnce,  and 
occupied  all  the  entrances.  A  collision  ensued ;  barricades  were 


220  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

erected,  but  were  carried  by  the  troops  without  much  bloodshed 
Un warlike  as  the  rebels  showed  themselves  here,  their  assault 
upon  two  delegates  to  the  National  Assembly  was  blood-thirsty 
enough.  General  Auerswald  and  Prince  Lichnowsky,  riding  on 
horseback  near  the  city,  were  followed  by  a  mob.  They  took 
refuge' in  a  gardener's  house  on  the  Bornhewier-heide,  but  were 
dragged  out  and  murdered  with  the  most  disgraceful  atrocities. 
Thereupon  the  city  was  declared  in  a  state  of  siege,  all  societies 
were  forbidden,  and  strong  measures  were  taken  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  order.  The  March  revolution  had  passed  its  season,  and 
reaction  was  again  beginning  to  bloom.  Pointing  to  the  excesses 
of  the  red  republic,  reaction  drew  moderate  men  to  its  side,  and 
then  used  them  as  stepping-stones  to  immoderation.  The  events 
on  the  Danube  and  the  Spree  paved  the  way  for  this  turn  of 
affairs. 

Not  even  Metternich's  state  could  escape  a  catastrophe.  By 
shutting  out  foreign  political  life,  by  repressing  all  aspirations 
after  a  constitution,  and  by  assiduously  cultivating  the  sensuous 
I  nature  of  the  people,  this  political  juggler  believed  that  he  could 
keep  Austria  in  an  ideal  condition.  But  the  more  immature  and 
uneducated  the  people  were,  so  much  the  easier  was  it,  when  the 
waves  of  revolution  had  once  swept  in,  for  new  pilots  to  mislead 
them;  so  much  the  more  liable  were  they  to  abuse  unwonted  lib- 
erties; so  much  the  wilder  and  more  unrestrained  were  their  pas- 
sions. Metternich  had  no  thought  of  concessions ;  on  the  con- 
trary, after  the  February  revolutions  he  was  anxious  to  avoid  all 
appearance  of  being  influenced  by  fear  to  make  concessions.  In 
the  council  of  state,  which  conducted  a  sort  of  regency  for  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand,  on  account  of  his  mental  and  physical  inca- 
pability, he  emphasized  the  danger  arising  from  such  an  interpre- 
tation. This  council  consisted  of  Archduke  Louis,  Prince  Met- 
ternich, and  Count  Kolowrat.  The  longer  the  delay  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  greater  the  number  of  the  petitions  and  addresses  which 
were  presented  to  it.  The  Vienna  students  unceremoniously  de- 
manded freedom  of  the  Press,  of  speech,  of  teaching  and  learning, 
religious  freedom,  and  general  representation  of  the  people.  The 
opening  of  the  Landtag  of  lower  Austria,  on  the  13th  of  March, 
was  the  occasion  for  thousands  of  men  to  assemble  before  the 
Landhaus,  where  it  met.  Excited  by  a  speech  of  Kossuth,  the 
Hungarian  popular  leader,  read  to  them  by  a  student,  they  com- 


VIENNA  BECOMES  UNRULY.  221 

pellod  the  members  of  the  Landtag  to  go  to  the  palace  and  repre- 
sent there  the  wishes  of  the  people.  The  haughty  answer  which 
the  council  of  state  returned  to  their  representations  increased  the 
exasperation.  Citizens  and  soldiers  trod  on  one  another's  heels. 
One  concession  after  another  was  wrested  from  the  government 
— freedom  of  the  Press,  arming  of  the  people,  summoning  of  dele- 
gates from  all  the  provincial  parliaments.  Metternich  had  to  lay 
down  office  and  flee  to  England,  like  Louis  Philippe.  The  power 
now  lay  in  the  hands  of  the  Vienna  students  and  the  citizen  guard. 
They  made  the  revolution  permanent,  and  by  armed  demonstra- 
tions compelled  the  retreat  of  every  person  and  the  withdrawal 
of  every  measure  that  displeased  them.  Kossuth,  who  entered 
Vienna  on  the  night  of  March  15th,  was  received  with  music  and 
torches  like  a  conqueror. 

The  new  ministry,  anxious  to  avoid  a  constitutional  convention, 
published,  on  the  25th  of  April,  a  "  fundamental  law,"  which  satis- 
fied no  one,  inasmuch  as  the  voting  for  representatives  was  made 
dependent  upon  a  definite  property  qualification.  Consequently, 
when  the  ministers  would  have  disbanded  the  central  committee 
of  students  and  members  of  the  national  guard,  which  formed  a 
real  side-government  stronger  than  the  nominal  government,  they 
were  compelled  (May  15th),  by  a  petition  presented  by  15,000 
men,  who  surrounded -the  Hofburg,  not  only-  to  permit  the  com- 
mittee to  continue  in  existence,  but  also  to  summon  a  constituant 
Reichstag,  with  but  one  chamber,  the  members  to  be  elected  on 
the  basis  of  universal  suffrage.  These  constant  tumults,  and  the 
fear  of  still  more  threatening  scenes,  induced  those  about  the  per- 
son of  the  emperor  to  effect  his  flight  to  Innsbruck,  on  the  17th 
of  May.  This  was  followed  by  a  brief  revulsion  of  public  opinion. 
The  absence  of  the  emperor  was  quite  too  severe  a  blow  for  the 
loyal  Viennese,  and  they  overwhelmed  him  with  petitions  to  re- 
turn to  the  capital.  Instead  of  at  once  taking  advantage  of  this 
more  favorable  mood  by  energetic  measures,  the  ministers,  after 
making  the  emperor's  return  conditional  on  the  disbanding  of  the 
student  legion,  and  publishing  the  decree  disbanding  it,  let  them- 
selves be  frightened  by  a  third  uprising  and  new  barricades  (May 
26th)  into  recalling  the  decree  and  withdrawing  the  regular  troops 
into  the  barracks.  The  minister  of  the  interior,  Baron  von  Pillers- 
dorff,  intrusted  the  restoration  of  order  to  the  very  persons  who 
had  disturbed  it,  and  consented  to  the  formation  of  a  committee 


222  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

of  safety  composed  of  privy  councillors,  members  of  the  national 
guard,  and  students.  This  was  nothing  else  than  a  dictatorship 
of  the  people,  by  which  the  ministry  was  set  aside ;  and  it  h;id 
the  effect  of  driving  the  educated  and  moderate  part  of  the  com- 
munity away  from  the  uncertain  paths  of  revolution. 

To  fill  up  the  measure  of  embarrassments — as  though  the  re- 
bellion in  Italy,  the  craving  for  independence  of  the  spur-jingling 
Magyars,  and  the  committee  of  safety  in  Vienna  were  not  enough 
— Prague  entered  the  ranks  of  the  revolution.  There  the  Czech- 
ish population  manifested  hostility  toward  the  German.  The 
Czechs  were  no  longer  willing  to  form  a  part  of  Germany ;  they 
wished  to  unite  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Austrian  Silesia  into  a 
separate  Slavonic  kingdom,  with  a  constitution  of  its  own.  In  or- 
der to  organize  themselves  into  a  powerful  party,  they  summoned 
a  general  Slavonic  congress  at  Prague  (June  2d),  with  Palacky  as 
president;  set  up,  in  opposition  to  the  servile  ministry  at  Vienna, 
a  provisional  government ;  and  commissioned  Rieger  to  frame  a 
Czechish  constitution.  Here,  too,  the  students  engaged  in  politics 
on  a  grand  scale.  There  was  no  lack  of  collisions  with  the  Ger- 
mans and  with  the  troops.  In  Prince  Alfred  Windischgratz  (to 
whom  is  ascribed  the  saying,  "Humankind  begins  with  the  bar- 
on ")  the  latter  had  a  resolute,  although  extremely  aristocratic, 
commander.  He  flatly  refused  the  request  of  the  Czechish  stu- 
dents for  a  battery  and  60,000  cartridges ;  for  it  was  easy  to  see 
that  these  cartridges  would  be  nsed  against  the  prince  and  his 
soldiers,  and  that  a  government  of  the  people  would  be  formed 
here,  as  in  Vienna,  and  a  Czechish  one  at  that.  On  the  12th  of 
June  there  was  a  bloody  encounter,  before  the  palace  of  the 
prince,  between  the  Czechs  and  the  soldiers ;  and  the  prince's 
wife,  who  was  listening  at  a  window,  was  mortally  wounded  by 
a  bullet.  A  few  cannon-balls,  then  and  on  the  following  day, 
put  an  end  to  the  revolt,  and  made  it  clear  to  the  Czechs  that 
they  had  claimed  more  than  they  could  take.  The  Slavonic  con- 
gress was  dispersed;  and,  after  some  delay,  it  once  more  became 
plain  that  Austria's  military  power  was  not  likely  to  abdicate. 

Soon  after  the  constituant  Reichstag  met  in  Vienna,  and  was 
opened  by  Archduke  John,  the  Administrator  of  Germany.  It 
was  a  Babel-like  confusion  of  tongues,  from  which  little  in  the 
way  of  a  constitution  was  likely  to  result,  especially  as  external 
relations  were  constantly  furnishing  material  for  the  most  ex- 


THE  REICHSTAG  AND  REVOLUTION.  223 

cited  debates.  The  return  of  the  emperor,  which  took  place 
August  12th,  at  the  special  request  of  the  Reichstag,  did  little 
toward  allaying  the  excitement.  A  bill  to  abolish  all  relations 
of  socage  and  villanage — i.  e.,  to  shake  off  all  feudal  burdens,  as 
they  were  shaken  off  during  the  Frencli  revolution,  in  the  mem- 
orable night  of  August  4th,  1789 — was  carried,  with  the  proviso 
that  the  holders  of  such  rights  should  receive  a  moderate  indem- 
nity from  the  state.  The  Reichstag  soon  found  itself  in  an  un- 
tenable position  between  the  ministry  and  the  working-men's 
leagues,  and  the  general  desertion  of  the  Slavs  reduced  it  to  a 
rump  parliament.  An  open  collision  could  not  long  be  avoided. 
The  position  of  affairs  became  more  and  more  a  copy  of  the 
working-men's  rule  in  Paris.  Business  was  at  a  stand-still.  The 
rich  families  sought  more  idyllic  abodes.  The  proletariat  daily 
increased  in  numbers,  and  its  demands  rose  proportionally.  Pub- 
lic works,  like  the  national  workshops  in  Paris,  had  to  be*  started 
by  the  government ;  and  the  already  consumptive  treasury  was 
obliged  to  pay  a  fine  sum  as  wages  to  idlers.  The  Wessenberg 
ministry,  which  followed  that  of  Pillersdorff,  at  last  plucked 
up  courage,  made  a  reduction  of  five  kr.  (two  and  a  half  cents) 
in  the  daily  wages,  and  reduced  the  refractory  laborers  to  sub- 
mission by  the  help  of  the  national  guard  (August  23d).  Then 
came  a  new  complication.  The  breach  with  Hungary  assumed 
such  proportions  that,  on  the  6th  of  October,  the  Vienna  garrison 
was  ordered  to  march  against  the  Hungarians.  A  battalion  of 
grenadiers  refused  obedience.  The  cavalry  received  orders  to 
compel  them  to  march ;  and  a  fight  ensued,  in  which  the  grena- 
diers were  supported  by  the  students,  the  national  guard,  and  the 
working-men.  General  Bredy  was  shot,  and  several  cannon  were 
carried  off  by  the  people.  Barricades  were  erected  everywhere, 
and  the  alarm-bell  tolled  in  St.  Stephen's  tower.  A  raging  crowd 
hurried  to  the  ministry  of  war  to  look  for  Minister  Latonr,  whose 
measures  against  Hungary  were  not  to  the  mind  of  the  Vienna 
democracy.  Drawn  from  his  hiding-place,  he  was  Dragged  into 
the  court-yard,  and  barbarously  murdered  by  hammer-blows  and 
sabre-cuts,  and  then,  bleeding  from  forty-three  wounds,  hung  tc  a 
gas-lamp.  After  this  the  arsenal  was  stormed,  and  its  rich  stores, 
consisting  in  part  of  rare  and  costly  weapons,  divided  among  the 
people.  The  Reichstag  declared  itself  permanent,  and,  in  an  ad- 
dress to  the  emperor,  required  the  formation  of  a  new  ministry, 


224  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

and  the  deposition  of  Jellachich,  Banus  (viceroy)  of  Croatia,  with 
other  demands  of  a  like  character.  The  Vienna  democracy  had 
conquered,  but  in  conquering  insured  its  own  defeat. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  emperor  could  no  longer  linger 
in  Schonbrunn.     On  the  7th  of  October  he  fled,  with  a  strong 

O 

escort,  to  Olmiitz,  in  Moravia ;  commissioned  Prince  Windisch- 
gratz  to  reduce  Vienna,  and  appointed  him  commander-in-chief 
of  all  the  imperial  troops  with  the  exception  of  the  Italian. 
Windischgratz  marched  out  of  Prague  with  his  army,  and  ap- 
peared before  Vienna  on  the  20th  of  October.  There  he  formed 
a  junction  with  the  troops  which  Jellachich  had  brought  up  from 
Croatia,  and  with  the  garrison  of  Vienna,  which  Auersperg,  the 
commandant,  had  led  out,  and,  on  the  23d,  summoned  the  citv  to 
surrender  unconditionally.  The  revolutionists,  who  were  conduct- 
ing a  reign  of  terror  in  Vienna,  foresaw  little  benefit  for  them- 
selves ito  such  a  course,  and  preferred  fighting  it  out,  trusting  to 
help  from  Hungary.  At  the  head  of  the  national  guard  was 
Messenhauser,  a  quondam  lientenant.  The  academic  legion  and 
the  garde  mobile  (which  latter  consisted  of  paid  proletaries)  were 
commanded  by  General  Bern,  a  Pole.  Two  members  of  the  Diet 
in  Frankfort,  Julius  Frobel  and  Robert  Blum,  enlisted  among  the 
volunteers.  The  fighting  lasted  a  whole  week,  day  and  night, 
displaying  the  greatest  rancor  on  both  sides.  At  length  the  sub- 
urbs were  carried ;  and  Messenhauser  himself  advised  surrender, 
as  ammunition  and  serviceable  men  were  both  lacking.  In  the 
afternoon  of  October  30th,  while  a  deputation  from  the  common 
council  was  negotiating  a  surrender  at  the  head-quarters  of  Prince 
Windischgratz,  the  approach  of  the  Hungarian  auxiliaries  was  de- 
scried from  St.  Stephen's  tower.  The  volunteers  and  the  prole- 
tariat pressed  for  renewal  of  the  battle,  and  Messenhauser  had  to 
retain  the  command,  and  share  it  with  Fenner  von  Fenneberg. 
But  the  Hungarians  were  repulsed  by  a  detachment  which  Win- 
dischgratz sent  against  them,  and  Vienna  was  taken  by  storm  on 
the  31st  of  October.  By  evening  of  that  day  the  imperial  troops 
occupied  every  square.  The  lamp  on  which  Latour  had  been 
hung  was  destroyed.  Murder,  rapine,  and  arson  had  free  course, 
and  those  who  could  flee  fled.  The  city  was  placed  in  a  state  of 
siege  ;  an  unlimited  military  despotism  reigned,  and  martial  execu- 
tions with  powder  and  ball  seemed  likelv  to  have  no  end.  Bern 
and  Fenneberg  escaped ;  Frobel  was  set  free ;  but  Blum,  who  had 


FRANCIS  JOSEPH  EMPEROR   OF  AUSTRIA.  225 

relied  too  much  on  his  character  as  member  of  the  Diet,  was  shot 
in  the  Briyittenau  (November  9th).  Messenhauser,  although  he 
had  been  recognized  as  commandant  by  the  Reichstag  and  the 
ministry,  also  suffered  death.  The  revolutionists  of  Pesth  and 
Frankfort  were  to  be  taught  that  the  army,  in  whose  camp  Aus- 
tria lay,  would  not  be  trifled  with  any  longer. 

Before  this  catastrophe  (October  22d)  the  Reichstag  had  been 
adjourned  to  meet  in  the  small  Moravian  city  of  Kremsier,  where, 
free  from  democratic  influences,  it  could  devote  its  undisturbed 
attention  to  the  discussion  of  a  constitution.     It  was  reopened 
on  the  22d  of  November;  and  on  the  previous  day  Prince  Felix 
Schwarzenberg,  known  as  general  and  diplomatist,  formed  a  new 
ministry.     In  this  Count  Francis  Stadion  had  the  interior,  and 
Baron  Bruck,  formerly  book-dealer  in  Bonn,  and  founder  of  the 
Trieste  Lloyd,  took  commerce.     This  change,  which  implied  a 
stricter  regime,  was  quickly  followed  by  another.     On  the  2d  of 
December  Emperor  Ferdinand  laid  down  his  crown.     His  broth- 
er, Archduke  Francis  Charles,  whose  wife  Sophie  was  much  dis- 
liked, renounced  his  right  to  the  succession,  and  his  son  Francis 
Joseph  ascended  the  throne  of  the  Hapsburgs.     New  vigor  was' 
needed  to  deal  with  the  new  conditions,  and  a  man  was  required 
who  was  bound  by  no  pledges  to  the  revolution,  and  above  all  to  I 
Hungary.     This  was  what  the  liberal  party  feared,  and  it  now  1 
believed  reaction  to  be  in  full  march.     The  Reichstag  in  Krem- 
sier, treading  in  the  steps  of  the  Frankfort  Diet,  wandered  into  i 
long  debates  on  fundamental  rights,  and  soon  stood  in  irreconcil- 
able opposition  to  the  ministry.    To  the  "  grace  of  God  "  theory,/ 
which  the  ministry  emphasized,  the  Reichstag  opposed  the  doc- 
trine of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.     To  reach  a  speedy  con- 
clusion, and  not  allow  the  conquered  spirit  of  revolution  again  to 
raise  its  head  in  the  streets  of  Vienna,  the  ministry  dissolved  this 
constituant  Reichstag  on  the  7th  of  March,  1849,  and  itself  pub- 
lished a  constitution  for  all  Austria.     This  was  never  put  into 
effect;  and  in  1851,  after  the  subjugation   of  Hungary,  it  was  \ 
formally  withdrawn. 

The  revolution  in  Berlin  took  a  course  similar  to  that  in  Vicu- 
na. The  king  clung  to  his  "united  landtag"  regarding  that  im- 
potent creation  as  the  utmost  concession  in  the  way  of  popular 
government  that  could  be  expected  of  him.  The  people  held 
quite  a  different  opinion.  Although  not  blind  to  the  many  ex- 

10*  ' 


226  POLITICAL  HISTORY    OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

cellences  of  the  civil  and  military  administration,  they  esteemed 
it  a  disgrace  that  a  state  which  professed  to  stand  at  such  a  height 
intellectually  should  politically  belong  among  the  hindmost.  The 
February  revolution  was  the  lightning  flash  that  kindled  this  dis- 
satisfaction into  flame.  From  the  6th  of  March  on  there  were 
popular  gatherings  before  the  Tents  (die  Zelten],  and  deputations 
were  sent  to  the  king.  On  the  way  home  from  these  gatherings 
there  were  collisions  with  the  troops,  and  on  the  loth  and  16th 
the  soldiers  made  use  of  their  guns.  After  the  news  of  the  Vien- 
na revolution  of  March  13th  the  Berliners  became  still  more  res- 
tive. On  the  17th  came  a  deputation  from  Cologne,  representing 
the  threatening  humor  of  the  Rhine  provinces,  and  even  hinting 
at  a  separation  from  the  Prussian  monarchy  in  case  no  reforms 
were  made  in  the  direction  of  freedom.  Another  delegation  from 
Berlin  on  the  18th  of  March  demanded  from  the  king,  among 
other  things,  dismissal  of  the  ministry,  adoption  of  a  liberal  con- 
stitution, and  the  arming  of  the  citizens.  The  delegates  were 
well  received,  and  at  two  o'clock  that  afternoon  it  was  announced 
that  two  royal  patents  were  in  preparation  granting  the  wishes 
of  the  people — abolishing  censorship,  improving  the  Prussian  con- 
stitution, and  proposing  changes  in  the  German  confederation  to 
be  carried  out  in  harmony  with  the  other  German  governments. 
The  people  were  in  a  good  humor ;  they  gathered  in  crowds  on 
the  Schlossplatz,  and  received  the  king  with  loud  applause.  But 
the  fact  that  all  entrances  to  the  palace  were  occupied  by  soldiers 
aroused  their  indignation  when  they  thought  of  the  dead  and 
wounded  of  the  last  few  days.  The  cry,  "  Away  with  the  troops  !" 
became  more  and  more  violent  and  imperative.  Infantry  ad- 
vanced with  fixed  bayonets  to  scatter  the  crowd.  Two  shots  were 
fired — from  the  ranks  of  the  soldiers,  as  the  people  believed,  as 
others  assert,  from  the  ranks  of  the  party  of  subversion — in  the 
hope  of  results  like  those  before  Guizot's  hotel  in  Paris  on  the 
23d  of  February.  The  first  thought  of  the  people  was  that  they 
were  deceived,  that  they  had  been  lured  thither  by  fair  promises 
in  order  to  be  slaughtered  in  crowds.  "  We  are  betrayed  !  Mur- 
der! To  arms!"  was  the  universal  cry.  All  scattered  in  wild 
haste.  In  a  couple  of  hours  about  200  barricades  had  been  erect- 
ed, and  over  them  floated  the  black,  red,  and  gold  banner.  At 
three  o'clock  the  troops  began  the  attack,  and  by  seven  they  had 
cleared  the  greater  part  of  the  Konigsstrasse  by  the  use  of  grape- 


FREDERICK   IV.  JOINS  THE   REVOLUTION.  227 

shot.  The  fighting  lasted  through  the  whole  night,  accompanied 
by  the  terrible  noise  of  alarm-bells.  On  the  morning  of  the  19th, 
after  the  exertions  of  the  day  before  and  the  trying  service  ok 
the  previous  week,  the  soldiers  were  so  exhausted  that  a  victory 
over  the  angry  populace  could  not  be  reckoned  on  with  any  cer- 
tainty ;  so  the  king  yielded  at  last  to  the  pressure  of  the  citizens, 
commanded  the  troops  to  leave  Berlin,  consented  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  citizen  guard  for  the  protection  of  the  city  and  palace, 
and  summoned  a  new  ministry,  with  Count  Arnim-Boytzenburg 
at  its  head.  The  corpses  of  the  216  men  who  fell  behind  the  bar- 
ricades, their  heads  decked  with  flowers  and  green  boughs,  were 
brought  on  biers  and  open  wagons  into  the  court-yard  of  the  pal- 
ace, and  tlfe  king  and  queen  were  compelled  to  show  them  their 
respect  with  uncovered  heads.  In  consequence  of  the  amnesty 
issued  for  all  political  offenders,  the  Poles,  held  prisoners  in  Ber- 
lin on  account  of  the  outbreak  of  1846,  were  liberated;  and  on 
the  20th  Mieroslawski  and  his  comrades  in  suffering  made  a  sort 
of  triumphal  procession  through  the  city,  speaking  of  the  alliance 
of  Germany  and  Poland,  and  the  re-establishment  of  a  great,  free 
Poland  as  a  barrier  against  Russia. 

Frederic  William  IV.  seemed  to  have  undergone  a  transforma- 
tion. The  proud  Hohenzollern,  in  whose  eyes  royal  power  was 
radiant  with  a  majesty  more  than  human,  descended  from  his 
heavenly  heights  and  became  like  "one  of  us."  On  the  21st  of 
March  he  issued  a  proclamation  "  to  the  German  nation,"  in  which 
he  declared  that  "  for  the  rescue  of  Germany  "  he  set  himself  "  at 
the  head  of  the  collective  fatherland ;"  and  in  the  afternoon,  sur- 
rounded by  the  royal  princes  and  several  ministers  and  generals, 
he  rode  about  the  city,  he  and  his  escort  wearing  black,  red,  and 
gold  favors,  while  a  German  flag  was  borne  before  them.  In 
front  of  the  university  he  halted,  and  spoke  in  enthusiastic  terms 
of  German  freedom  and  unity.  A  proclamation  of  the  same  day, 
addressed  "  to  my  people  and  the  German  nation,"  contained  the 
famous  sentence :  "  Henceforward  Prussia  takes  the  lead  in  Ger- 
many." The  burial  of  the  victims  of  the  barricades  in  a  gigantic 
grave  in  the  Friedrichshain  on  the  22d,  when  the  king  with  bared 
head  stood  on  the  balcony  of  the  palace  while  the  procession, 
20,000  strong,  passed  by,  was  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  days 
in  Berlin.  The  king's  brother,  the  Prince  of  Prussia,  who  was 
falsely  accused  of  inspiring  the  opposition  of  the  court  to  liberal 


228  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

measures,  and  of  having  given  the  troops  the  order  to  charge, 
journeyed  to  England  at  the  express  command  of  the  king,  tlu.t 
his  presence  might  be  no  obstacle  to  a  reconciliation.  The  u  unit- 
ed landtag  "  met  once  more  on  the  2d  of  April,  and  was  in  ses- 
sion eight  days,  to  examine  and  accept  the  electoral  law  for  a  con- 
stitutional convention  laid  before  it  by  the  Camphausen  ministry, 
which  had  succeeded  that  of  Arnim  on  the  29th  of  March. 

In  the  grand-duchy  of  Posen  the  Poles  were  not  satisfied  with 
the  partial  separation  and  distinct  administration  of  the  eastern 
part.  They  demanded  the  complete  separation  of  the  grand- 
duchy  from  the  kingdom  of  Prussia,  and  an  insurrection  broke 
out  under  Mieroslawski.  After  a  little  fighting  it  was  put  down 
by  the  Prussian  troops  in  the  months  of  April  and  M^Fr ;  and  the 
rebellion  in  Cracow  met  with  the  same  fate  at  the  hands  of  the 
Austrians. 

The  constitutional  convention  was  opened  in  Berlin  on  the 
22d  of  May.  Not  only  was  the  best  political  intelligence  drawn 
off  by  the  parliament  at  Frankfort,  but  the  convention  was,  fur- 
thermore, wholly  under  the  influence  of  the  Berlin  demagogues, 
who,  after  the  retreat  of  the  soldiers,  felt  themselves  masters  of 
the  city  and  country,  and  were  quite  ready  to  play  the  sovereign 
for  once  by  way  of  change.  The  draft  of  a  new  constitution  laid 
before  it  by  the  ministry  was  rejected,  and  the  discussion  of  an- 
other one  began ;  but,  owing  to  frequent  interpellations  of  the 
ministers,  and  time  spent  in  disposing  of  the  burning  questions 
of  the  day,  no  more  progress  was  made  here  than  in  Vienna  and 
Frankfort.  At  every  important  debate  the  Schauspielhaus,  where 
the  sessions  were  held,  was  surrounded  by  a  crowd  which  threat- 
ened with  violence  every  one  that  did  not  speak  or  vote  as  it 
wished.  On  the  15th  of  June  the  arsenal  was  stormed  and  plun- 
dered by  the  populace.  The  disaffection  and  weakness  of  the 
municipal  authorities  and  the  citizen  guard  was  manifest.  The 
convention  adopted  a  resolution  that  the  ministry  should  warn 
the  officers  against  reactionary  tendencies,  and  make  it  a  point  of 
honor  with  them  to  leave  the  service  in  case  they  were  not  in 
harmony  with  the  new  political  principles ;  whereupon  the  min- 
isters handed  in  their  resignations,  and  the  Pfuel  ministry  was 
formed  (September  7th).  Orders  and  titles  of  nobility  were 
abolished,  and  distinctions  of  rank  done  away  with.  On  the  31st 
of  October,  on  the  receipt  of  the  news  from  Vienna,  Waldeck,  the 


REVOLUTION  SUPPRESSED  AXD  A  CONSTITUTION  GRANTED.  229 

leader  of  the  Left,  moved  that  the  ministry  be  called  upon  "  to 
employ  all  the  means  in  its  power  for  the  protection  of  the  en- 
dangered liberties  of  the  people  in  Vienna."  Matters  reached 
such  a  pass  that  the  crowd  drew  knives  against  the  moderate 
members  of  the  convention  and  threatened  them  with  the  halter; 
and  all  saw  that  they  were  rapidly  approaching  the  same  state  of 
affairs  which  had  recently  prevailed  in  Vienna.  It  was.  the  res- 
toration of  order  in  that  city  by  Windischgratz  which  encouraged 
the  adoption  of  a  similar  course  in  Berlin.  Pfuel  handed  in  his 
resignation,  and  on  the  2d  of  November  Count  Brandenburg,  a 
natural  son  of  Frederic  William  II.,  announced  to  the  convention 
that  he  was  intrusted  with  the  formation  of  a  new  cabinet.  The 
convention  sent  a  deputation  to  the  king  at  Potsdam  to  protest 
against  the  choice  of  so  aristocratic  a  person,  and  to  demand  a 
popular  ministry.  The  king  was  immovable ;  and  Jakoby,  the  rep- 
resentative from  Konigsberg,  said  to  him  on  leaving,  "  That  is  the 
misfortune  of  kings:  they  will  never  listen  to  the  truth" — words 
which,  spoken  at  that  time,  did  more  harm  than  good.  The  cabi- 
net was  formed  on  the  9th,  and  was  really  under  the  direction  of 
von  Manteuffel,  minister  of  the  interior.  Its  first  greeting  to  the 
convention  was  a  royal  message  informing  it  that,  in  order  to 
guard  against  the  appearance  of  intimidation,  it  was  transferred 
from  Berlin  to  Brandenburg,  and  prorogued  from  the  9th  of  No- 
vember to  the  27th.  At  the  same  time  General  Wrangel  received 
orders  to  enter  Berlin  with  a  large  force.  The  city  was  placed 
in  a  state  of  siege,  the  citizen  guard  disbanded,  a  general  disarm- 
ament ordered,  and  political  associations  suppressed.  The  at- 
tempts of  the  radical  majority  of  the  convention  under  their 
president,  von  Unrnh,  to  continue  their  sessions  elsewhere,  after 
the  closing  of  the  Schauspielhaus,  were  rendered  futile  by  the 
precautions  of  the  police,  and  they  hardly  succeeded  in  voting 
that  the  payment  of  taxes  to  the  Brandenburg  government  be 
refused.  But  they  had  no  means  to  render  effective  such  a 
measure,  which  was  meant  to  hurl  the  brands  of  revolution  into 
every  hamlet  in  the  kingdom.  November  27th  the  members  of 
the  Right  met  in  Brandenburg.  December  1st,  about  100  mem- 
bers of  the  opposition  appeared,  but  only  to  repeat  their  protest 
against  the  transfer  from  Berlin.  After  their  withdrawal  there 
was  no  longer  a  quorum,  and  so  the  same  thing  happened  here 
which  occurred  a  few  months  later  in  Kremsier — the  convention 


230  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

was  dissolved  on  the  5th  of  December,  and  the  government  pub- 
lished a  constitution  of  its  own  making.  This  constitution  aban- 
doned the  old  Prussian  system  of  different  estates,  and  rested  on 
democratic  principles.  Two  chambers  were  to  be  elected,  and  the 
constitution  was  to  be  laid  before  them  on  their  opening  in  Ber- 
lin on  the  26th  of  February,  1849,  for  examination  and  acceptance. 
By  this  step  Prussia  entered  the  ranks  of  modern,  constitutional 
states. 

The  more  rapidly  the  two  great  military  states  of  Germany  rose 
again  from  the  ruins  of  the  revolution,  and  on  the  basis  of  the 
state  of  siege  regained  a  firm  footing  in  their  capitals,  the  more 
uncertain  became  the  position  of  the  March  ministers  in  the  other 
states,  and  the  more  speedily  the  days  of  Frankfort  drew  toward 
their  close.  September  21st,  1848,  the  revolutionary  Struve  with 
a  party  of  volunteers  made  an  irruption  into  Baden  from  Basle. 
His  followers  were  scattered  by  General  Hoffmann  in  an  engage- 
ment at  Stauffen,  September  24th,  and  Struve  was  captured,  and 
imprisoned  at  Bruchsal.  Hecker,  despairing  of  the  success  of  his 
plans,  had  turned  his  back  on  his  fatherland  and  embarked  for 
North  America  shortly  before.  In  Frankfort  the  situation  was 
gradually  becoming  simpler.  By  the  end  of  the  year  the  funda- 
mental rights  of  the  German  people  were  at  last  disposed  of. 
The  numerous  liberties  which  the  German  citizen  was  to  enjoy 
looked  very  fine,  but  who  was  to  guarantee  their  enjoyment? 
Austria,  Prussia,  Bavaria,  Hanover,  and  Saxony  refused  before- 
hand to  accept  them.  If  the  most  powerful  states  proved  refrac- 
tory in  the  matter  of  fundamental  rights,  how  would  it  be  with 
the  general  constitution,  where  wholly  different  questions,  and 
questions  intimately  affecting  the  sovereign  rights  of  the  individ- 
ual princes,  were  involved?  They  must  not  merely  take  into  con- 
sideration the  establishment  of  a  House  of  the  States  and  a  House 
of  the  People,  and  their  respective  powers,  but  likewise  the  neces- 
sary limitations  of  the  independence  of  sovereign  states,  the  rela- 
tions of  the  two  great  powers  to  one  another  and  the  other  states 
of  the  Confederation,  and  the  question  of  a  head  for  the  Confed- 
eration. It  now  became  apparent  what  folly  had  been  committed 
in  beginning  with  the  fundamental  rights  when  the  revolution  was 
at  its  height,  and  taking  up  the  constitution  at  a  time  when  the 
reaction  was  gathering  strength.  It  was  only  during  the  first 
three  months,  while  the  strength  of  the  people  was  irresistible 


THE   GERMAN   CONFEDERATION  SEEKS  A   HEAD.        231 

and  the  power  of  the  monarchs  was  broken,  that  a  new  Germany, 
with  or  without  Austria,  could  have  been  founded.  At  that  time 
even  Frederic  William  IV.  would  have  accepted  the  imperial 
throne  from  the  hands  of  the  people.  Matters  had  taken  quite  a 
different  form  in  1849,  when  Austria  was  erecting  her  monuments 
of  victory  in  Italy,  Prague,  and  Vienna,  and  was  on  the  very  point, 
albeit  with  foreign  assistance,  of  subduing  the  Magyars,  and  it  was 
no  longer  the  weakness  of  the  monarchs,  but  that  of  the  people, 
which  was  apparent. 

After  Prince  Schwarzenberg  had  announced  as  part  of  his  pro- 
gramme the  indivisibility  of  the  collective  Austrian  provinces  and 
kingdoms,  the  Frankfort  parliament  had  either  to  renounce  the 
wished-for  unity  of  Germany,  in  order  to  retain  the  German  prov- 
inces of  Austria  in  the  Confederation,  or  abandon  those  provinces 
in  order  to  attain  German  unity.  The  question  whether  Austria 
was  to  be  admitted  into  the  new  confederation,  or  excluded  from 
it,  brought  about  a  serious  schism  in  the  existing  majority.  The 
Grossdeutsche  wished  to  admit  it,  the  Kleindeutsche  to  exclude  it. 
The  former  regarded  any  diminution  of  Germany  as  a  disgrace 
and  a  misfortune,  the  latter  maintained  that  a  small  and  compact 
Germany  was  stronger  than  a  large  and  loosely  united  one.  Henry 
von  Gagern,  who  had  become  the  head  of  the  ministry  on  Decem- 
ber 16tb,  brought  forward  a  proposition  for  an  inner  confedera- 
tion, into  which  Austria  should  not  be  admitted,  and  with  which 
its  relation  should  be  one  of  union  merely.  This  measure  was 
adopted,  to  the  great  chagrin  of  the  Administrator  and  the  Aus- 
trian delegates.  Thereupon  Prince  Schwarzenberg  announced 
without  hesitation  that  Austria  would  neither  let  itself  be  ex- 
pelled from  the  German  confederation,  nor  let  its  German  prov- 
inces be  separated  from  the  indivisible  monarchy.  When  it  was 
decided  that  a  ruling  prince  should  be  set  at  the  head  of  the  Ger- 
man confederation,  and  on  the  28th  of  March,  1849,  the  heredi- 
tary dignity  of  "Emperor  of  the  Germans"  was  conferred  upon 
the  King  of  Prussia,  not  only  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  but  other 
provinces  as  well,  declared  that  they  would  not  submit  to  the  new 
emperor.  The  King  of  Wurtemberg  significantly  said,  "To  the 
House  of  Hohenzollern  I  will  never  submit ;  to  the  Emperor  of 
Austria,  had  he  been  chosen,  I  would  have  submitted." 

A  deputation  of  thirty-four  members  brought  the  weighty  in- 
telligence to  Berlin.  April  3d,  the  king  received  them  in  the  Rit- 


232  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

tersaal  of  his  palace.  At  first  lie  returned  an  indefinite  answer 
to  the  address  of  Simson,  the  president,  but  afterward  he  refused 
point-blank.  A  crown  the  otilv  prerogative  of  which  was  a  sus- 
pensive veto  had  in  itself  but  little  charm  for  him.  Its  value 
sunk  still  lower  when  he  reflected  that  he  would  have  to  assert 
his  claims  by  war  with  Austria  and  the  four  German  kingdoms 
— perhaps  also  with  some  foreign  state — and  risk  losing  his  Prus- 
sian crown  for  the  sake  of  winning  this  one.  Perhaps,  notwith- 
standing all  these  obstacles,  a  Frederic  the  Great  would  have  ac- 
cepted, and  brought  Prussia  to  the  front  in  Germany.  Frederic 
William  IV.  could  only  accept  it  in  case  the  German  princes  con- 
sented to  his  doing  so,  or,  rather,  in  case  they,  and  not  the  Nation- 
al Assembly,  which  he  hated  as  revolutionary,  offered  it  to  him  of 
their  own  free  will ;  in  case  the  imperial  crown  were  a  crown  by 
the  grace  of  God,  and  did  not  (as  he  wrote  to  Bunsen)  "  horri- 
bly pollute  the  bearer  with  the  carrion  smell  of  the  revolution 
of  1848."  The  Prussian  Chamber,  which  came  together  on  the 
26th  of  February,  sought  to  exert  pressure  on  the  king;  and 
after  twenty -eight  governments  had  signified  their  acceptance  of 
the  constitution  and  the  hereditary  empire  of  Frederic  William, 
it  voted  to  recommend  the  government  to  assent  to  the  constitu- 
tion, and  accept  the  imperial  dignity.  April  27th,  the  Branden- 
burg ministry  dissolved  the  Chambers,  and  set  to  work  to  influ- 
ence the  German  governments  by  underhand  means  to  confer  the 
central  administration  on  Prussia. 

The  Frankfort  parliament  was  wounded  in  a  vital  part  by  this 
rebuff  from  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  by  the  unpropitious  attitude 
of  his  government.  Its  continued  existence  was  merely  an  illu- 
sion. Its  embarrassments  increased  each  day.  The  King  of  Wiir- 
temberg  had  been  induced,  by  a  petition  enforced  by  the  threats 
of  the  mob,  to  accept  the  Frankfort  constitution  ;  but  from  Aus- 
tria only  hostility  was  to  be  expected ;  while  Hanover  and  Sax- 
onv,  following  Prussia's  example,  dissolved  their  chambers,  which 
were  urging  acceptance  of  the  constitution ;  and  Bavaria  did  not 
summon  hers  at  all.  The  Diet  responded  to  all  this  by  its  vote 
of  May  4th,  in  which  the  administrations,  parliaments,  and  munic- 
ipalities— in  short,  the  whole  German  people — were  appealed  to. 
If  Prussia  should  not  be  represented  at  that  Diet,  the  ruler  of  the 
state  containing  the  greatest  number  of  souls  among  those  repre- 
sented was  to  enter  upon  the  rights  and  duties  of  chief  of  the 


REVOLT  IN  SAXONY,  THE  PALATINATE,  AND  BADEN.  233 

empire,  under  the  title  of  Stadtholder  of  the  same.  This  was  a 
challenge  to  Prussia,  and  an  incitement  to  revolt  to  the  people  in 
those  states  which  had  not  recognized  the  constitution.  The  con- 
sequences were  soon  to  become  apparent. 

In  all  Germany  great  excitement  was  manifested  when  it  be- 
came evident  that  the  opposition  of  a  few  princes  was  about  to 
neutralize  all  that  had  been  won  by  the  March  revolutions,  and 
frustrate  the  union  of  the  divided  parts  of  the  German  father- 
land. The  democratic  party  once  more  resorted  to  desperate 
measures.  In  the  month  of  May,  1849,  there  were  riotous  dem- 
onstrations in  Crefeld,  Elberfeld,  Diisseldorf,  Iserlohn,  and  other 
Prussian  cities.  But  the  government  was  strong  enough  not  only 
to  suppress  every  such  movement  in  its  own  dominions,  but  also 
to  assist  other  princes  with  its  bayonets.  In  Dresden  the  people 
resolved  to  compel  the  king  by  force  of  arms  to  accept  the  Ger- 
man constitution,  a  step  which  he  had  resolutely  refused  to  take. 
On  the  3d  of  May  the  soldiers  were  attacked  by  the  citizen  guard 
and  a  number  of  volunteers.  That  night  the  king,  with  his  fam- 
ily and  ministers,  fled  to  the  fortress  of  Kdnigstein  ;  and  from 
there  application  was  made  to  the  King  of  Prussia  for  help.  A 
provisional  government,  under  Tzschirner,  Heubner,  and  Todt,  was 
set  up  in  Dresden  ;  and  Bakunin,  a  Russian  refugee,  was  intrusted 
with  the  arrangements  for  defence.  Re-enforcements  came  up 
from  the  country,  but  Prussian  troops  also  came ;  and  the  city 
was  taken  after  an  obstinate  resistance  lasting  from  the  6th  to 
the  9th.  Some  of  the  leaders  escaped  to  the  Palatinate  or  to 
Baden ;  Heubner  and  Bakunin  were  captured.  A  state  of  siege, 
military  tribunals,  and  exceptional  laws  replaced  the  former  free- 
dom ;  and  for  many  years  the  prison  of  Waldheim  was  peopled 
with  the  prisoners  of  that  May. 

At  the  same  time  a  rebellion  broke  out  in  the  Palatinate.  The 
natives  of  the  Palatinate  are  vivacious  and  very  susceptible  to 
political  impressions.  Having  in  any  case  but  little  sympathy 
with  the  Bavarian  government,  the  present  hostile  attitude  of  that 
government  toward  the  Frankfort  constitution  developed  actual 
hatred  among  them.  At  a  great  popular  gathering  on  the  1st  of 
May  separation  from  Bavaria  and  the  establishment  of  a  popular 
government  were  resolved  upon.  A  people's  guard  was  formed ; 
and  volunteers  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  as  well  as  numerous 
deserters  from  the  garrisons  of  Landau  and  Germersheim,  poured 


234  POLITICAL   HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

in.  At  first  tenner  von  Fenneberg,  a  quondam  Austrian  officer 
and  participant  in  the  October  revolution  in  Vienna,  was  set  at 
the  head  of  this  guard,  and  later  Bleuker,  formerly  travelling  clerk 
for  a  wine  firm.  The  rebellion  spread  into  Baden,  although  the 
government  of  that  country  exercised  a  liberal  rule,  and  had  ac- 
cepted the  constitution.  The  country  had  been  too  thoroughly 
undermined  by  Hecker  and  Struve  and  their  like  to  be  content 
with  orderly  freedom  ;  a  mild  form  of  anarchy  presented  itself  to 
many  as  the  ideal  of  their  wishes.  In  addition  to  this,  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  troops  was  completely  relaxed ;  and  they  openly 
declared  that,  in  case  of  revolution,  they  would  not  fire  on  their 
"brothers,"  but  on  their  officers.  On  the  llth  of  May  the  gar- 
rison of  Rastatt  rebelled.  Hoffmann,  the  minister  of  war,  hast- 
ened thither  from  Carlsruhe,  with  the  troops  that  remained  faith- 
ful ;  but  it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  and  the  greater  part  of  his 
officers  escaped  from  the  abuse  of  the  drunken  and  quarrelsome 
soldiers.  Citizen  guard  and  regular  troops  fraternized.  Affairs 
took  a  similar  course  in  Lorrach,  Freiburg,  and  Bruchsal ;  and  in 
the  last-named  place  Struve  was  released  from  prison.  On  the 
13th  of  May  a  popular  meeting  at  Offenburg  demanded  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Chambers,  the  summoning  of  a  constitutional 
convention,  dismissal  of  the  Bekk  ministry,  and  general  amnesty. 
Brentano,  a  lawyer,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  numerous  popu- 
lar associations,  could  scarcely  prevent  the  proclamation  of  the 
republic.  However,  the  resolutions  were  extreme  enough  as  it 
was.  The  revolution  was  declared  permanent,  a  national  com- 
mittee appointed,  and,  by  way  of  recognizing  the  communistic 
ideas,  a  "  national  pension  fund  for  citizens  become  incapable  of 
work  "  was  proposed. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  a  mutiny  broke  out  in  Carls- 
ruhe. Two  companies  of  soldiers,  returning  in  a  drunken  con- 
dition from  Bruchsal,  gutted  a  barrack,  demolished  the  dwelling 
of  an  unpopular  colonel,  killed  Laroche,  a  captain  of  cavalry,  who 
opposed  their  proceedings,  together  with  a  non-commissioned  of- 
ficer and  a  common  soldier,  and  made  an  assault  upon  the  arsenal, 
\vhich  was  gallantly  defended  by  the  citizen  guard.  In  the  night 
the  duke  and  his  family,  escorted  by  dragoons  and  artillery,  fled 
to  Germersheim,  and  then  to  the  little  town  of  Lauterburg,  in 
Alsace.  Thence  he  repaired  to  Frankfort ;  but,  as  the  central  ad- 
ministration could  not  support  him  with  a  sufficient  number  of 


THE   REVOLUTION   TRIUMPHANT  IN  BADEN.  235 

troops,  he  applied  to  the  Prussian  government  On  condition  of 
joining  the  League  of  the  Three  Kings,  and  accepting  a  ministry 
of  Prussian  tendencies,  his  request  was  granted,  and  the  troops 
stationed  in  readiness  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kreuznach  were  at 
once  ordered  to  advance.  On  the  evening  of  May  14th,  after  the 
grand -duke's  departure,  Brentano,  with  the  national  committee, 
entered  Carlsruhe  and  took  possession  of  the  government.  The 
Chambers  were  dissolved,  and  a  constitutional  convention,  the 
composition  of  which  was  of  such  a  character  that  Brentano  had 
reason  to  be  ashamed  of  it,  was  summoned  to  meet  on  the  10th 
of  June.  All  persons  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty 
capable  of  bearing  arms  were  called  out,  as  in  the  wars  of  the 
first  French  revolution ;  the  arsenals  were  opened,  civil  and  mili- 
tary commissioners  were  appointed,  and  the  attempt  was  made  to 
supply  the  lack  of  great  ideas  and  national  feeling  by  the  immod- 
erate use  of  spirituous  liquors.  Adventurers  came  from  all  parts 
of  Germany,  from  France,  Hungary,  and  Poland ;  the  revolution- 
ary party  in  all  Europe  had  a  rendezvous  in  Baden.  An  offen- 
sive and  defensive  alliance  was  concluded  with  the  Palatinate. 
The  army  was  at  first  placed  under  the  command  of  a  quondam 
lieutenant,  Sigel  (afterward  General  Sigel  in  the  American  civil 
war),  and  later  under  that  of  the  Polish  Mieroslawski,  who  had 
within  the  last  few  months  conducted  unsuccessful  revolutionary 
campaigns  in  Posen  and  Sicily.  In  the  Palatinate  a  former  Po- 
lish general,  Sznayde,  born  in  Poland  of  German  parents  named 
Schneider,  was  put  in  command.  The  question  now  was  whether 
the  conflagration  could  be  carried  over  into  the  neighboring  states, 
and  first  of  all  into  Hesse-Darmstadt  and  Wurtemberg.  If  this 
could  not  be  done,  then  the  new  revolution  must  wear  itself  out. 
In  Darmstadt  the  murder  of  Councillor  Prinz,  on  the  24th  of 
May,  while  attempting  to  persuade  a  popular  meeting  in  Oberlau- 
denbach  to  disperse  peaceably,  so  enraged  the  soldiers  that,  far 
from  showing  any  inclination  to  make  common  cause  with  the 
Baden  revolutionists,  they  defeated  them  at  Heppenheim,  May 
30th,  and  drove  them  back  to  Heidelberg.  The  situation  was 
different  in  Wurtemberg,  where,  to  the  unreliable  character  of  the 
troops  and  the  general  political  excitement,  a  further  and  unex- 
pected element  was  added. 

In  the  mean  time  the  national  assembly  in  Frankfort  was  hast- 
ening with  quick  steps  to  its  dissolution.     Its  impotence  had  re- 


236  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  KECENT   TIMES. 

cently  been  manifested  in  the  recall  of  the  greater  part  of  its 
members  by  their  respective  governments.  The  Austrian  govern- 
ment answered  its  action  with  regard  to  the  obligatory  character 
of  the  constitution  and  in  the  choice  of  an  emperor  by  recalling 
all  its  subjects  among  the  delegates.  The  Prussian  government 
took  the  same  step  when  the  assembly,  on  the  10th  of  May,  de- 
clared the  Prussian  intervention  in  Dresden  to  be  a  grave  breach 
of  the  peace  of  the  empire.  There  were,  also,  disagreements 
with  the  Administrator.  He  became  tired  of  his  thankless  office, 
and  gradually  fell  back  to  his  sectional  stand-point.  Completely 
abandoning  the  ideas  of  1848,  he  named  a  ministry  consisting  of 
Gravell,  Jochrnus,  and  Detmold,  a  choice  which  was  regarded  as 
an  "  insult  to  the  principle  of  national  representation."  In  his 
stead  it  was  decided  to  choose  a  stadtholder,  whose  office  it  should 
be  to  convene  the  National  Assembly  according  to  the  provisions 
of  the  constitution.  The  right  of  governments  to  withdraw  their 
commission  from  delegates  chosen  by  the  people  was  contested. 
But,  even  if  such  views  with  regard  to  rights  were  correct,  the 
question  still  remained  whether  no  heed  was  to  be  paid  to  actual 
conditions.  Abstract  rights  and  sentimental  politics  might  crown 
\their  defenders  with  a  halo,  but  the  benefit  which  the  country  de- 
rived from  them  was  very  slight.  This  was  the  view  taken  by 
Gagern  and  his  followers.  The  contending  parties  had  reached 
opposite  poles ;  an  intermediate  position  between  revolution  and 
reaction  no  longer  existed.  Those  who  wished  to  introduce  and 
carry  through  such  measures  as  the  above  would  have  to  be  ready 
to  defend  them  with  arms.  Matters  having  reached  such  a  pass, 
more  than  100  members,  among  them  Gagern,  Dahlmann,  Arndt, 
and  Welcker,  resigned,  on  the  21st  and  23d  of  May. 

Through  their  withdrawal,  the  Left  acquired  the  upper  hand; 
but  the  ranks  of  the  Assembly  were  so  thinned  that  the  number 
requisite  to  constitute  a  quorum  had  to  be  reduced  to  100.  The 
Bavarian  government  and  several  others  recalled  the  representa- 
tives from  their  states,  and  adjournment  seemed  inevitable.  But 
instead  of  that  a  removal  was  determined  upon.  In  the  hope  of 
raising  a  general  tempest  in  behalf  of  the  constitution  among  the 
south  German  people,  the  rump  parliament  left  Frankfort,  which 
was  too  decidedly  within  the  sphere  of  activity  of  the  Prussian 
troops,  and  migrated  to  Stuttgart,  100  and  odd  strong.  On  May 
30th  they  said  farewell  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  and  on  June  6tb 


THE   RUMP   PARLIAMENT   IN   STUTTGART   DISPERSED.    237 

they  held  their  first  session  in  Stuttgart.  A  regency  of  five  mom 
bers — Raveaux,Vogt,  Henry  Simon  of  Breslau,  Schiiler,  and  Bech 
er — was  appointed,  the  Administrator  deposed,  the  rebellion  iu 
Baden  and  the  Palatinate  approved  of,  and  men  and  money  de-  i 
manded  from  the  Wiirtemberg  government.  A  few  days'  delay 
and  there  would  be  the  same  state  of  affairs  in  Wiirtemberg  as  in 
Baden.  The  popular  associations  were  trying  to  bring  this  about; 
the  public  meeting  at  Rcutlingen,  May  27th,  would  fain  have  im- 
itated the  part  played  by  that  of  Offenburg ;  and  the  republican 
Fickler,  Hecker's  friend,  was  despatched  from  Carlsruhe  to  Stutt- 
gart with  considerable  money  to  be  expended  among  the  soldiers. 
That  the  country  might  not  be  exposed  to  danger  by  the  acts  of 
an  assembly  which  no  longer  represented  the  will  of  the  German 
people,  but  merely  the  sentiments  of  a  party,  the  government 
gave  notice  to  the  rump  parliament  that  the  hospitality  of  Wiir- 
temberg was  withdrawn,  and  called  upon  it  to  remove  to  some 
other  place.  As  no  attention  was  paid  to  this,  Romer,  the  soul 
of  the  ministry,  a  man  firm  of  hand  and  hard  of  head,  took  the 
bold  step  of  barring  the  riding-school,  where  they  met,  June  18th, 
and  dispersing  with  infantry  and  cavalry  the  delegates,  who  were 
repairing  thither  in  procession.  Among  these  were  his  father-in- 
law,  Schott,  and  his  friend  Uhland.  It  was  a  tragic  provision  of 
fate  that  a  man  who  had  done  so  much  toward  summoning  the 
parliament,  who  had  sat  in  the  Committee  of  Seven  and  the  pre- 
liminary parliament,  should  give  the  death-blow  to  his  work,  and 
subject  himself  to  life-long  reproach  from  the  adherents  of  his  old 
party  for  having  dispersed  the  parliament  he  helped  to  summon. 
Representatives  from  other  states  received  the  command  to  leave 
Wiirtemberg  at  once;  some  of  them  went  to  Baden,  and  others 
to  Switzerland.  Fickler  was  arrested  and  sent  to  the  fortress  of 
Asberg,  and  the  troops  were  retained  in  their  allegiance. 

Accordingly,  the  revolt  in  Baden  and  the  Palatinate  found  no 
support  in  the  neighboring  states,  and  had  to  meet  by  itself  the 
attack  of  the  Prussians  who  had  been  called  in.  While  the  troops  j 
of  the  Confederation  under  General  Peuker,  the  former  minister 
of  war,  strengthened  by  a  Prussian  division  under  General  Groben, 
advanced  along  the  Bergstrasse,  the  Prince  of  Prussia,  who  com- 
manded the  main  body,  marched  from  the  Nahe  into  the  Palati- 
nate, drove  the  volunteers  back  across  the  Rhine  with  little  diffi- 
culty, and  relieved  the  fortresses  of  Landau,  and  Gerraersbeim, 


238  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

which  had  been  almost  stripped  of  troops.  After  the  reduction 
of  the  Palatinate,  which  was  at  once  reoccupied  by  Bavarian 
troops  under  Prince  Taxis,  the  Prussians  crossed  the  Rhine  at 
Philippsburg,  and  on  the  20th  of  June  defeated  the  Badish  army, 
15,000  strong,  at  Waghausel.  Mieroslawski  was  again  defeated 
at  Durlach,  and  finally,  on  the  29th  and  30th  of  June,  on  the 
Murg.  Notwithstanding  all  their  bravery,  there  was  no  further 
hope  for  the  rebels,  and  they  had  to  retreat,  10,000  strong,  into 
Swiss  territory.  The  fortress  of  Rastatt,  which  held  out  in  vain 
hopes  of  the  success  of  the  red  republic  in  France,  and  of  a  vic- 
tory in  Hungary,  surrendered  at  discretion  on  the  29th  of  July. 
The  whole  land  was  in  the  power  of  the  victors.  The  court-mar- 
tials held  on  the  captured  leaders  were  no  more  merciful  than 
in  Vienna.  Several  were  shot ;  among  others  von  Triitzschler, 
a  member  of  the  Frankfort  parliament ;  Tiedemann,  governor 
of  Rastatt;  Elsenhaus,  editor  of  the  Festungsboten ;  and  Boning, 
a  veteran  of  the  Greek  war  for  freedom.  Gottfried  Kinkel, 
the  poet,  who  had  taken  part  in  the  storming  of  the  arsenal  in 
Siegburg,  was  captured  on  Badish  soil,  and  condemned  to  impris- 
onment, with  hard  labor,  for  life.  Through  the  brave  assistance 
of  his  friend  Carl  Schurz,  he  escaped  to  England,  after  a  year  of 
physical  and  mental  torture.  At  the  invitation  of  the  Provisional 
Government,  Hecker  had  returned  from  America,  to  inspire  the 
people  to  great  deeds  by  the  magic  of  his  name.  He  arrived  in 
Strasburg  on  the  16th  of  July,  only  to  hear  that  all  was  lost, 
whereupon  he  journeyed  back  to  his  transatlantic  farm.  Bren- 
tano,  Struve,  Sigel,  and  others  followed  the  same  road,  while  the 
non-commissioned  officers  and  soldiers  who  had  taken  refuge  in 
Switzerland  returned  after  a  time  to  their  homes.  Until  the  Ba- 
dish army  was  reorganized  the  country  was  occupied  by  the  Prus- 
sians. The  recovery  of  the  country  from  the  wounds  inflicted 
upon  it  by  this  revolution  was  very  slow.  As  for  Grand-duke  Leo- 
pold, he  received  such  a  shock  from  his  late  experiences  that  he 
shortly  fell  ill,  and  his  death  ensued  on  the  24th  of  April,  1852. 

It  was  not  without  jealousy  that  Austria  saw  Prussia  carry  its 
victorious  eagle  up  the  Rhine  to  Constance,  and  set  firm  foot  in 
south  Germany  by  the  acquisition  of  the  Hohenzollern  lands  and 
the  family  castle,  which  the  related  princes  of  Hohenzollern-Sig- 
maringen  and  Hechingen  made  over  by  the  treaty  of  succession 
of  December  7th,  1849.  But  the  Prince  of  Prussia  did  not  allow 


DISAGREEMENT  BETWEEN  AUSTRIA  AND   HUNGARY.    239 

himself  to  be  dislodged  by  the  energetic  Schwarzenberg,  and  the 
Jatter  was  at  that  very  moment  occupied  with  the  final  struggles 
in  Hungary.  The  disputes  between  Hungary  and  the  Vienna 
cabinet  were  of  ancient  date.  Hungary  aimed  at  the  greatest 
possible  independence  from  Austria — at  a  mere  personal  union  in 
which  even  the  army  and  the  revenue  should  be  dependent  on  the 
good-will  of  the  Hungarian  parliament.  The  Vienna  cabinet,  see- 
ing in  this  the  beginning  of  the  dismemberment  of  the  polyglot 
empire,  sought,  as  far  as  possible,  to  evade  the  consequences  of 
the  Hungarian  constitution.  Louis  Kossuth  was  regarded  as  the 
soul  of  the  new  opposition — a  lawyer  and  journalist,  who  shone 
neither  by  reason  of  vast  knowledge  nor  special  endowments  as  a 
statesman,  but,  that  which  is  of  most  weight  in  times  of  excite- 
ment, by  the  possession  of  an  irresistible  eloquence.  Kossuth  had 
been  the  chief  agitator  in  the  matter  of  the  protective-union,  by 
which  the  use  of  Austrian  manufactures  was  interdicted  for  the 
benefit  of  native  industry,  so  that  even  the  richest  families  went 
clothed  in  coarse  material.  His  importance  increased  when  he 
was  elected  to  parliament  in  1846.  There  his  position  was  like 
that  of  an  officer  in  command  of  his  regiment.  On  the  12th 
of  November,  1847,  Emperor  Ferdinand  opened  the  last  parlia- 
ment in  Presburg  with  a  speech  from  the  throne  in  the  Hungarian 
tongue,  therein  making  a  concession  to  the  decision  of  the  parlia- 
ment that  Hungarian  was  to  be  used  as  the  official  language  in- 
stead of  Latin.  Out  of  gratitude  Archduke  Stephen  was  chosen 
Palatinus  (viceroy)  of  Hungary  by  the  parliament  in  place  of  his 
father,  Joseph,  recently  deceased.  After  the  February  revolution 
the  tone  of  the  parliament  became  constantly  bolder.  Kossuth's 
speech  of  March  3d,  calling  for  a  constitution  for  all  the  various 
Austrian  lands,  suggested  the  immediate  aim  of  the  Vienna  revo- 
lution of  March  13th;  and  when,  on  the  15th,  a  Hungarian  depu- 
tation came  to  Vienna  to  lay  before  the  emperor  an  address  em- 
bodying the  demands  of  the  parliament,  Kossuth  was  the  lion  of 
the  day.  As  others  have  done  under  the  same  circumstances,  the 
emperor  promised  everything.  August  10th  he  closed  the  parlia- 
ment in  person,  confirming  its  decisions  with  regard  to  a  separate 
ministry,  universal  suffrage  in  the  election  of  delegates,  union  of 
Hungary  and  Transylvania,  abolition  of  the  freedom  from  taxa- 
tion enjoyed  by  the  nobility,  and  abrogation  of  all  feudal  burdens. 
The  new  Hungarian  ministry,  in  which  Count  Louis  Batthyani 


240  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

presided  and  Kossuth  administered  the  finances,  established  itself 
in  Pesth,  where  from  that  time  the  sessions  of  the  Hungarian 
Reichstag  were  held.  The  first  one  held  at  that  place  was  opened 
by  Archduke  Stephen,  as  sovereign  representative  of  the  emperor, 
July  5th,  1848.  It  consisted  of  the  Table  of  Magnates,  which 
was  now  called  the  Upper  House,  and  the  Table  of  Estates,  or 
Lower  House.  It  was  a  necessary'  consequence  of  the  prevailing 
spirit  that  the  first  of  these,  formerly  of  overweening  importance, 
should  sink  into  insignificance,  while  the  latter  came  to  the  front, 
or  rather  was  pushed  into  that  position  by  the  Pesth  students  and 
the  youth  in  general.  These  gentlemen,  as  was  the  case  in  Vienna, 
dictated  the  policy  to  be  pursued,  and  already  acted  as  though 
for  them  Austria  no  longer  existed.  They  refused  to  assume  a 
part  of  the  Austrian  national  debt,  and  treated  the  Hungarian  de- 
pendencies—  Croatia,  Slavonia,  and  the  Military  Frontier,  with 
Transylvania  —  with  the  same  disregard  to  their  wishes  which 
they  had  indignantly  complained  of  in  their  own  treatment  by 
the  Austrian  government.  This  bore  its  fruit.  A  deputation  of 
Magyars  in  Vienna  demanded  and  obtained  the  union  of  these 
provinces  with  Hungary  to  form  one  great  kingdom ;  but  at  the 
same  time,  in  order  to  avert  this  threatened  evil,  a  Croatian  depu- 
tation was  besieging  the  imperial  cabinet  with  entreaties  for  com- 
plete separation  from  Hungary,  and  for  the  erection  into  a  triple 
kingdom  of  Croatia,  Slavonia,  and  Dalmatia,  with  the  Military 
Frontier.  This  would  at  the  same  time  have  given  these  coun- 
tries greater  independence  with  reference  to  Austria.  This  jeal- 
ousy of  the  various  nationalities  was  used  by  the  Austrian  gov- 
ernment for  the  purpose  of  checking,  waging  war  upon,  and  put- 
ing  down  one  by  means  of  the  other.  Baron  Jellachich,  a  Magyar 
hater,  who  was  very  popular  at  court,  was  named  Banus  of  Croa- 
tia, and  the  government  supported  him  in  his  preparations  against 
Hungary.  Although  it  removed  him  at  the  complaint  of  the 
Hungarian  ministry,  yet  it  restored  him  to  office  when  the  court 
espoused  his  cause.  Jellachich  set  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
troops  and  marched  into  Hungary  as  the  champion  of  a  united 
Austria,  while  in  the  south-east,  in  the  Banate,  the  Servians  and 
Frontiers -men  were  skirmishing  with  the  Hungarian  soldiers. 
To  make  head  against  present  and  prospective  dangers,  Kossuth 
carried  through  the  Reichstag  a  levy  of  200,000  national  troops 
(honveds),  and  the  issue  of  42,000,000  gulden  ($21,000,000)  paper- 


KOSSUTH  AS   DICTATOR.  241 

money  (Kossuth-notes).  Matters  had  become  so  complicated  on] 
all  sides  that  only  the  sword  could  loose  the  knot.  Archduke ; 
Stephen's  attempts  at  mediation  were  vain.  He  laid  down  hi* 
office  as  Palatinus,  and  withdrew  into  a  sort  of  voluntary  exile  on 
his  hereditary  estate  of  Schaumburg,  on  the  Lahn.  Batthyani  left 
the  ministry,  and  all  the  power  was  in  the  hands  of  Kossuth  and 
the  war  party.  To  avoid  hostilities,  the  court  intrusted  Count 
Lamberg,  Batthyani's  friend,  with  the  chief  command  of  all  the 
Hungarian  and  Croatian  forces,  provisionally  superseding  Jella- 
chich.  When  Lamberg  reached  Pesth  he  learned  that  the  Reich- 
stag had  protested  against  his  appointment.  The  populace  sus- 
pected treason  on  the  part  of  Austria,  and  on  the  27th  of  Sep- 
tember Lamberg  was  hacked  to  death  by  the  mob  with  axes  and 
clubs  on  the  bridge  of  boats  across  the  Danube. 

This  revolting  murder  and  the  feeble  prosecution  of  the  mur- 
derers called  forth  the  imperial  manifesto  of  October  3d,  dissolv- 
ing the  Reichstag,  pronouncing  its  acts  invalid,  except  in  so  far  as 
they  had  been  confirmed  by  the  emperor,  placing  all  Hungary 
under  martial  law,  and  making  Jellachich  governor  of  Hungary 
and  commandcr-in-chief  of  the  Hungarian  troops.  The  Hunga- 
rian Reichstag  on  its  part  declared  the  manifesto  illegal  and  in- 
valid, and  Jellachich  guilty  of  high  treason.  The  committee  of 
national  defence,  which  had  been  in  existence  since  the  22d  of 
September,  now  resolved  itself  into  a  provisional  government, 
with  Kossuth  as  dictator.  Jellachich  was  driven  back  to  the 
Austrian  frontier,  and  Latour's  endeavor  to  send  him  re-enforce- 
ments from  Vienna  resulted  in  the  October  revolution  in  that 
city  and  Latour's  murder.  Then  Jellachich  was  recalled  from 
Hungary  to  assist  in  subduing  Vienna,  and  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  Prince  Windischgraz.  The  latter,  the  conqueror  of 
Prague  and  Vienna,  seemed  to  be  the  right  man  to  reduce  Hun- 
gary to  subjection.  His  programme  was  the  indivisible  Austrian 
empire,  with  the  central  government  in  Vienna.  As  the  Empc" 
or  Ferdinand  had  in  the  most  solemn  manner  granted  conces- 
sions to  Hungary  which  were  inconsistent  with  this  programme, 
his  abdication  took  place  on  the  2d  of  December,  and  Francis 
Joseph  ascended  the  throne  in  his  stead.  The  Reichstag  protested, 
and  refused  to  acknowledge  the  new  emperor  until  he  had  been 
crowned  king  of  Hungary  and  sworn  to  the  constitution. 

Windischgraz  was  put  in   command  of  more  than   100,000 

11 


242  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

men,  and  on  the  15th  of  December  he  began  his  advance  with  the 
main  army  along  the  upper  Danube,  while  smaller  divisions  en- 
tered Hungary  from  Moravia,  Galicia,  Transylvania,  and  Styria, 
tinder  Simonich,  Schlick,  Puchner,  and  Nugent  respectively.  The 
plan  was  to  surround  the  Hungarians  completely  and  make  a  com- 
mon movement  on  Pesth.  To  carry  this  out  a  resolute  advance 
of  the  main  army,  and  exact  co-operation  of  all  the  divisions,  were 
essential.  Both  requisites  were  wanting.  Windischgraz  drove 
the  Hungarians  back,  and  took  the  cities  of  Oedenburg,  Presburg, 
and  Raab.  He  demanded  unconditional  submission,  and  refused 
even  to  give  audience  to  a  deputation  from  the  Reichstag.  Janu- 
ary 5th,  1849,  he  entered  Buda-Pesth.  The  government  and  the 
Reichstag  had  shortly  before  removed  to  Debreczin,  while  the 
army  had  retreated  southward.  Windischgraz  remained  three 
precious  months  at  Buda,  as  though  with  the  capture  of  the  cap- 
ital the  campaign  were  as  good  as  ended.  From  the  other  com- 
manders came  one  Job's  messenger  after  another.  Schlick  was 
repulsed  by  Gorge!  and  Klapka.  Puchner,  with  the  10,000  Rus- 
sians he  had  called  to  his  assistance,  was  chased  out  of  Transyl- 
vania into  Wallachia  by  the  Polish  Bern,  who  found  allies  in  the 
Szeklians  of  Transylvania.  In  the  Ban  ate  the  Hungarians  were 
also  successful.  Fortunately  for  the  Austrians,  Kossuth  made  a 
military  and  political  blunder  in  appointing  Dembinski,  a  Pole, 
commander-in-chief.  He  was  not  fit  for  the  task ;  as  a  foreigner, 
the  jealous  Hungarian  generals  did  not  yield  him  ready  obedi- 
ence ;  and  his  appointment,  by  giving  the  war  a  new  objective  in 
Poland,  might  bring  Russia  into  the  conflict.  He  advanced  on 
Pesth,  but  was  defeated  at  Kopolna  on  the  26th  of  February ; 
then  the  army  demanded  his  removal,  and  Kossuth  had  to  yield. 
In  contrast  with  this  failure,  Gorgei,  whose  generalship  threw 
that  of  all  others  into  the  shade,  and  who,  with  the  exception  of 
Kossuth,  had  the  most  popular  name  in  Hungary,  moved  forward 
in  the  direction  of  Pesth  with  50,000  men,  and  defeated  Prince 
Windischgraz's  forces  between  Godollo  and  Isasgez  on  April  6th. 
The  Olmiitz  cabinet  now  perceived  that  bombarding  cities  and 
conquering  warlike  nations  were  two  wholly  different  matters. 
Windischgraz  was  recalled,  and  the  command  conferred  on  Gen- 
eral Welden,  who  was  not  one  whit  more  capable.  He  evacu- 
ated Pesth,  leaving  in  Buda  a  garrison  commanded  by  the  gallant 
General  Hcnzi,  a  Switzer.  Gorgei  received  orders  to  storm  Buda. 


AUSTKIA  APPLIES   TO   RUSSIA   FOR   HELP.  243 

Notwithstanding  a  courageous  resistance  on  the  part  of  General 
Henzi,  who  lost  his  life  in  the  fight,  the  city  was  carried  on  the 
21st  of  May.  But  the  disagreement  among  the  leaders  of  the 
revolution  had  already  reached  an  alarming  point.  April  14th, 
as  the  Schwarzenberg  ministry  had  published  a  constitution  for 
all  Austria,  and  so  reduced  Hungary  to  the  level  of  the  other  prov- 
inces, Kossuth,  against  Gorgei's  wishes  and  advice,  caused  the 
Reichstag  at  Debreczin  to  declare  "  the  House  of  Hapsburg  de- 
prived of  its  dominion  and  banished  from  Hungary  forever." 
Hungary  was  now  an  independent  state — a  republic  in  the  midst 
of  the  old  monarchies — certain  of  being  looked  upon  in  any  case 
as  threatening  danger  to  all  its  neighbors.  Kossuth  was  named 
chief  of  the  republic,  as  responsible  governor-president  of  Hun- 
gary. He  surrounded  himself  with  a  new  ministry,  in  which  the 
jealous  Gorgei  was  minister  of  war  as  well  as  commander-in-chief. 
The  Reichstag  was  again  transferred  to  Pesth. 

It  was  but  a  brief  honey-moon  which  the  victorious  Hungarians 
enjoyed  in  their  regained  capital.  For  Austria  the  possession  of 
Hungary  was  a  question  of  life  or  death,  and  she  strained  every 
nerve  for  its  reconqnest.  The  chief  command  was  conferred  upon 
Baron  Haynau,  notorious  for  his  merciless  conduct  at  the  taking 
of  Brescia,  and  Russia  was  applied  to  for  assistance.  There  were 
two  things  which  Kossuth's  sentimental  statesmanship  had  not 
taken  into  account — that  Austria  would  become  master  in  Italy 
so  quickly,  and  that  a  second  power  might  intervene.  But  owing 
to  the  participation  of  Poles  in  the  Hungarian  war  for  freedom, 
and  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  two  countries,  the  latter  contin- 
gency was  a  very  probable  one.  No  one  doubted  that,  the  inde- 
pendence of  Hungary  once  achieved,  Poland  could  no  longer  be 
held  back.  Hence  Czar  Nicholas  did  not  hesitate  for  a  moment 
to  fulfil  Francis  Joseph's  wish ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  hoped  by 
such  a  service  to  chain  the  youthful  monarch  securely  to  his  policy, 
and,  when  occasion  offered,  require  from,  him  a  service  in  return. 

With  Russia's  interference  the  matter  was  as  good  as  decided. 
Hungary's  further  resistance  was  nothing  but  an  heroic  death-strug- 
gle. While  Paskevitch  with  80,000  Russians  marched  across  the 
Carpathian  mountains  and  advanced  toward  the  upper  Danube, 
other  Russian  divisions  entered  Transylvania  from  Bukovina  and 
Wallachia,  Jellachich  reappeared  in  southern  Hungary  with  a  Ser- 
vian-Croatian army,  and  Haynau  crossed  the  Raab  and  moved  on 


244  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

Koinorn  from  the  west.  After  several  days'  fighting,  Gorge!  left 
General  Klapka  behind  in  Komorn,  and  fell  back  across  the 
Theiss;  and  on  the  12th  of  July  Haynau  entered  the  sister  cities 
of  Buda-Pesth.  For  the  second  time  Kossuth  had  to  leave  the 
capital.  The  Reichstag  and  paper-money  press,  the  latter  of  which 
had  been  busily  at  work  in  the  mean  time,  were  transferred  to 
Szegedin,  on  the  Theiss,  and  finally  to  Arad,  on  the  Maros.  On 
his  retreat  Gorgei  succeeded  in  inflicting  a  defeat  upon  the  Rus- 
sians under  Rudiger  at  Waizen.  By  masterly  manoeuvring  he 
carried  his  army  safely  through  the  midst  of  the  Russian  forces 
to  Arad.  But  neither  Bern  nor  Dembinski  could  succeed  in  mak- 
ing head  against  their  opponents.  The  former  was  defeated  by 
the  Russian  General  Liiders  at  Schassburg  (July  31st)  and  other 
places,  and  driven  out  of  Transylvania ;  and  Haynau,  advancing 
rapidly,  defeated  the  latter  at  Szoreor  and  Temesvar  (Avgort  5th 
and  9th).  The  Hungarian  troops  were  concentrated  at  Arad. 
Great  indecision  prevailed  at  head-quarters,  and  only  a  military 
dictatorship  appeared  to  hold  out  some  slight  hope.  Kossuth 
was  obliged  to  lay  down  his  office  as  governor  on  the  10th  of  Au- 
gust, and  Gorgei  assumed  the  dictatorship.  On  the  13th  of  Au- 
gust, with  23,000  men  and  130  guns,  he  surrendered  to  the  Rus- 
sian General  Rudiger  at  Vilagos,  with  the  knowledge  and  consent 
of  Kossuth  and  the  government  There  was  nothing  more  to  be 
won,  yet  the  nation  had  expected  a  different  conclusion.  The 
hope  of  obtaining  more  favorable  terms  for  his  country,  the  wish, 
after  so  much  had  been  done  for  military  honor,  to  avoid  useless 
bloodshed,  dislike  of  the  Polish  generals  and  the  republican  gov- 
ernment, which  had  several  times  been  on  the  point  of  depriving 
him  of  the  chief  command — all  these  things  had  influenced  Gor- 
gei to  take  this  surprising  step,  about  which  he  had  already  been 
for  some  time  in  negotiation  with  Paskevitch.  Haynati's  morti- 
fication that  Gorgei  had  surrendered  to  the  Russians  and  not  to 
him  was  not  diminished  by  Prince  Paskevitch's  proud  report  to 
Czar  Nicholas :  "  Hungary  lies  conquered  at  the  feet  of  your  maj- 
esty." Haynau  could  justly  retort  that  it  was  the  Austrian  army 
which  had  in  six  battles  brought  the  foe  to  the  point  of  annihila- 
tion and  effected  the  surrender  of  Gorgei's  corps.  Gorgei  received 
a  pardon  for  his  own  person  merely,  and  froin  that  time  on  lived 
for  the  most  part  in  retirement  at  Klagenfurt. 

After  the  catastrophe  of  Yilagos  all  the  fortresses  capitulated ; 


HUNGARY  IS  PUNISHED.—  SCHLESWIG-HOLSTELNT.        245 

Komorn,  where  Klapka  commanded,  holding  out  until  September 
27th.  The  smaller  detachments  of  troops  surrendered,  the  kon- 
veds  hurried  home.  Only  about  5000  men,  with  Kossuth,  Bern, 
Dembinski,  and  others,  took  refuge  in  Turkey,  which  afforded 
them  an  asylum  in  spite  of  the  threats  of  Austria  and  Russia. 
Haynau  inflicted  a  severe  chastisement  on  those  who  remained 
behind  or  were  captured.  Courts-martial  were  set  up  in  Pesth 
and  Arad.  Many  of  Hungary's  best  men  were  condemned  to 
powder  and  lead,  or  to  the  gallows;  among  others  Co.unt  Batthy- 
ani,  the  former  prime-minister.  The  property  of  fugitives  and 
condemned  persons  was  confiscated.  Many  pined  away  in  prison ; 
several  thousands  were  drafted  into  the  Austrian  army.  The  con- 
stitution was  annulled,  and  Hungary  treated  like  a  newly-con- 
quered country,  as  though  it  had  forfeited  all  its  former  rights. 
Whether  these  acts  of  vengeance,  which  recalled  the  scenes  of 
1687,  were  born  of  political  wisdom,  is  another  question. 

While  Hungary  was  wrestling  with  death,  another  land  was 
bleeding  in  the  north — Schleswig-Holstein.  The  duchies  had  re- 
signed themselves  with  wonderful  submissiveness  to  the  armistice 
of  Malmo,  which  had  given  rise  to  the  September  disturbances  in 
Frankfort;  but  as  soon  as  it  expired  they  took  the  field  with  an 
army  of  14,000  men  under  General  Bonin,  a  Prussian.  The  cen- 
tral administration  at  Frankfort  appointed  stadtholders  in  the 
place  of  the  joint  government  which  had  been  set  up  by  Den- 
mark and  Prussia ;  and  the  choice  fell  on  two  worthy  men — Count 
Rcventlow-Preetz  and  William  Beseler.  At  the  same  time  the 
federal  troops,  consisting  of  Bavarians, Wiirtembergers,  Hanoveri- 
ans, and  Prussians,  marched  in  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  Ger- 
man provinces  from  the  unendurable  process  of  Danization.  On 
the  26th  of  March,  1849,  the  Danes  brought  the  armistice  to  a 
close ;  and  on  the  5th  of  April,  in  the  harbor  of  Eckernforde, 
a  Danish  ship  of  the  line,  Christian  VIII.,  was  set  on  fire  by 
the  shore  batteries  of  the  Schleswig-Holsteiners,  and  the  frigate 
Gefion  so  badly  injured  that  it  had  to  surrender.  The  Diippel 
trenches  were  carried  by  the  federal  troops  on  the  13th  of  April, 
and  the  Danes  were  driven  back  to  the  island  of  Alsen.  The 
Schleswig-Holsteiners,  under  Bonin,  were  also  victorious.  On  the 
20th  of  May  they  took  the  Jutland  border  town  of  Kolding  by 
assault ;  they  lost  it  again,  but  retook  it  once  more,  and  forced  the 
Danes  to  retreat  to  the  fortress  of  Frcdericia.  General  Prittwitz, 


246  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

the  commander  of  the  federal  troops,  now  received  orders  to  re- 
main inactive.  Taking  advantage  of  this  inactivity,  the  Danes, 
under  General  Rye,  who  were  numerically  superior  to  the  Schles- 
wig-Holsteiners,  made  a  sally  from  Fredericia  in  the  night  of  July 
5th.  The  latter  were  worsted,  but  not  discouraged,  and  would 
have  resumed  the  fight,  when  the  news  arrived  of  the  conclusion 
of  an  armistice  between  Denmark  and  Prussia  (July  10th).  A 
definitive  peace  between  the  two  states,  in  the  negotiation  of 
which  Prussia  acted,  at  the  same  time  in  the  name  of  the  Ger- 
man confederation,  was  concluded  some  time  later  (July  2d, 
1850).  In  consequence  of  this  armistice  the  German  troops  had 
to  evacuate  Schleswig,  the  northern  part  of  which  was  occupied 
by  Swedish  and  the  southern  by  Prussian  soldiers.  A  separate 
administration,  consisting  of  one  Prussian  and  one  Danish  com- 
missioner, was  set  up,  and  the  Schleswig-Holstein  army  had  to 
retire  behind  the  Eider. 

This  was  the  consequence  of  a  diplomatic  intervention  on  the 
part  of  England  and  Russia.  They  preferred  to  see  the  sea-girt 
duchies  in  the  hands  of  little  Denmark  rather  than  in  those  of 
Germany,  or  rather  Prussia ;  and  hence,  in  the  London  protocol  of 
June  2d,  they  affirmed  the  union  of  Schleswig-Holstein  with  Den- 
mark to  be  in  the  interests  of  the  European  balance  of  power. 
The  honor  of  Frederic  William  IV.  and  his  army  was  pledged  to 
maintain  the  rights  of  the  duchies ;  but  the  king's  character  was 
too  peace-loving,  and  his  horror  of  popular  movements  was  still  too 
easily  excited,  for  him  not  to  shrink  back  from  a  struggle  which 
might  assume  European  dimensions.  He  signed  the  peace,  and 
delivered  Schleswig  to  the  Danes.  It  was  to  be  separated  from 
Holstcin,  and  was  to  be  distinguished  from  Denmark  by  a  con- 
stitution, although  politically  united  with  it.  These  indefinite 
terms  the  Danes  naturally  took  advantage  of  as  far  as  they  could, 
as  the  conduct  of  their  commissioner,  von  Tillich,  during  the 
armistice  had  already  shown  they  would  do. 

The  stadtholders  did  not  recognize  the  peace  of  Berlin.  De- 
termined to  undertake  the  fight  single-handed,  they  strengthened 
the  Schleswig-Holstein  army,  and  replaced  General  Bonin,  who 
had  been  recalled,  by  General  Willisen,  also  a  Prussian.  The 
choice  was  in  so  far  unfortunate  that  Willisen  had  a  reputation 
as  a  military  writer,  but  not  as  a  practical  strategist,  and  it  was  to 
be  feared  that  he  might  prove  lacking  in  decision  and  in  that 


SCHLESWIG   ABANDONED  TO  THE   DANES.  247 

faculty  of  quick  comprehension  which  is  so  necessary  to  a  gen- 
eral. After  the  withdrawal  of  the  Prussian  troops  the  Danes 
advanced  into  Schleswig  from  Jutland  and  Alsen,  and  encountered 
Willisen,  who  had  moved  up  from  the  south,  between  Flensburg 
and  Schleswig.  On  the  25th  of  July,  1850,  a  battle  was  fought 
at  Istedt  between  37,000  Danes  and  26,000  Schleswig-Holstein- 
ers.  The  latter,  after  having  the  victory  in  their  very  hands, 
were  finally  defeated,  and  obliged  to  retreat  to  the  fortress  of 
Rendsburg,  abandoning  all  Schleswig  to  the  foe.  An  attack  at 
Missunde,  September  12th,  and  an  assault  on  Friedrichstadt,  Oc- 
tober 4th,  were  both  repulsed  by  the  Danes.  The  stadtholders, 
hoping  to  repair  their  losses  by  a  change  of  command,  removed 
Willisen,  and  appointed  in  his  place  General  von  der  Horst,  who 
had  distinguished  himself  in  the  battle  at  Istedt.  But  it  was 
already  too  late.  At  the  Olmiitz  conference  the  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein  war  was  placed  on  a  level  with  the  rebellion  in  Baden  and 
the  Palatinate,  and  the  German  great  powers  resolved  to  smother 
this  national  flame. 

The  last  act  of  the  German  revolution  was  at  an  end.  Wherever 
the  revolution  had  appeared  in  any  form  it  had  been  crushed. 
The  March  ministers  had  been  dismissed  everywhere,  and  their 
places  had  been  filled  by  men  such  as  the  governments  would  not 
have  dared  before  1848  to  offer  to  the  people.  And  what  was  to 
become  of  Germany  ?  Under  what  form  were  the  sundered  mem- 
bers again  to  come  together?  Was  no  heed  to  be  paid  to  the 
call  of  the  German  people  for  unity?  for  a  central  parliament? 
for  greater  freedom  ?  Were  the  last  two  years  to  be  erased  from 
the  political  calendar  of  the  monarchies,  as  the  Elector  of  Hesse 
struck  out  the  period  of  French  rule,  and  reintroduced  the  anti- 
quated cues?  Were  the  old  blunders  to  be  repeated  forever? 
Were  revolutions  always  to  be  suppressed  with  powder  and  ball, 
and  never  put  an  end  to  by  the  introduction  of  rational  reforms  ? 
When  Prince  Schwarzenberg  was  asked,  he  roundly  declared  that 
there  could  be  no  more  talk  of  parliaments  and  the  like,  and  that 
Germany  must  return  to  the  old  Diet  under  the  presidency  of 
Austria.  Prussia  struggled  hard  against  this  disgrace.  She  was 
willing  to  make  a  partial  concession  to  the  demands  of  the  Ger- 
man people,  and  build  a  new  Germany  on  the  foundation  of  the 
federal  constitution ;  and  by  union  with  the  German  princes  she 
hoped  to  acquire  the  hegemony  which  she  had  refused  to  accept 


248  POLITICAL   HISTOKY   OF  KECEXT   TIMES, 

from  the  German  people.  In  this  war  arose  the  so-called  League 
of  the  Three  Kings  of  the  28th  of  May,  1849,  between  Prussia, 
Hanover,  and  Saxony,  in  which  the  first  was  intrusted  with  the 
military  and  diplomatic  direction  of  the  league.  This  was  to  be 
the  beginning  of  a  more  closely  connected  federal  state  —  the 
Union.  Austria  held  aloof  from  the  consultations  on  this  subject, 
and  Bavaria  followed  her  example.  The  Frankfort  imperial  par- 
ty, on  the  other  hand,  strongly  approved  of  the  plan.  It  brought 
about  a  meeting  of  those  who  favored  it  at  Gotha,  June  26th,  and 
itself  pronounced  in  its  favor.  In  order  to  have  some  common 
ground  in  the  mean  time,  Austria  and  Prussia,  in  the  so-called  In- 
terim— a  name  of  bad  memory  since  the  Reformation — undertook 
the  administration  of  the  central  government  for  the  German 
confederation  until  some  definite  arrangement  was  effected.  On 
the  20th  of  December,  1849,  the  federal  administrator,  Archduke 
John,  resigned  his  office  into  the  hands  of  the  Interim  commis- 
sioners. 

Prussia  went  still  farther  on  the  path  along  which  she  bad  started. 
The  Prussian  state  had  gained  in  credit  with  the  German  people 
by  the  fact  that  in  the  Landtag,  which  had  assembled  at  Berlin 
in  accordance  with  an  electoral  law  published  by  the  king,  a  con- 
stitution had  been  adopted,  which  he  bad  sworn  to  on  the  6th  of 
February,  1850.  This  was  a  long  step  toward  the  nnion  of  king 
and  people.  The  opposition  of  the  princes  became  only  the  more 
obstinate.  Bavaria,  Saxony,  and  "Wurtemberg  met  the  Prussian 
plan  by  a  proposition  for  a  new  constitution,  according  to  which 
Austria,  the  five  kingdoms,  and  the  two  Hesses  were  to  form  a 
federal  government  consisting  of  seven  members.  However,  the 
Erfurt  parliament,  to  which  Prussia  had  invited  those  states  form- 
ing a  closer  confederation,  came  together  on  the  20th  of  March, 
1850.  This  adopted  the  Union  constitution,  which  had  already 
been  made  the  foundation  of  the  League  of  the  Three  Kings.  A 
princes'  congress,  composed  of  all  the  princes  of  the  Union,  was 
held  in  Berlin  in  May,  and  this  constitution  was  laid  before  it  for 
adoption.  The  congress  was  not  pervaded  by  the  greatest  har- 
mony, and  there  was  scarcely  unity  enough  to  establish  a  college 
of  princes  as  the  central  administration  of  the  Union.  The  greater 
part  of  the  German  princes  and  almost  all  the  small  states  par- 
ticipated in  the  Union,  but  the  participation  of  some  of  them  was 
only  external.  The  larger  states  were  steering  under  full  sail 


THE  HUMILIATION  OF  OLMUTZ.  249 

toward  the  Austrian  banner,  which,  after  the  triumphs  in  Italy 
and  Hungary,  was  to  be  unfurled  once  more  in  Frankfort.  At 
the  invitation  of  Austria,  issued  on  the  26th  of  April,  the  am- 
bassadors of  thirteen  governments  met  there  and  formed  an  "  ex- 
traordinary, plenary  assembly."  Czar  Nicholas,  appealed  to  by 
both  sides,  gladly  undertook  the  office-  of  arbitrator  in  the  Ger- 
man complications.  In  June  he  had  a  meeting  with  the  Prince 
of  Prussia  and  Prince  Schwarzenberg  in  Warsaw,  and  pronounced 
in  favor  of  the  Austrian  plan.  On  the  14th  of  August  a  circular 
despatch  was  issued  inviting  all  former  members  of  the  confeder- 
ation to  send  delegates  to  an  old-fashioned  Diet  on  the  1st  of 
September.  Prussia  refused  to  take  part,  and  in  a  separate  me- 
morial protested  against  the  re-establishment  of  the  Diet,  which 
had  been  unanimously  abolished  in  1848.  The  opposing  views 
of  the  Frankfort  parliament  were  now  transplanted  to  the  cabi- 
nets. Germany  was  divided  into  two  camps;  Prussia  with  th 
College  of  Princes,  and  Austria  with  the  Diet,  seemed  as  irrecon- 
cilably opposed  to  one  another  as  the  republicans  and  the  reac- 
tionists in  St.  Paul's  church  had  been.  Once  more  was  heard 
the  clang  of  sabres  and  the  clink  of  spurs. 

The  news  from  Bregenz  was  of  the  most  warlike  character.  On 
the  llth  of  October,  Francis  Joseph  met  the  Kings  of  Bavaria  and 
Wurtemberg  at  that  place,  and  King  William  said,  with  youthful 
fire,  as  though  he  had  again  been  summoned  to  fight  against 
the  French :  "  If  the  emperor  commands,  I  follow  whithersoever 
he  calls  me."  In  Bregenz  it  was  decided  that  an  army  composed 
of  Austrians  and  Bavarians  should  march  into  Electoral  Hesse  on 
the  part  of  the  Confederation.  There  the  elector  had  once  more 
displayed  the  full  beauty  of  his  character.  After  dismissing  a 
liberal  cabinet  he  had  called  Hassenpflug  to  the  head  of  a  new 
ministry,  a  man  who  had  long  been  hated  in  Hesse,  while  in  Prus- 
sia he  had  even  been  prosecuted  for  forgery.  His  popular  nick- 
name, Hessenfluch  (Hesse's  curse),  comprised  a  complete  judg- 
ment in  the  briefest  possible  form.  After  dissolving  two  parlia- 
ments which  would  not  sanction  his  illegal  measures,  he  under- 
took to  reign  without  a  parliament,  and  levy  taxes  at  his  own 
pleasure.  As  this  met  with  opposition  from  the  courts,  he  de- 
clared the  whole  country  under  martial  law,  September  7th,  1850. 
All  the  officials,  including  even  the  police  and  army  officers,  re- 
fused obedience,  so  he  persuaded  the  elector  to  flee  to  Frankfort, 

11* 


250  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

and  apply  in  person  to  the  Diet  for  belp.  There  the  old  Metter- 
nichian  view  was  again  in  the  ascendant — that  a  prince  must  never 
be  abandoned,  and  that  in  a  quarrel  between  him  and  his  people 
they  are  always  wrong — so  the  help  of  the  Confederation  was 
readily  promised  by  a  vote  of  September  17th.  But  Prussia  pro- 
tested. It  still  held  fast  to  its  Union,  and  had  not  recognized  the 
Diet,  hence  it  could  not  suffer  the  latter  to  carry  out  an  execution 
in  friendly  territory  without  its  consent.  General  von  Radowitz, 
a  highly  cultivated  man,  who  was  on  very  friendly  terms  with 
King  Frederic  "William  IV.,  and  who  was  also  a  decided  adherent 
of  the  Union,  was  called  into  the  ministry  and  intrusted  with  the 
management  of  foreign  affairs.  The  army  was  put  on  a  war  foot- 
ing, the  landwehr  called  out,  the  troops  stationed  in  Baden — which 
was  too  far  advanced — recalled,  and  the  military  roads  appertain- 
ing to  Prussia  by  virtue  of  the  Confederation  occupied.  Before 
proceeding  farther,  Czar  Nicholas  was  again  appealed  to  for  his 
good  offices.  A  new  meeting  took  place  in  Warsaw.  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  and  Prince  Schwarzenberg  on  the  Austrian  side, 
and  Count  Brandenburg,  minister-president,  on  the  side  of  Prus- 
sia, met  Nicholas  at  that  place.  Austria's  conditions  for  a  peace- 
able solution  were,  that  Prussia  should  give  up  the  Union  and 
acknowledge  the  restored  Diet — demands  which  Nicholas  most 
energetically  supported.  The  Bavarian  and  Austrian  troops  en- 
tered Hesse,  and  marched  against  Cassel.  This  was  occupied  by 
the  Prussians,  and  hence  a  collision  seemed  inevitable.  But  on 
the  2d  of  November  the  peace  party  conquered  in  Berlin ;  Rado- 
witz laid  down  his  office,  and  Manteuffel  became  minister  of  for- 
eign affairs.  Like  the  Diet,  he  saw  nothing  but  revolution  in  the 
resistance  of  the  Hessians  to  oppression,  and  he  dreaded  a  war 
which  could  result  in  victory  only  through  the  help  of  the  consti- 
tutional and  democratic  party.  The  Prussian  commander  in  Cas- 
sel,  Count  von  der  Groben,  received  orders  to  retreat.  On  the  8th 
of  November,  at  Bronzell,  there  was  a  slight  skirmish  with  the 
Bavarian  outposts,  which  was  described  by  the  innocent  name  of 
"  military  misunderstanding."  Manteuffel  himself  went  to  Olmiitz, 
to  make  peace  with  Schwarzenberg  at  any  price.  For  Prussia 
the  price  was  a  high  one.  Schwai'zenberg,  who  was  far  superior 
to  the  Prussian  minister  in  boldness  and  "Diplomatic  skill,  won  a 
complete  victory.  In  the  treaty  of  Olmiitz,  November  29th,  1850, 
it  was  agreed  that  Prussia  should  offer  no  opposition  to  the  occu- 


SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN   AND   THE   LONDON   PROTOCOL.     251 

pation  of  Hesse,  that  peace  should  be  dictated  in  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein  by  the  two  great  powers,  on  the  basis  of  one  united  Danish 
state,  and  that  conferences  of  all  the  German  governments  should 
be  held  in  Dresden  to  effect  a  final  settlement  with  reference  to 
the  Confederation. 

In  Electoral  Hesse,  under  the  eyes  of  Austrian  and  Prussian 
commissioners,  and  under  the  protection  of  foreign  bayonets,  be- 
gan a  rule  of  caprice.  Soldiers  were  billeted  on  the  citizens  in 
excessive  numbers,  officials  were  arbitrarily  removed,  the  prisons 
were  filled.  The  country — in  any  case  poor  enough — was  still 
further  impoverished,  while  emigration  increased  apace. 

In  Schleswig-Hol stein,  Schwarzenberg  acted  in  a  manner  worthy 
of  Metternich,  who  had  admitted  the  right  of  revolution  in  the 
case  of  no  people — not  even  of  the  Greeks.  In  the  catechism  of 
those  high-born  gentry  the  princes  alone  were  always  right.  An 
Austrian  and  a  Prussian  commissioner  appeared  in  Holstein,  Janu- 
ary 6th,  1851,  and  assumed  the  government  of  the  country,  while 
a  detachment  of  Prussians  and  an  Austrian  army  corps,  under  Field- 
marshal  Lcgeditsch,  occupied  the  most  important  places.  The 
stadtholders  laid  down  their  office,  and  the  army  was  disbanded. 
The  legal  union  of  the  two  duchies  was  dissolved,  and  the  idea  of 
a  united  Danish  state  not  merely  carried  out  with  reference  to 
Schleswig,  as  the  Eider -Danes  had  wished,  but  even  extended 
to  Holstein,  a  member  of  the  German  confederation.  It  was  a 
united  Denmark  on  the  same  principle  as  Schwarzenberg's  united 
Austria.  The  German  troops  were  withdrawn,  all  the  military 
stores  of  the  Schleswig -Holstein  army  were  delivered  to  the 
Danes,  and  the  government  was  handed  over  to  the  King  of 
Denmark.  That  the  question  of  succession  might  furnish  no 
occasion  for  further  dissensions,  the  female  (Hessian)  line  and  the 
Augustenburg  line  were  passed  over,  and  in  the  new  London  pro- 
tocol of  May  8th,  1852,  all  the  great  powers  recognized  Prince 
Christian  of  Gliicksburg  and  his  male  descendants  as  heirs  to  the 
united  monarchy.  Neither  the  German  Diet  nor  the  Estates  of 
Schleswig  and  Holstein  assented  to  the  protocol,  but  the  wisdom 
of  the  cabinets  never  dreamed  that  this  omission  might  have  ulte- 
rior consequences. 

No  one  could  expect  decent  treatment  from  such  a  people  as 
the  Danes,  but  there  was  scarcely  any  one  who  had  supposed  that 
treaty  conditions  would  be  so  set  at  naught  as  they  were,  that 


252  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

shameless  brutality  would  be  practised  toward  persons  of  both 
sexes  and  all  conditions,  and  that  recourse  would  be  had  to  such 
shocking  means  to  root  out  everything  German  in  Schleswig. 
No  land  in  all  Europe  was  abused  and  trodden  underfoot  with 
such  cynical  brutality  as  Schleswig ;  and  every  German  with  a 
spark  of  honor  in  him,  while  cursing  a  diplomacy  which  in  the 
nineteenth  century  still  treated  the  people  like  cattle,  and  execrat- 
ing a  system  of  government  which  could  dispose  in  that  whole- 
sale way  of  so  many  German  souls,  blushed  for  shame  and  rage 
when  he  heard  the  name  of  Schleswig-Holstein.  Such  unnatural 
conditions  must  bear  their  fruit :  the  time  of  revenge  could  not 
be  postponed  forever. 

The  Dresden  conferences  lasted  from  the  23d  of  December, 
1850,  to  the  1st  of  May,  1851,  but  were  wholly  without  result. 
A  number  of  proposals  were  made.  Austria  and  Prussia  wished 
to  form  a  directory  with  full  power  of  making  peace  or  war; 
Austria  also  wishing  to  bring  all  her  varied  countries  into  the 
German  confederation.  Bavaria  proposed  a  triple  directory,  the 
so-called  trias,  and  Wiirtemberg  a  German  parliament.  With  the 
active  participation  of  Russia,  which  put  a  decisive  veto  upon  the 
first  two  propositions  especially,  all  novelties  were  rejected,  and 
the  old  regime  restored  in  its  simplicity.  Prussia  dissolved  its 
Union,  and  on  the  30th  of  May,  1851,  the  Diet  was  re-established 
in  the  old  form  as  the  representative  of  the  German  princes. 
Federal  constitution  and  fundamental  rights  were  thrown  into  the 
waste-paper  basket  in  the  various  states  by  which  they  had  been 
recognized  ;  constitutional  changes  of  reactionary  tendency  were 
made;  measures  were  taken  against  the  Press  and  societies;  the 
ultramontane  party  was  pampered ;  concordats  of  incredible  cali- 
bre were  concluded  or  negotiated  for ;  and  the  governments  of  the 
second-rate  and  lesser  states,  in  their  relations  to  the  Diet,  adopted 
the  same  disgraceful  tactics  against  their  own  people  as  before. 

Of  all  the  German  states,  none  came  out  of  this  crisis  so  dissat- 
isfied as  Prussia.  Never  before  had  such  an  opportunity  pre- 
sented itself.  Only  the  answer  yes  had  been  needed  to  lift  it  out 
of  its  mongrel  condition — less  than  a  great  power,  and  more  than 
a  second-rate  one — and  give  it  a  commanding  position  in  Europe. 
But  it  lacked  at  that  time  the  proper  persons,  the  great  charac- 
ters, the  men  of  decision  and  political  sagacity.  That  which  it 
claimed — the  political  and  military  leadership  in  north  Germany 


COMMANDING  POSITION   OF  RUSSIA.  253 

— it  lost  through  mere  indecision  and  over-carefulness.  It  had 
to  resume  the  old  yoke.  But  the  humiliation  of  Olmiitz  was 
a  wound  that  smarted.  Prussia  had  learned  how  not  to  attain 
its  object,  and  that,  if  it  were  resolved  to  attain  it,  it  must  try 
another  way. 


§18. 

THE    CRIMEAN    WAR. 

IT  was  in  general  the  greatest  states  which  suffered  most 
severely  from  the  revolution,  but  Russia  remained  unaffected. 
Thanks  to  the  bloody  experiences  of  1831,  the  Poles  had  vent- 
ured on  no  outbreak,  only  looking  with  hope  toward  the  Hunga- 
rian insurrection,  in  which  some  of  their  own  people  took  part. 
The  final  catastrophe  at  Vilagos  condemned  them  to  continued 
endurance.  Nicholas's  pride  was  all  the  greater.  His  credit  as 
autocrat  of  Europe  had  not  undergone  the  least  diminution,  but 
had  on  the  contrary  been  much  increased  by  the  assistance  he 
had  rendered  in  Hungary.  He  felt  as  sure  of  Austria  as  though 
she  had  been  his  vassal ;  and  his  relations  with  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia were  so  .intimate  that  the  latter  shortly  after  dismissed  Gen- 
eral Bonin,  his  minister  of  war,  because  on  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Eastern  war  Bonin  had  expressed  the  opinion  that  an  alli- 
ance with  Russia  in  that  matter  would  be  suicidal,  and  recalled 
Chevalier  Bunsen  from  the  Court  of  St.  James  because  he  was  too 
much  of  an  English  partisan.  France,  where  Louis  Napoleon  had 
recently  seated  himself  on  the  imperial  throne,  appeared  to  Nich- 
olas too  much  exhausted  and  distracted  by  internal  feuds  to  be 
able  to  enter  upon  great  and  remote  undertakings ;  and  in  Eng- 
land, which  had  always  displayed  the  most  lively  interest  in  all 
Eastern  quarrels,  he  had  an  old-time  friend  in  the  prime-minister, 
Lord  Aberdeen,  so  that  he  made  no  doubt  that  he  could  readily 
come  to  an  understanding  with  that  formidable  maritime  power.. 
Neither  of  the  two  Western  powers  was  competent  alone  to  un- 
dertake an  offensive  war  against  Russia;  and  that  an  alliance 
should  be  concluded  between  them  appeared  to  Nicholas  out  of 
the  question,  in  consideration  of  the  deep  distrust  of  Napoleon 
felt  by  English  statesmen.  The  constellations  seemed  to  favor 


254  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

the  resumption  of  the  plan  of  Catherine  II.  and  the  seizure  of 
"  the  key  to  the  Russian  house."  It  was  noised  abroad  that  there 
was  an  old  prophecy  to  the  effect  that  in  the  year  1853,  after 
four  hundred  years  of  Turkish  rule  in  Europe,  that  rule  should 
cease.  In  his  conferences  with  the  English,  ambassador  in  St. 
Petersburg,  Sir  Hamilton  Seymour,  Nicholas  called  Turkey  a  "  sick 
man  "  whom  no  doctor  could  help,  so  that  it  was  already  time  to 
come  to  some  definite  agreement  about  his  inheritance.  Accord- 
ing to  his  plan,  Servia,  Bulgaria,  and  Bosnia  were  to  be  made  in- 
dependent states,  and,  with  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  be  placed 
under  the  Russian  protectorate.  If  England  wished  to  appropri- 
ate Egypt  and  Candia,  Russia  had  no  objections.  In  his  opinion 
England  and  Russia  were  the  only  countries  concerned,  as  they 
were  the  only  ones  who  had  a  tangible  interest  in  Turkey,  and 
if  they  were  agreed  about  this  transaction  there  was  no  need  of 
consulting  the  other  powers. 

The  English  cabinet  was  not  edified  by  Nicholas's  opinion  re- 
garding Turkey's  health,  which  was  forwarded  by  its  ambassador. 
It  well  knew  that  a  Russian  protectorate  was  only  a  diplomatic 
name  for  Russian  dominion,  and  that  if  Russia  were  once  in  pos- 
session of  Bulgaria  she  would  soon  cross  the  Balkans  to  Con 
stantinople,  and  would  never  rest  until  the  whole  Olympian  pen- 
insula, from  the  Danube  to  Cape  Matapan,  had  bowed  beneath 
her  sceptre.  Neither  England's  interests  in  the  Mediterranean 
nor  the  possession  of  an  Asiatic  empire  allowed  her  to  consent 
to  the  establishment  of  such  a  power.  Moreover,  the  acquisition 
of  Egypt  was  of  very  doubtful  value  for  England,  since  it  would 
be  sure  to  involve  her  in  a  war  with  France.  Hence,  England 
decidedly  rejected  the  whole  project,  and  affirmed  that  the  sick 
man  had  more  vitality  than  might  prove  agreeable  to  his  would- 
be  heir.  It  is  alleged  that  Nicholas  then  applied  to  Napoleon, 
but,  notwithstanding  the  alluring  bait  of  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  did  not  find  a  favorable  hearing  there  either.  But  he  did 
not  allow  himself  to  be  frightened  out  of  his  plans  by  this  recep- 
tion. He  made  use  of  the  old  strife  between  Greeks  and  Latins 
about  the  holy  sepulchre  as  a  pretence  for  advancing  his  designs. 
In  1852  a  firman  of  the  Sultan  had  recognized  the  right  of  the 
Greek  church  to  the  possession  of  the  holy  sepulchre,  but  had  at 
the  same  time  granted  the  Roman  Catholics  (Latins),  who  were 
energetically  supported  by  Napoleon,  the  right  to  celebrate  mass 


RUSSIA  SEEKING   A   PRETENSE  FOR   WAR.  255 

in  the  chapel  of  the  Mount  of  Olives.  This  the  Greek  Catholics 
regarded  as  prejudicial  to  their  church.  In  order  to  maintain  her 
privileged  position,  Russia  demanded  formal  security  by  treaty 
for  the  rights  of  the  Greek  church.  Trusting  to  the  uncondi- 
tional submission  of  Prussia  and  Austria — the  latter  of  which, 
however,  had  just  crossed  the  Russian  designs  in  Montenegro  by 
sending  Count  Leiningen  to  Constantinople — Nicholas  equipped 
a  fleet  in  the  ports  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  assembled  an  army  in 
the  southern  part  of  his  dominions,  while  at  the  same  time,  in  the 
hope  of  browbeating  the  Porte,  he  sent  Admiral  Prince  Menshikoff 
to  Constantinople  to  exact  for  Russia  a  religious  protectorate  over 
all  Greek  Christians.  This  would  have  given  him  the  right  of 
constant  intervention  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Turkish  em- 
pire— a  thing  which  interested  him  far  more  than  the  protection 
of  the  Greek  Christians  did.  March  2d,  1853,  Menshikoff  appeared 
in  a  solemn  session  of  the  Divan  in  overcoat  and  dusty  shoes,  as- 
tonishing the  Turkish  cabinet  as  much  by  this  contemptuous  dis- 
regard of  etiquette  as  by  the  purport  of  his  instructions.  Acqui- 
escence in  his  demands  was  not  to  be  thought  of,  for  that  would 
have  made  the  Russian  emperor  co-regent  of  Turkey — a  title 
which  he  would  soon  have  found  occasion  to  shorten  by  a  sylla- 
ble. So  Menshikoff  received  a  negative  answer,  and  on  the  21st 
of  May  he  left  Constantinople  with  loud  threats. 

The  two  principal  measures  taken  by  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid — 
who  had  in  this  the  assistance  of  Redshid  Pasha,  his  grand-vizier, 
a  man  of  European  education — to  avoid  being  the  defenceless 
prey  of  his  powerful  foe  in  the  impending  war,  were  a  firman 
solemnly  assuring  to  his  Christian  subjects  their  rights,  for  the 
sake  of  keeping  them  well-disposed,  and  his  application  for  help 
to  the  Western  powers.  To  Napoleon,  who  considered  himself 
called  to  revenge  the  fall  of  his  great  uncle  and  tear  up  the 
treaties  of  1815,  the  Turkish  cry  for  help  afforded  a  welcome 
opportunity  for  humiliating  hostile  Russia,  and  surrounding  his 
new  imperial  throne  with  splendid  trophies.  Notwithstanding 
the  scruples  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  he  dragged  the  English  cabinet 
along  with  him.  The  fleets  were  made  ready,  and  on  the  14th 
of  June  they  lay  at  anchor  in  Besika  Bay,  at  the  entrance  to  the 
Dardanelles.  Nicholas,  who  represented  himself  to  his  people  as 
the  defender  of  the  Greek  Catholics,  forthwith  ordered  Prince 
Michael  Gortschakoff,  with  two  army  corps,  consisting  of  40,000 


256  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

men  each,  and  commanded  by  Generals  Liiders  and  Danneberg, 
to  invade  the  Danubian  principalities,  and  take  possession  of 
them  as  a  material  pledge  until  the  Porte  complied  with  his  de- 
mands. The  invasion  took  place  on  the  2d  of  July.  Public 
money  was  seized,  taxes  imposed,  soldiers  levied,  and  both  conn- 
tries — Moldavia  and  Wallachia — treated  as  Russian  provinces,  as 
they  had  been  under  Potemkin,  the  Taurian,  in  1789.  The  ef- 
forts of  diplomacy  to  avoid  a  war,  even  at  the  last  moment,  were 
all  the  more  zealous.  The  ambassadors  of  the  great  powers  held 
conferences  in  Vienna,  and  united  in  a  mediatory  note.  The 
Porte  was  to  assent  to  Russia's  demands,  with  the  exception  of 
the  protectorate,  which  was  not,  however,  to  be  refused,  but  mere- 
ly to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  The  difficulty  certainly  could 
not  be  settled  by  avoiding  the  real  point  at  issue  in  this  way. 
Nicholas  accepted  the  note,  but  interpreted  it  as  approving  of  all 
his  claims,  including  the  protectorate.  This  caused  great  excite- 
ment in  London  and  Constantinople.  In  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, Layard,  who  thoroughly  understood  Eastern  affairs,  made 
a  violent  attack  on  the  Russophile  ministry,  and  demanded  deci- 
sive action  in  favor  of  the  Turks.  In  Constantinople  the  old- 
Turkish  party  left  the  Sultan  no  other  choice  than  abdication  or 
the  rejection  of  the  note. 

Warlike  preparations  were  actively  pushed  forward  in  Turkey. 
The  tributary  states,  Egypt  and  Tunis,  were  called  upon  to  fur- 
nish their  contingents ;  the  taxes  were  collected  for  several  years 
in  advance;  and  religious  enthusiasm  was  appealed  to,  just  as  it 
had  been  in  Russia.  On  the  4th  of  October  war  was  declared 
in  case  the  Danubian  principalities  were  not  evacuated  at  once. 
Russia  replied  on  the  1st  of  November  by  a  declaration  of  war, 
and  fighting  began.  The  main  force  of  the  Turks  was  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Danube,  under  the  command  of  Omer  Pasha. 
He  crossed  over  to  the  left  bank  at  Widdin,  fortified  Kalafat,  and 
on  the  4th  of  November,  in  an  intrenched  position  at  Oltenizza, 
repulsed  the  attacks  of  the  numerically  superior  Russian  forces. 
15ut  this  success  was  more  than  outweighed  by  a  disaster  at  sea. 
The  Russian  admiral,  Nakhimoff,  sailing  from  Sebastopol,  sur- 
prised a  Turkish  squadron  under  Osman  Pasha  at  Sinope  one 
cloudy  day,  November  30th,  and  almost  completely  destroyed  it. 
The  English  leopard,  which  assumed  a  sort  of  maritime  autocracy, 
could  no  longer  be  hold  back.  Lord  Aberdeen  had  to  resign,  and 


THE  TURKISH  CHRISTIANS  AND  THE  GREEKS  QUIET.     257 

Lord  Palmerston,  who  stood  in  friendly  relations  with  Napoleon, 
and  who  would  not  hesitate  at  war,  took  his  place.  December  5th, 
the  Vienna  conference  sent  another  note  to  Russia,  making  a  few 
concessions,  but  at  the  same  time  demanding  the  evacuation  of 
the  Danubian  principalities.  As  Nicholas  refused  to  accede  to 
these  demands,  the  Western  powers  concluded  an  offensive  and 
defensive  alliance  with  Turkey,  March  12th,  1854;  and  on  the 
28th  declared  war  on  Russia.  If  Austria  and  Prussia  did  the  <* 
same  Nicholas  would  have  to  yield.  All  depended  on  his  keep- 
ing them  neutral  at  the  least.  A  meeting  with  Francis  Joseph  in 
Olmiitz,  and  a  journey  to  Berlin  (1853)  had  that  object  in  view. 
The  interest  of  the  two  German  great  powers  in  this  question 
was  not  equal.  What  took  place  away  off  in  Turkey  did  not  di- 
rectly affect  Prussia,  while  it  did  affect  Austria;  so  it  was  the 
latter  which  exacted  the  promise  that  the  Russian  armies  should 
not  cross  the  Danube.  WThen  the  Danube  was  crossed,  in  spite  of  j 
this  promise,  Austria  concluded  with  Prussia  an  offensive  and 
defensive  alliance,  by  which  both  bound  themselves  to  make 
war  on  Russia  if  it  incorporated  the  Danubian  principalities  or 
crossed  the  Balkans.  A  note  was  also  sent  to  St.  Petersburg  de- 
manding the  immediate  evacuation  of  the  principalities.  The  i 
Bamberg  conference  of  the  second-rate  German  states — which 
wanted,  acting  in  the  name  of  the  Diet,  to  meddle  in  external 
politics  and  support  Russia — not  satisfied  with  the  action  of  Aus- 
tria and  Prussia,  addressed  notes  to  those  two  states,  but  was 
brought  without  much  difficulty  to  acquiesce  in  the  course  that 
had  been  pursued.  The  Austrian  and  Prussian  notes  made  little 
impression  on  Nicholas,  as  he  thought  himself  sure  of  Prussia, 
and  reckoned  with  confidence  on  Austria's  gratitude.  Matters 
assumed  a  more  doubtful  appearance  on  the  14th  of  June,  when 
Austria  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Porte,  by  which  she  obtained 
the  right  to  enter  and  occupy  the  Danubian  principalities,  on  the 
very  borders  of  which  she  had  already  concentrated  an  army.  If 
this  treaty  were  carried  out,  the  Russian  line  of  retreat  would  be 
threatened,  and  the  Russians  would  find  themselves  between  two 
fires. 

Other  hopes  which  Nicholas  had  entertained  were  also  disap- 
pointed. He  had  counted  upon  the  rising  at  his  approach  of  all 
the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Sultan,  as  well  as  the  inhabitants  of 
Greece,  in  a  crusade  against  the  Crescent.  The  Bosnians,  Ser» 


258  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

vians,  and  Bulgarians  were  partly  held  down  by  Omer  Pasha  and 
by  the  threatening  attitude  of  Austria,  and  partly  they  wished  to 
be  on  the  safe  side,  and  wait  for  decisive  Russian  victories.  In 
Greece,  on  the  other  hand,  great  excitement  prevailed.  The  ha- 
tred of  the  old  oppressor  was  rekindled.  The  northern  bounda- 
ries seemed  more  contracted  than  ever,  now  that  an  opportunity 
for  extending  them  appeared  to  have  arrived,  and  there  was  even 
talk  of  a  resurrection  of  the  Byzantine  empire.  The  Western 
powers  sent  a  few  ships  to  the  Piraeus  to  repress  these  warlike 
aspirations,  and  French  troops  landed  and  compelled  the  govern- 
ment to  join  them  in  holding  the  restless  elements  in  check. 
Thievish  klephts  made  a  few  inroads  into  Thessaly  and  Epirus; 
but  nothing  of  importance  occurred,  which  lack  of  energy  on 
King  Otho's  part  so  offended  the  people  that  a  change  of  mon- 
arch began  to  be  thought  of. 

Russia  was  thus  thrown  on  her  own  resources,  and  could  only 
console  herself  with  the  thought — More  foes,  greater  glory.  But 
the  glory  was  not  so  easily  won.  The  expedition  against  Kala- 
fat  failed,  where  Achmet  Pasha  was  stationed  with  16,000  men. 
Iskender  Bey  (the  quondam  Polish  Count  Jelinski),  a  dashing  com- 
mander of  cavalry,  succeeded  in  surprising  and  defeating  the  Rus- 
sians at  Cetate.  Prince  Paskevitch  was  now  intrusted  with  the 
chief  command.  He  crossed  the  Danube  and  besieged  Silistria, 
while  Omer  Pasha  withdrew  to  the  fortress  of  Shumla.  But  all 
the  Russian  assaults  on  Silistria,  all  the  skill  of  General  Schilder, 
distinguished  engineer  though  he  was,  availed  nothing  against  the 
gallant  and  prudent  defence  of  the  commandant,  Mussa  Pasha, 
assisted  by  Grach,  a  Prussian  artillery  officer.  Mussa,  Grach,  and 
Schilder  were  all  mortally  wounded,  and  Paskevitch  was  grazed 
by  a  bullet.  Despairing  of  the  capture  of  the  city,  he  finally 
drew  off  his  shattered  army  (June  21st),  and  fell  back,  first  across 
the  Danube,  and  then  across  the  Pruth  ;  for  the  Western  powers 
had  already  landed  troops  in  Varna,  and  an  Austrian  army  was 
advancing  from  Transylvania  against  the  Danubian  principalities, 
which  it  entered  on  the  retreat  of  the  Russians. 

At  the  same  time  an  English  fleet,  under  Admiral  Charles  Na- 
pier, with  some  French  ships,  under  Baraguay  d'Hilliers,  entered 
the  Baltic,  to  induce  Sweden  to  make  common  cause  with  the 
Western  powers,  and  to  carry  the  war,  with  its  horrors,  up  the 
Gulf  of  Finland  to  Crojistadt  and  St.  Petersburg:.  But  Sweden 


THE  ALLIES  AT  VARNA.  259 

remained  neutral,  and  Cronstadt,  which  had  been  made  practical- 
ly impregnable  of  late  years,  laughed  the  English  naval  guns  to 
scorn.  Toward  autumn  Napier  had  to  turn  back  with  his  object 
unaccomplished.  Except  the  capture  of  a  few  merchantmen,  the 
bombardment  of  peaceful  Finnish  villages,  and  the  burning  of 
magazines  of  tar  and  wood,  he  had  no  heroic  deeds  to  show. 
The  French  had  to  content  themselves  with  the  capture  of  the 
fortress  of  Bomarsund,  on  one  of  the  Aland  islands  (August 
16th). 

The  war  must  be  decided  in  the  south.  If  the  Western  pow- 
ers wished  to  afford  Turkey  any  real  assistance  they  would  have 
to  come  with  a  strong  land-force.  England  shipped  an  army  of 
20,000  men,  under  the  command  of  Lord  Raglan,  who  was  a  com- 
panion-in-arms of  Wellington,  and  had  lost  an  arm  at  Waterloo. 
The  French  land-troops  numbered  about  50,000  men,  most  of 
whom  had  served  in  Algiers.  They  were  commanded  by  Mar- 
shal St.  Arnaud,  who  stood  high  in  Napoleon's  favor  on  account 
of  his  service  in  the  coup-d'etat  of  December  2d.  The  Duke  of 
Cambridge  and  Prince  Napoleon,  a  cousin  of  the  emperor,  at- 
tached themselves  to  the  army,  where  the  latter — Prince  Plon- 
plon — became  better  known  for  his  lack  of  courage  than  for 
great  deeds.  The  transportation  of  the  troops  lasted  several 
weeks,  during  which  time  the  allied  fleet  bombarded  Odessa. 
They  took  care,  however,  not  to  do  too  much  injury  to  the  de- 
fenceless mercantile  city,  where  a  great  deal  of  English  proper- 
ty lay.  At  last  the  land -troops  arrived  at  Gallipoli,  and  were 
brought  from  there  to  Varna,  partly  by  sea  and  partly  by  land. 
There  they  soon  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  cholera.  A  fire 
reduced  almost  the  whole  city  to  ashes,  and  it  was  with  difficulty 
that  the  great  powder  magazine  was  saved.  The  useless  march 
into  the  Dobrudja  during  the  burning  August  heat  cost  2000 
men.  After  the  retreat  of  the  Russians  Varna  had  no  further 
importance,  and  a  council  of  war  was  held  to  decide  at  what  point 
a  blow  could  best  be  struck  at  the  Russian  power.  The  Turkish 
commanders  wished  to  effect  a  landing  in  Asia,  in  order  to  drive 
the  Russians  out  of  the  Caucasus ;  but  St.  Arnaud,  who  was  suf- 
fering more  and  more  from  the  fever  he  had  brought  with  him 
from  Marseilles,  wished  to  illuminate  the  last  days  of  his  life  by 
a  brilliant  deed  of  arms,  and  urged  an  attack  on  Sebastopol,  the 
most  important  military  post  in  the  Crimea.  As  the  Russian  na- 


260  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

val  power  iu  the  Black  Sea  would-be  thereby  annihilated,  Lord 
Raglan  was  of  the  same  mind. 

The  execution  of  the  Crimean  project  progressed  rapidly.  Fif- 
ty-five thousand  French  and  English  and  six  thousand  Turks  land- 
ed at  Eupatoria,  on  the  west  side  of  the  peninsula,  on  the  14th  of 
September,  1854;  and  on  the  20th  Prince  Menshikoff,  governor 
of  the  Crimea,  was  defeated  at  the  river  Alma.  The  day  was 
won  principally  through  the  valor  of  General  Bosquet,  who  with 
his  zouaves  scaled  the  heights  occupied  by  the  Russians.  When 
the  allies  arrived  before  Sebastopol,  on  the  27th,  they  found  the 
fortifications  on  the  north  side  of  the  city  too  strong  to  be  taken 
without  siege-guns,  and  those  must  first  be  brought.  The  Rus- 
sians had  made  entrance  into  the  harbor  impossible  by  sinking 
seven  large  ships  of  war  at  the  mouth.  The  works  of  defence 
were  strengthened  from  week  to  week  by  the  restless  energy  of 
an  able  artillery  officer,  Todleben,  and  large  re-enforcements  from 
the  interior  of  Russia  came  up  over  the  isthmus  of  Perekop. 
Hence  the  allies  decided  upon  a  regular  siege,  and  encamped 
south  of  the  city,  the  French  at  the  bight  of  Kamiesh,  and  the 
English  at  that  of  Balaklava.  A  sudden  attack  upon  the  north- 
ern side  of  the  city  might  have  succeeded,  perhaps ;  but  St.  Ar- 
naud's  failing  health  was  not  favorable  for  energetic  operations. 
He  surrendered  the  command  to  General  Canrobert,  and  embarked 
for  Constantinople,  but  died  on  board  ship  of  the  cholera  (Sep- 
tember 29th). 

The  siege  which  now  began  was  one  of  the  most  obstinate  and 
bloody  on  record.  In  order  to  become  masters  of  this  stronghold 
before  winter  set  in,  the  allies  undertook  a  bombardment  of  the 
city,  October  1 7th,  both  from  the  land  batteries  and  the  ships,  but 
suffered,  especially  on  the  ships,  more  damage  than  they  inflicted. 
This  encouraged  the  Russians  to  assume  the  offensive.  October 
25th,  General  Liprandi  attacked  the  English  at  Balaklava,  and 
inflicted  heavy  losses  on  their  cavalry.  The  action  of  November 
5th,  at  Inkerman,  where  the  English  escaped  disaster  only  by  the 
timely  assistance  of  Canrobert  and  Bosquet,  was  far  more  serious, 
but  finally  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the  Russians,  who  were  forced 
to  beat  a  hasty  retreat  behind  their  fortifications.  That  ended 
the  fighting  for  the  year  1854,  for  the  setting  in  of  winter,  and 
especially  the  pouring  rain,  rendered  action  in  the  field  impossible. 
But  the  soldiers  were  not  prepared  for  a  winter  campaign.  The 


AUSTRIA  AND   SARDINIA  JOIN   THE   ALLIES.  261 

English  and  Turks,  whose  commissariat  system  was  very  bad,  suf- 
fered terribly,  and  cholera  and  dysentery  carried  off  thousands. 
The  French  were  better  provided,  and  their  native  adaptability 
and  cheerfulness  enabled  them  to  care  for  themselves  better. 
They  were  light-hearted  enough  even  to  improvise  a  theatre  in 
their  camp. 

Diplomacy  made  use  of  the  winter  season  while  war  rested.  The 
Vienna  conference  again  came  together;  but  Russia,  which  partici- 
pated only  in  the  hope  of  separating  the  allies,  rejected  the  condi- 
tions offered  it,  so  that  on  the  2d  of  December  Austria  entered 
into  a  formal  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  the  Western 
powers,  and  strengthened  her  armies  in  Transylvania  and  Galicia. 
But  as  Prussia  could  not  be  brought  to  make  war  on  Russia,  and 
the  secondary  German  states  went  no  farther  than  to  prepare  for 
war,  Austria  did  not  dare,  even  if  she  had  had  any  intention  of 
doing  so,  to  lead  her  armies  eastward,  leaving  her  rear  exposed. 
"While  by  this  course  she  was  earning  no  thanks  from  any  side, 
was  prejudicing  her  authority  as  a  great  power,  and  was  bleeding 
herself  financially  by  the  maintenance  of  so  many  troops  on  a  war 
footing,  little  Sardinia,  by  the  treaty  of  January  26th,  1855,  en- 
tered the  ranks  of  the  belligerent  powers,  and  sent  1 5,000  men  to 
the  Crimea  under  General  Lamarmora.  Count  Cavour's  political 
sagacity  had  at  once  perceived  the  favorable  opportunity  which 
Sardinia  now  had.  The  alliance  of  the  three  Eastern  powers — the 
Holy  Alliance — was  destroyed  by  Austria's  ingratitude.  France 
and  England  were  placed  under  obligations  to  the  King  of  Sar- 
dinia by  the  assistance  of  his  brave  soldiers.  It  might  be  foreseen 
.  that  by  a  skilful  Italian  policy,  for  which  Count  Cavour  was  quite 
the  man,  it  could  readily  be  brought  about  that,  in  case  of  another 
war  in  the  valley  of  the  Po,  Sardinia  would  have  a  powerful  ally 
at  her  side,  while  Austria  would  stand  completely  isolated. 

Emperor  Nicholas  strained  the  military  resources  of  his  people 
to  the  uttermost,  and  sent  large  re-enforcements  of  troops  to  the 
Crimea,  many  of  whom  never  reached  their  destination,  but  were 
lost  in  the  snow-fields  of  southern  Russia.  The  command  came 
from  St.  Petersburg  to  surprise  the  Turks  under  Omer  Pasha  at 
Eupatoria.  February  17th,  1855,  General  Chruleff  undertook  the 
assault,  but  the  wakeful  Turks  repulsed  him.  These  numerous 
Job's  messages  so  affected  the  health  of  the  proud  Czar  that  he 
died  on  the  2d  of  March,  1855.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest 


262  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

son,  Alexander  II.,  a  mild,  peace-loving  monarch.  The  honor  of 
Russia  and  the  manes  of  his  angry  father  imperatively  demanded 
the  continuance  of  the  struggle,  although  Russia  had  already  lost 
250,000  men,  the  greater  part  by  disease.  Alexander  recalled  Prince 
Menshikoff,  and  intrusted  the  chief  command  to  Prince  Michael 
Gortschakoff.  The  Western  powers  on  their  part  could  conclude 
no  peace  before  the  capture  of  Sebastopol.  Especially  was  this 
the  case  with  Napoleon,  whose  first  great  undertaking  must  be 
victorious,  if  his  throne  were  not  "to  be  endangered.  Accordingly, 
he  sent  his  ablest  military  engineer,  the  artillery-general  Niel,  to 
the  Crimea,  that  he  might  give  his  counsels  on  the  spot.  He 
soon  found  the  proper  place  for  the  main  attack,  and  advanced 
his  lines  ever  nearer  and  neai-er  to  the  southern  suburb,  Karabel- 
naya.  His  opponent,  Todleben,  met  him  half-way  where  possible. 
He  threw  up  new  intrenchments  at  this  new  point  of  attack,  and 
made  the  so-called  Malakoff  tower  almost  impregnable.  Day  and 
night  the  battle  raged  above  ground  and  below.  The  army  of  the 
allies  had  been  raised  to  174,000,  that  of  the  Russians  to  150,000. 
On  the  6th  of  April  500  shots  were  fired  into  the  city,  and  the 
bombardment  was  continued  for  fourteen  days  without  intermis- 
sion. But  the  Russian  guns  did  not  remain  silent,  and  Todleben 
rebuilt  his  defences  as.  soon  as  they  were  destroyed.  In  the  mean 
time  the  allied  fleet  made  an  expedition  to  the  Sea  of  Azov,  to  de- 
stroy the  cities  of  Kertsh,  Yenikale,  Mariopol,  Taganrog,  and  An- 
apa, with  their  valuable  depots  of  supplies.  The  expedition  suc- 
ceeded, but  there  was  as  little  glory  to  be  won  here  as  in  the 
Baltic.  The  conduct  of  the  soldiers  of  the  "most  civilized  na- 
tion," in  not  sparing  Kertsh — the  ancient  Panticapa3um,  where 
the  aged  Mithridates  met  his  death — with  its  valuable  collection 
of  antiquities,  did  not  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  civilized 
world. 

In  Paris,  where  the  news  of  victory  was  eagerly  awaited,  Can- 
robert's  progress  was  not  viewed  with  satisfaction.  His  relations 
to  Lord  Raglan  were  very  strained,  and  that  prevented  cordial 
co-operation.  Accordingly,  a  change  of  commanders  seemed  ad- 
visable, and  Canrobert  himself  recommended  it.  General  Pelis- 
sier,  the  perpetrator  of  the  cave  massacre  in  Algeria,  owing  to  his 
unhesitating  energy,  appeared  to  be  the  right  man,  and  General 
Canrobert  had  self-renunciation  enough  to  serve  under  his  suc- 
cessor as  general  of  division.  The  consequences  of  the  change 


THE  STORMING  OF  SEBASTOPOL.  263 

soon  became  apparent.  However  fast  the  men  fell,  Pelissier  kept 
pushing  his  lines  nearer ;  and  on  the  7th  of  June  he  carried  the 
"green  mamelon  "  by  storm.  But  the  general  assault,  which  was 
undertaken  on  the  18th  of  June  (Waterloo-day),  miscarried,  and 
cost  the  allies  7000  men.  Lord  Raglan,  who  had  not  fulfilled  the 
expectations  entertained  regarding  him,  died  of  the  cholera,  June 
28th,  and  in  his  stead  General  Simpson,  likewise  an  old  man,  as- 
sumed the  command  of  the  British  troops.  The  Russians  also 
lost  a  leader  about  this  time :  Admiral  Nakhimoff,  the  victor  of 
Sinope,  was  killed  by  a  bullet  while  with  his  customary  fearlessness 
inspecting  the  fortifications. 

The  allies  paid  another  visit  to  the  Baltic,  but  had  as  little 
success  with  the  fortress  of  Cronstadt  as  in  the  previous  summer. 
The  bombardment  of  the  Finnish  city  of  Sweaborg  was  the  only 
result  of  the  expedition  worth  mentioning. 

Before  Sebastopol  the  siege  works  had  been  pushed  so  close 
that  the  Russian  position  was  becoming  critical.  If  the  enemy 
kept  on  advancing  at  the  same  rate,  the  days  of  Sebastopol  were 
numbered.  Accordingly,  on  the  16th  of  August,  General  Read 
undertook  a  sortie.  The  siege  works  were  to  be  destroyed  and 
the  thick  chain  of  hostile  forces  broken.  Favored  by  a  fog,  he 
surprised  the  allies ;  but  the  French  and  Sardinians  quickly  col- 
lected again,  and  he  was  repulsed,  with  the  loss  of  several  thou- 
sand men.  Pelissier  followed  out  his  plan  with  mathematical 
inexorableness.  From  the  19th  of  August  on,  the  rain  of  cannon- 
balls  was  so  terrible  that  in  three  days  5000  Russians  were  killed 
or  wounded  on  the  walls  and  in  the  streets.  Eight  hundred  can- 
non were  directed  against  the  city.  The  earth  quaked,  and  the 
inhabitants  were  stupefied.  There  was  no  more  thought  of  repairing 
the  works  which  were  battered  down.  Against  such  an  infernal 
fire  even  Todleben's  skill  could  do  nothing  more.  It  was  one  con- 
tinued thunder-clap.  The  Russian  guns  were  no  longer  capable 
of  answering  the  fire.  It  was  decided  to  make  a  general  assault 
on  the  8th  of  September.  At  exactly  mid-day  the  cannonade  of 
the  allies  suddenly  ceased  along  the  whole  line,  and  at  the  same 
moment  the  French  dashed  upon  the  Malakoff  tower,  while  the 
English  charged  the  Redan,  a  saw -shaped  fortification.  The 
French  storming  column  under  MacMahon's  lead  had  quickly 
scaled  the  outer  works  of  the  Malakoff,  but  within  they  met  with  a 
stubborn  resistance ;  and  when  they  had  overcome  this  they  were 


264  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

in  danger  of  being  blown  into  the  air  with  the  tower,  for  subter- 
ranean wires  led  from  the  powder  magazine  to  the  city.  These 
were  quickly  severed,  and  a  trench  sunk.  The  French  also  car- 
ried the  little  Redan  and  the  Central  Bastion,  but  lost  7300  men 
in  these  assaults  within  a  few  hours.  The  English  were  less 
fortunate.  Notwithstanding  a  terrible  fire  of  grape-shot  they 
forced  their  way  into  the  great  Redan,  but  were  driven  out  again, 
with  a  loss  of  2400  men.  After  the  capture  of  the  Malakoff  Se- 
bastopol  was  no  longer  tenable.  Prince  Gortschakoff,  who  had  lost 
13,000  men  in  this  attack,  blew  up  the  remaining  fortifications 
on  the  southern  side,  sunk  the  rest  of  his  ships,  fell  back  to  the 
north  side  of  the  bay,  and  took  up  a  strong  position  in  the  moun- 
tains to  the  east.  Here  he  was  in  communication  with  Perekop 
and  the  other  parts  of  Russia,  and  had  for  the  time  nothing  to 
fear  from  the  allies,  who  were  embarrassed  with  their  own  losses. 
Enormous  stores  of  material  of  war  and  wood  for  ship-building 
were  found  in  the  city.  The  siege  had  lasted  eleven  months, 
.greatly  exhausting  all  the  belligerents.  All  wished  for  peace ; 
and,  fortunately  for  Russia,  on  the  28th  of  November  Kars,  in 
Asia  Minor,  surrendered  to  General  Muravieff,  after  it  had  been 
gallantly  defended  for  several  months  by  the  commandant,  Was- 
sif  Pasha,  with  the  assistance  of  Williams,  an  Englishman,  and 
Kmety,  a  Hungarian. 

Casting  this  victory  into  the  scales,  Emperor  Alexander  sent 
Count  OrloS  to  the  peace  congress  at  Paris.  At  this  congress, 
besides  Russia,  France,  England,  Austria,  and  Turkey,  Sardinia 
also  took  part  in  the  persons  of  Count  Cavour  and  the  Marquis 
of  Villamarina.  Prussia,  too,  was  finally  drawn  in  by  reason  of 
certain  changes  in  the  Vienna  treaties.  The  Peace  of  Paris  was 
signed  on  the  30th  of  March,  1856.  Russia  regained  Sebastopol 
and  whatever  else  she  had  lost,  and  had,  on  her  part,  to  restore 
Kars,  cede  to  Turkey  a  small  strip  of  land  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Danube,  and  renounce  the  protectorate  of  the  Danubian  princi- 
palities and  the  Grecian  Christians  in  Turkey.  She  was  to  erect 
no  more  arsenals  on  the  Black  Sea,  and  to  maintain  no  more 
ships  of  war  there  than  Turkey.  The  passage  of  the  Danube 
was  declared  free,  the  integrity  of  the  Porte  affirmed,  and  the 
Christian  subjects  of  Turkey,  whose  equality  with  the  Turks  be- 
fore the  law  had  already  been  proclaimed,  placed  under  the  joint 
protection  of  the  great  powers. 


FRANCE   PREDOMINANT.  265 

By  these  provisions  it  was  intended  to  take  away  from  Russia 
the  power  and  the  opportunity  to  interfere  in  the  internal  affairs 
of  Turkey.  A  long  time  would  be  needed  to  gather  strength  for 
a  new  blow ;  but,  however  often  Russia  may  be  unsuccessful,  she 
will  always  renew  the  attempt  until  she  has  planted  her  cross  on 
the  church  of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople.  But  the  belief  in 
Russia's  boundless  resources  and  invincibility,  which  Nicholas  had 
contrived  to  spread,  was  gone.  Germany  was  freed  from  Russian 
pressure.  The  first  place,  which  Russia  had  occupied  for  a  long 
time,  was  taken  by  Napoleon,  who  from  a  despised  parvenu  had 
suddenly  become  a  very  courteously  treated  majesty,  to  whose 
palace  princes  made  their  dutiful  pilgrimages.  France  shone  once 
more  in  her  old  military  glory.  She  was  the  first  great  power. 
Austria  and  Prussia  were  condemned  to  impotence  by  their  per- 
petual rivalries.  The  rest  of  Germany  was  treated  like  a  baby 
scarcely  out  of  long-clothes.  England,  which  had  accomplished 
nothing  great,  either  at  sea  or  on  land,  was  regarded  as  on  the 
decline.  The  chancellor  of  the  Russian  empire,  Prince  Alexander 
Gortschakoff,  a  brother  of  the  general,  in  his  circular  of  Septem- 
ber 2d,  1856,  described  Russia's  new  programme  in  the  words: 
"  Russia  does  not  repine,  she  collects  herself "  ("  La  Russie  ne 
boude  pas,  elle  se  recueille  ").  Against  Austria,  which  had  "  aston- 
ished the  world  by  its  ingratitude,"  Russia  cherished  a  most  bit- 
ter grudge,  while  it  recognized  Prussia's  favorable  attitude  by 
friendly  approaches. 

According  to  the  statement  of  his  physicians,  the  "  sick  man  " 
was  once  more  in  a  thoroughly  normal  condition.  That  a  part  of 
his  dominions — his  Christian  subjects — was  placed  under  the  guar- 
dianship of  the  great  powers  was  proof  of  something  abnormal. 
In  the  hattisherif  of  Gulhane  (November  3d,  1839)  Sultan  Abdul 
Medjid  had  already  granted  all  his  subjects  equality  before  the  law. 
After  the  Crimean  war,  at  the  instance  of  the  English  ambassa- 
dor, Lord  de  Rcdcliffe,  he  issued  the  so-called  Hat  Humayun  of 
February  8th,  1856,  by  which  the  Christians  were  granted  equal 
rights  with  the  Turks  in  all  respects,  and  all  difference  between 
the  two  in  political  life  was  to  be  removed.  But  if  it  is  not  in- 
frequently the  case  that  the  performances  of  Christian  sovereigns 
fail  to  correspond  with  their  promises,  what  was  to  be  expected 
from  a  Mohammedan,  who  was  not  even  acting  according  to  his 
own  free-will  ?  The  terrible  atrocities  which  the  Turkish  popula- 

12 


266  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

tion  in  Syria,  and  especially  in  Damascus,  perpetrated  upon  the 
Christians  in  the  year  1860,  which  gave  the  French  occasion  to 
occupy  Syria  for  ten  months,  demonstrated  the  hatred  of  Chris- 
tians cherished  by  the  Turkish  race.  Abdul  Medjid  died,  just  at 
the  end  of  that  occupation,  June  26th,  1861,  having-  dissipated 
his  powers  in  the  delights  of  the  harem.  His  brother  Abdul  Aziz 
succeeded  him,  and,  after  some  feeble  attempts  to  bring  about  a 
better  condition  of  affairs,  fell  into  the  same  courses.  He  was  un- 
able to  prevent  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  which  had  in  1859  chosen 
Colonel  Alexander  Cousa  as  their  hospodar,  from  proclaiming 
their  union,  under  the  name  of  Roumania,  on  the  23d  of  Decem- 
ber, 1861.  This  reduced  the  suzerainty  of  the  Porte  to  a  mere 
shadow.  The  caprice  and  extravagance  of  the  new  prince  finally 
brought  about  a  conspiracy,  and  in  the  night  of  February  23d, 
1866,  he  was  surprised  in  his  palace  and  compelled  to  abdicate. 
Prince  Charles  of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen  was  chosen  in  his 
place,  and  confirmed  by  the  Porte  as  hereditary  prince  of  Rou- 
mania. 

Greece  was  very  much  dissatisfied  with  the  Peace  of  Paris, 
which  guaranteed  the  Turkish  boundaries.  Henceforward  King 
Otho  had  a  difficult  position.  The  nation  could  not  forgive  him 
for  having  shown  no  enterprise  or  military  ambition  during  the 
Crimean  war;  and  from  that  time  on  he  was  regarded  as  wholly 
unfit  to  carry  out  the  "great  idea"  of  a  great  Greece  and  trans- 
fer his  residence  to  Constantinople.  When  the  Italian  campaign 
of  1859  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  principle  of  nationality,  and 
when,  in  1860,  Garibaldi  set  out  upon  his  expedition  to  Sicily  and 
Naples,  and  in  1862  attempted  to  raise  the  whole  shore  of  the 
Adriatic  Gulf  for  the  conquest  of  Venice,  the  Hellenes  asked  them- 
selves whether  that  which  the  Italians  had  striven  after  with  al- 
most complete  success  was  to  be  forbidden  them — whether  they 
did  not  have  the  same  right  to  give  car  to  their  Grecian  brothers, 
who  were  sighing  under  the  yoke  of  a  barbarian  people,  and  unite 
into  one  state  all  the  Grecian  provinces  of  the  Olympian  penin- 
sula. Italian  agents,  and  even  the  Italian  ambassador  in  Athens, 
stirred  the  fire.  In  February  of  1862  a  military  insurrection 
broke  out  in  Nanplia.  This  was  put  down,  but  the  rebels  found 
King  Otho  a  lenient  judge.  In  October,  while  the  king  and  his 
wife,  Amalie  of  Oldenburg,  were  visiting  the  Peloponnesus,  the 
cities  of  Vonizza,  Patras,  and  Athens  rose  against  him.  A  pro- 


EMANCIPATION   OF  TIIE  SERFS.  267 

visional  government  was  formed,  and  Otho  declared  dethroned. 
On  the  news  of  this  military  conspiracy  the  royal  pair  returned 
to  Piraeus  (October  23d) ;  but  they  were  not  allowed  to  land. 
They  sailed  back  to  Salamis,  and  embarked  on  an  English  ship 
for  Trieste,  whence  they  returned  to,  their  German  home.  The 
Greeks  then  chose  Prince  Alfred,  Queen  Victoria's  second  son, 
to  be  their  king ;  but  the  English  cabinet  declined  the  honor. 
March  30th,  1863,  they  made  Prince  George  of  Gliicksburg  king, 
whose  father  had  been  designated  by  the  London  protocol  as 
the  future  king  of  Denmark.  The  young  George  I.  landed  in  the 
Piraeus  October  30th.  He  had  made  the  union  of  the  Ionian 
islands  with  Greece  a  condition  of  acceptance,  and  England  had 
consented  to  the  union.  The  Greek  nation  regarded  it  as  a  lucky 
omen  that  the  new  king  brought  this  acquisition  with  him  as  a  I 
dower,  as  it  were,  and  hoped  that  he  would  satisfy  the  national 
expectations  with  regard  to  Turkey.  This  hope  found  confirma- 
tion in  1866,  on  occasion  of  the  rebellion  of  the  Candiotes  against 
Turkey,  when  King  George  did  not  prevent  the  fitting  out  of  ex- 
peditions to  Crete,  and  openly  took  the  side  of  the  rebels. 

This  hostile  attitude  on  the  part  of  Greece  and  the  rebellions 
in  the  Graeco-Turkish  provinces  were  greatly  encouraged  by  Rus- 
sia so  long  as  it  was  a  question  of  attacking  Turkey,  and  not  of 
dividing  it.  If  it  came  to  a  division  of  Turkey,  Greece  was  cer-  ' 
tain  to  find  in  Russia  a  very  self-seeking  co-heir — not  merely  in- 
clined to  claim  for  herself  the  whole  inheritance,  but  even  to 

swallow  Greece  itself.    Indeed,  Nicholas,  in  his  conversations  with 

7  ' 

Seymour,  would  hear  nothing  of  the  enlargement  of  Greece,  not 
to  speak  of  the  re-establishment  of  a  Byzantine  empire. 

Alexander  II.  proclaimed  himself  at  the  outset  a  promoter  of 
civilization.  A  meeting  which  he  had  with  Napoleon  in  Stutt- 
gart, at  the  court  of  King  William  of  Wiirtemberg  (September, 
1857),  established  friendly  personal  relations  between  the  two  em- 
perors. At  home  he  endeavored,  by  the  construction  of  railroads, 
by  commercial  treaties,  and  by  improvement  of  the  system  of  in- 
struction, to  heal  the  wounds  the  country  had  received,  and  to 
rid  Russia  more  and  more  of  its  Asiatic  forms.  His  most  impor- 
tant measure,  requiring  courage  no  less  than  sagacity  and  good 
intentions,  inasmuch  as  23,000,000  of  his  subjects  were  slaves, 
was  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Serfs  of  the  peasant  class  were  to 
receive  from  their  owners  a  certain  amount  of  land,  and  in  a  term 


268  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

of  years,  by  a  sort  of  redemption,  consisting  in  money  or  other 
services,  this  was  to  become  their  own  property.  Serfs  engaged 
in  manufactures  and  household  servants  were  to  be  freed  from 
their  obligations  to  their  former  masters  within  two  years.  Alex- 
ander set  a  good  example :  he  freed  all  the  serfs  on  the  imperial 
estates,  and  bestowed  upon  them  without  payment  the  lands  they 
farmed.  Neither  the  opposition  of  the  nobility,  whose  power  was 
endangered,  nor  the  risings  of  peasants,  who  found  it  more  desir- 
able to  acquire  their  land  without  redemption,  could  check  the 
Czar  in  the  prosecution  of  his  work  of  civilization.  His  mani- 
festo of  March  17th,  1861,  clearly  showed  his  purposes,  and  the 
execution  of  those  purposes  must  inevitably  work  a  total  change 
in  the  social  and  political  condition  of  Russia. 

In  the  midst  of  these  reform  movements  occurred  a  new  Po- 
lish rebellion.  Although  Alexander  had  improved  their  condi- 
tion considerably,  both  from  a  material  and  sentimental  point  of 
view,  and  was  planning  still  further  improvements,  yet  after  the 
Italian  war  of  1859,  where  the  claims  of  nationality  had  won  the 
day,  there  arose  a  great  agitation  among  the  Poles,  and  they  once 
more  looked  to  France  for  help.  The  erection  of  an  independent 
kingdom  with  the  old  boundaries  as  they  had  existed  before  the 
first  division  of  1772  was  the  aim  of  the  agitation.  From  Novem- 
ber of  1860  onward  memorial  mourning  solemnities  on  a  grand 
scale  in  honor  of  the  beginning  of  the  revolution  of  1830,  of  the 
battle  at  Grochow,  and  of  Prince  Czartoryski,  who  had  died  in 
1  "avis,  kept  political  passions  alive.  The  middle  classes  in  the 
cities,  the  students,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood  were  the 
main-stays  of  the  movement.  On  the  death  of  Prince  Paskevitch 
the  Czar  made  Prince  Gortschakoff,  the  defender  of  Sebastopol, 
Governor-general  of  Poland.  The  Polish  margrave  Wielopolski, 
a  moderate  patriot,  was  his  coadjutor,  intrusted  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  department  of  religion  and  instruction.  But  no 
concessions  satisfied  the  people.  They  made  mourning  the  na- 
tional color,  and  sung  revolutionary  hymns  in  the  churches,  while 
the  nobles  employed  the  Agricultural  Society  for  their  political 
ends.  Before  long  there  were  collisions  in  Warsaw  between  the 
people  and  the  troops.  October  14th,  1861,  Count  Lambert  de- 
clared all  Poland  in  a  state  of  siege ;  and  General  Liiders,  who 
removed  the  state  of  siege,  caused  the  arrest  of  several  promi- 
nent men.  But  the  government  did  not  omit  conciliatory  meas- 


POLISH   REBELLION   OF   1863   QUELLED.  269 

urcs.  The  priest  Felinski  was  named  Archbishop  of  Warsaw ; 
Grand-duke  Constantine,  the  Czar's  brother,  was  made  Governor 
of  Poland,  and  Wielopolski  intrusted,  under  him,  with  the  civil 
administration.  A  series  of  national  reforms  began.  But  the 
population  of  Warsaw  was  under  the  ban  of  a  conspiracy.  At- 
tempts on  the  life  of  General  Liiders,  the  Grand-duke,  and  Wie- 
lopolski revealed  the  threatening  abyss.  In  order  to  get  rid  of 
the  revolutionary  elements  in  the  population,  in  the  night  of  Jan- 
uary 14th,  1863,  the  government  resorted  to  a  forcible  conscrip- 
tion, although  no  conscription  had  taken  place  for  several  years, 
and  all  the  young  men  in  Warsaw  who  were  regarded  as  suspi- 
cious were  seized  and  forced  into  the  army.  This  led  to  civil 
war.  A  provisional  national  government  was  formed,  which  sum- 
moned the  people  to  fight  for  freedom,  and  sought  to  win  the 
hitherto  halting  peasants  by  promising  them  the  free  and  heredi- 
tary possession  of  the  land  they  farmed,  if  they  took  part  in  the 
national  battle.  General  Mieroslawski  was  named  dictator,  a  man 
whose  name  was  known  from  the  years  1848  and  1849 ;  but  after 
a  few  days  he  was  beaten  by  the  Russians,  and  fled  to  Prussia. 
Langicwicz,  of  Posen,  succeeded  him  as  dictator,  but  held  the  dig- 
nity for  a  few  days  only.  March  19th,  he  had  to  flee.  He  took 
refuge  in  Austria,  and  after  a  long  confinement  received  permis- 
sion to  emigrate  to  Switzerland.  The  national  government  then 
resumed  the  conduct  of  affairs,  and,  like  a  Vehmic  tribunal,  side 
by  side  with  the  official  Russian  government,  issued  commands, 
levied  taxes,  and  dealt  out  death.  The  irregular  warfare  in  the 
Polish  forests  could  not  endure  forever,  nor  could  the  revolution- 
ary tribunal  in  Warsaw  long  continue  to  maintain  itself,  especially 
after  Wielopolski  was  dismissed  and  the  energetic  General  Berg 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  administration,  October  31st,  1863. 
The  whole  land  was  full  of  Russian  soldiers.  In  Poland,  Podolia, 
and  the  Ukraine  the  nobles  were  rendered  harmless  by  imprison- 
ment ;  an  extraordinary  income  tax  was  laid  on  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic clergy  ;  and  the  peasants  were  won  by  bestowing  their  farms 
on  them  as  their  own  private  property.  In  Lithuania  General  Mu- 
ravu'ff  waged  a  war  of  extermination  against  the  Polish  element. 
The  insurrection  was  quelled  at  the  end  of  the  year  1863,  and 
the  Russian  chancellor,  Prince  Alexander  Gortschakoff,  was  able 
to  inform  the  French  cabinet  that  there  was  no  further  occasion 
whatever  for  political  notes.  Napoleon  had  endeavored  to  utilize 


270  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

this  opportunity,  also,  to  act  as  arbiter  of  Europe.  But  he  got  no 
farther  than  identical  notes  (notes  of  identical  tenor,  but  not  pre- 
sented jointly)  from  France,  England,  and  Austria,  to  which  Gort- 
schakoif  replied  that  the  rebellion  would  be  quelled  the  more 
quickly  the  more  energetically  those  powers  held  down  the  revo- 
lutionary party  in  their  own  lands,  and  the  less  they  encouraged 
it  in  others.  England  and  Austria  were  not  willing  to  engage  in 
war  with  Russia  on  Poland's  account — which  would  have  signified 
for  Austria  the  cession  of  Galicia — hence  Napoleon  attempted  to 
extricate  himself  from  the  embarrassment  by  proposing  a  general 
congress,  to  play  the  part  of  a  supreme  Areopagus  in  all  European 
affairs.  The  congress  never  came  into  existence,  and  the  death 
of  the  King  of  Denmark  brought  quite  different  complications 
to  the  foreground  of  the  political  stage.  Prussia  had  once  more 
shown  her  Russian  sympathies,  and  on  February  8th,  1863,  she 
concluded  a  secret  treaty  with  Russia  for  the  suppression  of  the 
Polish  rebellion.  This  met  with  decided  protests  in  the  Prussian 
Chamber,  as  well  as  from  foreign  cabinets,  and  was  never  carried 
out. 


ITALIAN    WAR. 

COUNT  CAMILLO  CAVOUR,  who  had  been  minister-president  in 
Sardinia  since  1852,  laid  before  the  peace  congress  in  Paris  a 
memorial  to  the  effect  that  Europe  could  not  come  to  a  lasting 
peace  until  the  national  demands  of  the  Italians  were  fulfilled. 
These  demands  were  specified  as  follows :  that  the  great  powers 
should  recognize  the  national  unity  of  Italy ;  that  Austria  should 
grant  a  liberal  constitution  in  the  Lombardo- Venetian  kingdom  ; 
that  the  foreign  troops  should  be  withdrawn  from  the  States  of 
the  Church,  and  that  the  government  of  those  states  should  be 
administered  by  a  temporal  governor  under  the  suzerainty  of  the 
Pope ;  and  that  the  arbitrary  system  of  administration  in  Naples 
and  Sicily  should  be  brought  to  an  end  by  an  intervention.  These 
demands  could  not  be  discussed  at  Paris,  nor  did  they  claim  dis- 
cussion there,  but  the  mere  mention  of  such  a  programme,  the  evi- 
dent approval  of  France  and  England,  and  the  malicious  pleasure 


THE   POWER   AT   AUSTRIA'S  DISPOSAL.  271 

which  Russia  scarcely  concealed,  all  indicated  that  the  Italian 
question  would  come  up  for  solution  as  soon  as  the  Eastern  was 
fairly  settled. 

The  moment  was  not  badly  chosen.  Austria,  the  state  with 
which  battle  must  be  done,  was  completely  isolated.  To  outward 
appearances  it  had  enormous  power  at  its  disposal.  Its  provinces 
had  a  population  of  38,000,000,  and  inexhaustible  resources.  In 
the  Diet  its  word  was  still  law,  and  in  Italy  every  state  but  Sar- 
dinia obeyed  its  behests.  But  in  its  internal  administration,  cast- 
ing aside  the  experiences  of  the  late  revolutions,  it  clung  to  an 
effete  system.  On  the  3d  of  December,  1851,  the  constitution 
which  had  been  promulgated  on  the  4th  of  March,  1849,  was  re- 
pealed, and  absolutism  again  resorted  to.  The  concordat  of  Au- 
gust 18th,  1855,  accorded  to  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  unlimited 
influence  over  education  and  the  Press,  and  sacrificed  actual  rights  J 
of  the  throne  and  the  country  to  the  papal  stool.  Religious  in- 
tolerance, infringement  on  the  rights  of  the  non-Catholics,  un- 
warrantable interference  in  the  religious  education  of  children — 
these  were  the  order  of  the  day.  The  light  and  air  so  essential 
to  healthy  political  life  were  consequently  excluded.  Under  such 
conditions  neither  the  intelligence  nor  the  self-sacrificing,  enthu- 
siastic patriotism  so  necessary  in  great  political  crises  could  exist. 
Austria's  preponderance  in  the  Diet  was  not  likely  to  be  of  much 
service  in  a  foreign  war  not  directly  affecting  German  territory; 
although  most  of  the  German  governments  certainly  did  seek  shel- 
ter under  the  double  eagle,  and  administered  their  affairs  accord- 
ing to  the  wishes  of  Austria.  March  27th,  1852,  the  constitution  ' 
of  Electoral  Hesse,  which  had  been  adopted  in  1831,  was  repealed 
by  the  Diet  as  irreconcilable  with  the  laws  of  the  confederation, 
and  another  constitution,  reducing  all  popular  rights  to  an  illu- 
sion, was  published  by  Hassenpflug  without  consulting  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people,  and  this  grievance  lasted  until  1862,  when 
Prussia  finally  entered  the  lists  for  the  restoration  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  1831.  In  Mecklenburg,  after  the  "fundamental  law"  of 
1849  had  been  set  aside,  that  of  1755  was  raked  out  to  satisfy 
the  demands  of  the  petty  nobles  who  played  at  pasha  there.  But 
Austria  derived  no  tangible  advantage  from  these  imitations  and 
this  sympathy  of  sentiment  on  the  part  of  the  secondary  and  lesser 
German  states.  During  the  Crimean  war  the  Bamberg  confer- 
ence had  proved  that  those  states  could  agree  upon  no  decided 


272  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

course  of  action  ;  and  even  if  they  could  have  agreed  upon  such  a 
course,  that  was  still  far  removed  from  putting  their  decision  into 
effect.  Everything  depended  upon  the  attitude  of  Prussia.  Only 
when  she  was  sure  of  Prussia  could  Austria  command  the  forces 
of  all  Germany ;  otherwise  scarce  a  battalion  was  at  her  disposal. 
Prussia  was  also  pursuing  a  reactionary  policy.  By  means  of  a 
pliant  chamber,  the  Man  ten  ff  el  ministry,  despised  both  at  home 
and  abroad  for  its  small-mindedness  and  lack  of  intelligence,  was 
endeavoring  in  a  constitutional  way  to  alter  the  constitution  for 
the  worse.  However,  there  was  no  lack  of  light  in  Prussia.  In 
spite  of  Cultus-minister  Ranmer  and  his  school-laws,  there  was 
hardly  any  place  where  the  sciences  had  made  such  progress. 
Such  names  as  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  Carl  Ritter,  Ranke,  and 
Jacob  and  Wilhelm  Grimm  were  among  the  most  honored  in  all 
Europe.  During  the  lifetime  of  Frederic  William  IV.,  a  man  at 
home  only  in  peaceful  pursuits,  no  change  in  the  system  of  gov- 
ernment was  to  be  expected.  In  one  matter  only,  in  the  matter 
of  the  German  Zoll-verein,  Prussia  won  a  victory  over  Austria. 
The  latter,  jealous  of  Prussia's  successful  conduct  of  the  Zoll- 
verein,  demanded  admission.  Prussia,  opposed  by  the  govern- 
ments, especially  the  south  German  ones,  but  supported  by  the 
tradesmen  and  manufacturers,  refused  to  yield  to  this  demand, 
and  forced  Austria  to  be  content  with  the  conclusion  of  a  com- 
mercial treaty  (February  19th,  1853).  At  the  same  time  Prussia 
acquired  from  Oldenburg  the  port  of  Jahdcbusen,  which  afforded 
a  secure  position  on  the  North  Sea  for  the  creation  of  a  navy. 

On  only  one  other  occasion  did  King  Frederic  William  seem  in 
danger  of  becoming  involved  in  war.  September  2d,  1856,  Count 
Frederic  dc  Pourtales  set  himself  at  the  head  of  a  small  royalist 
party,  planted  the  Hohenzollern  flag  on  the  castle  of  Neuchatel, 
and  overthrew  the  republican  government,  which  had  in  1848 
freed  the  canton  from  Prussian  suzerainty  and  changed  the  prin- 
cipality to  a  republic.  But  at  the  end  of  two  days  this  royalist 
riot  was  suppressed,  and  the  leaders  imprisoned.  Prussia  de- 
manded their  release.  Through  French  mediation  a  compromise 
was  brought  about  between  the  two  parties,  who  were  already 
arming,  by  which  the  royalists  were  released  and  the  King  of 
Prussia  renounced  his  claims  on  Neuchatel  (May  26th,  1857). 
But  Frederic  William's  days  were  numbered.  In  that  same  year 
he  was  attacked  by  an  incurable  disease  of  the  brain,  and  on  the 


THE   NEW  ERA   UNDER  KING   WILLIAM  I.  273 

23d  of  October,  1857,  he  was  obliged  to  appoint  his  brother,  the 
Prince  of  Prussia,  as  his  representative.  The  disease  became 
so  alarming  that  a  mere  representation  was  no  longer  sufficient, 
and  on  the  7th  of  October,  1858,  the  Prince  of  Prussia  assumed 
the  complete  direction  of  the  administration  under  the  title  of 
Regent.  This  arrangement  lasted  until  January  2d,  1861,  on 
which  day  Frederic  William  IV.  died  at  Sans  Souci,  and  the 
Prince  of  Prussia  succeeded  him  as  King  William  I.  The  new 
king  was  not  of  a  romantic  temperament,  but  a  practical,  com- 
mon-sense man,  in  the  full  vigor  and  freshness  of  mind  and  body. 
He  was  far  from  believing  in  his  brother's  system  of  government, 
especially  disapproving  of  the  overweening  influence  which  had 
been  accorded  to  certain  of  the  persons  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded, and  he  clearly  perceived  what  Prussia  and  Germany 
needed.  Austria  could  not  expect  to  find  him  as  pliable  as  his 
brother.  The  "new  era"  in  Prussia,  which  manifested  itself  un- 
der the  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen  ministry  in  a  more  indepen- 
dent attitude  in  foreign  politics,  began  with  the  regency.  The 
disgrace  of  Bronzell  and  Olmiitz,  the  insulting  arrogance  of  Prince 
Schwarzenberg,  whose  aim  had  been  to  reduce  Prussia  from  a 
great  power  to  a  second-rate  German  state,  were  deeply  felt  by 
those  now  in  authority.  They  manifested  in  all  matters  a  lively 
feeling  with  regard  to  Prussia's  greatness  and  Germany's  military 
position.  Under  the  late  government  Austria  had  succeeded  in 
defeating  Prussia's  plans  of  aggrandizement  in  Electoral  Hesse, 
in  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  in  the  matter  of  the  Union,  and  had 
forced  her  troublesome  rival  back  into  the  old  Brandenburg  paths ; 
but  now  it  was  Austria's  turn  to  tremble  for  her  position.  Fred- 
eric William  might  have  said  of  his  brother,  quoting  the  words 
of  Frederic  the  Great's  father :  "  There  stands  one  who  will  avenge 
me."  After  the  death  of  Schwarzenberg,  in  1852,  his  successor, 
Count  Buol-Schauenstein,  had  pursued  a  more  conciliatory  policy. 
It  was  principally  the  Italian  question  which  compelled  him  to 
adopt  such  a  course.  The  more  likely  it  became  that  Sardinia 
would  have  an  ally  in  France,  the  more  Austria  strove  after  a 
Prussian  alliance.  In  the  new  era  that  alliance  could  be  won  only 
by  concessions  in  the  management  of  German  affairs. 

Austria's  position  in  Italy  was  not  much  more  satisfactory. 
Her  immediate  dominion  extended  over  the  most  fruitful  tracts 
in  the  whole  peninsula,  comprising  about  one-fifth  of  the  total 

12* 


274  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

population  ;  while  in  Tuscany  and  Modena  the  rulers  were  princes 
of  the  Austrian  line,  wont  to  receive  their  watchword  from  Vien- 
na. Furthermore,  Austria  had  garrison  -  right  in  the  important 
fortresses  of  Ferrara  and  Piacenza,  and  her  influence  was  prepon- 
derant in  Parma,  Rome,  and  Naples.  But  in  a  war  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  Italy  these  vassal  states  would  prove  more  of  a  bur- 
den than  a  help,  for  the  relations  of  government  and  people  were 
far  worse  there  than  in  the  lesser  German  states — even  worse  than 
in  Electoral  Hesse.  With  the  fall  of  the  Austrian  dominion  all 
these  thrones  would  not  merely  totter,  but  be  altogether  over- 
turned. In  some  of  the  Italian  states  the  condition  of  things  was 
such  that  one  might  have  believed  himself  in  the  midst  of  the 
densest  barbarism  of  the  Middle  Ages  instead  of  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  old  Duke  of  Modena,  Austria's  faithful  squire,  pur- 
sued his  Jesuitico-absolutist  practices  after  the  suppression  of  the 
revolution  the  same  as  before.  Under  Duke  Charles  III.  of  Par- 
ma, a  Spanish  Bourbon,  who  made  his  English  equerry,  Ward, 
minister,  despotism  wreaked  its  hatred  on  all  men  of  patriotic 
sentiments.  In  1854  the  duke  was  murdered  in  the  public  street, 
and  in  1859  his  favorite,  Count  Anviti,  colonel  of  the  yens  d'armes, 
fell  a  prey  to  the  daggers  of  the  exasperated  populace.  In  Tus- 
cany Duke  Leopold's  rule  was  as  mild  as  formerly,  but  the  repeal 
of  the  constitution  and  the  influence  exerted  upon  him  by  the 
Vienna  cabinet  were  not  forgiven  by  the  people.  Pope  Pius  IX., 
on  his  return  from  Gaeta,  promised  administrative  reforms,  but 
the  terrors  of  the  revolution  had  so  affected  him  that  he  could 
not  resolve  to  keep  his  promise.  He  wrapped  himself  more  and 
more  in  the  folds  of  his  spiritual  dignity,  leaving  the  guidance  of 
Peter's  ship  to  Cardinal  Antonelli,  secretary  of  state,  and  finally 
fell  completely  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  The  persecution  of 
republicans  was  carried  to  the  farthest  extreme.  In  1854  there 
were  13,000  political  prisoners  in  the  States  of  the  Church,  and 
the  political  fugitives  from  those  states  numbered  19,000.  In 
Naples,  King  Ferdinand  II.,  nicknamed  King  Bomba  by  the  peo- 
ple, filled  the  prisons  and  galleys  with  the  opponents  of  his  des- 
potism, shutting  up  together  political  offenders  of  high  birth  and 
the  commonest  criminals.  He  relied  upon  his  Swiss  mercenaries 
for  the  maintenance  of  his  throne,  and  was  deaf  alike  to  the 
warnings  of  the  earthquake  of  1857,  which  destroyed  20,000 
houses  and  buried  10,000  men;  to  the  risings  of  Baron  Venti- 


SARDINIA  AND   ITS  NATIONAL   POLICY.  275 

venga  (in  Sicily)  and  of  Colonel  Pisacane ;  and  to  the  attempt  of 
a  soldier,  Milano,  upon  bis  life.  From  a  dislike  of  tbe  neighbor- 
hood of  men,  he  lived  for  the  most  part  in  retirement  in  his  well- 
guarded  castle  of  Caserta.  or  at  Gaeta.  During  the  Crimean  war 
he  was  impolitic  enough  to  blaze  abroad  his  sympathy  with  Rus- 
sia,  and  to  irritate  the  Western  powers  by  a  prohibition  of  exports. 
Gladstone's  letters  pilloried  his  despotism  before  all  Europe,  and 
made  his  dynasty  an  object  of  abhorrence  in  England. 

In  a  war  for  its  Italian  possessions  Austria  would  be  thrown  on 
its  own  resources.  Lombardy  and  Venetia  were  held  down  by 
armed  force,  the  well-to-do  citizens  and  the  rich  nobles  were  exas- 
perated by  police  regulations  and  imposts,  and  the  property  of 
emigrants  was  sequestrated.  This  occasioned  difficulties  with  Sar- 
dinia, which  protested  against  such  sequestration,  as  many  of  the 
emigrants  were  naturalized  within  its  borders,  and  was  supported 
in  its  protest  by  the  Western  powers.  The  journey  to  Italy  of 
the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth  of  Bavaria, 
and  their  long  residence  in  Milan,  in  the  winter  of  1856,  did  not 
make  the  slightest  change  in  the  relations  of  government  and 
people,  notwithstanding  the  proclamation  of  amnesty  and  the  re- 
peal of  the  sequestration  law.  Reconciliation  was  wholly  impos- 
sible. This  perpetual  friction,  this  constant  skirmishing,  this  se- 
cret war,  could  end  only  with  the  utter  destruction  of  one  party 
or  the  other.  Sardinia  was  working  against  the  Austrians  with 
all  its  powers,  and  was  supported  by  a  Press  eager  for  war,  by  the 
agitation  of  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi,  and  by  the  National  Union 
spread  over  all  Italy. 

Amid  these  wretched  conditions,  here  revengeful  reaction  and 
there  foreign  rule,  Sardinia  formed  an  oasis.  King  Victor  Em- 
manuel had  a  heart  for  Italy's  greatness,  and  his  policy  was  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  that  of  Austria  in  all  respects.  He  carried 
out  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  in  a  liberal  spirit,  received 
all  Italy's  fugitive  patriots  into  his  state,  and  broke  completely 
with  ultramontane  ideas,  unconcerned  at  the  ill-will  of  Rome  and 
its  bishops.  His  government,  conducted  by  Cavour  with  boldness 
and  sagacity,  was  regarded  as  the  refuge  of  all  liberal  aspirations, 
and  his  dynasty,  which,  although  originating  in  French  Savoy, 
had  been  naturalized  in  Italy  for  centuries,  was  regarded  as  the 
only  national  dynasty  in  the  peninsula.  Although  a  state  of 
scarcely  5,000,000  inhabitants,  yet  Sardinia  was  powerful,  for  all 


276  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

Italy  stood  behind  it.  This  was  not  the  first  time  it  had  cherished 
plans  of  aggrandizement  and  nationality.  At  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  in  London  and  St.  Petersburg,  the  Sardinian  states- 
men had  urged  the  necessity  of  excluding  Austria  from  upper 
Italy,  and  erecting  a  strong  north  Italian  kingdom.  In  1814  the 
Sardinian  ambassador  at  the  Russian  court,  Joseph  le  Maistre, 
wrote:  "Sardinia  has  no  higher  interest — and  the  interest  of  all 
Italy  is  the  same — than  that  Austria  should  not  possess  one 
hand's-breadth  of  land  in  the  peninsula.  The  king  must  make 
himself  the  head  of  the  Italians;  he  must  even  call  revolutionists 
to  all  civil  and  military  posts  in  the  capital  itself."  He  knew  no 
other  choice  for  Sardinia  than  either  to  be  swallowed  up  by  Aus- 
tria, or  to  drive  Austria  out  of  Italy  and  set  itself  in  her  place. 
If  this  aim  had  not  been  realized  heretofore,  the  reason  was  that 
Sardinia  had  imagined  it  could  vanquish  Austria  with  the  same 
system  of  government  which  Austria  practised.  Success  was  pos- 
sible only  in  case  Sardinia  reformed  its  system  from  the  very 
foundation,  opposed  to  the  Austrian  principle  of  unchangeable- 
ness  the  most  unshackled  freedom  of  development,  and  convinced 
all  Italy  that  the  new  war  was  no  Sardinian  war,  but  an  Italian 
one ;  no  cabinet  war,  but  a  national  one ;  that  the  interests  of  the 
house  of  Savoy  and  of  Italy  were  one  and  the  same.  Cavour  was 
the  first  to  enter  upon  this  policy.  Without  a  man  like  him  the 
goal  would  have  been  unattainable.  Enthusiastic  for  the  inde- 
pendence and  greatness  of  Italy,  he  was  possessed  of  uncommon 
sagacity  in  developing  the  most  carefully-spun  plans  and  prepar- 
ing for  years  the  way  to  their  execution  ;  and  in  reference  to  the 
means  he  was  too  good  an  Italian  and  successor  of  Macchiavelli 
to  be  readily  disturbed  by  conscientious  scruples. 

But  with  all  this  it  would  have  been  impossible  even  for  a  Ca- 
vour, depending  on  the  resources  of  Sardinia  alone,  to  have  come 
out  of  the  struggle  with  Austria  victorious.  Only  the  help  of  a 
great  power  and  Austria's  isolated  position  at  that  time  could 
have  held  out  a  prospect  of  victory.  The  fruits  of  the  Crimean 
war  were  ripe,  and  Sardinia  could  receive  payment  for  the  assist- 
ance she  had  rendered.  Even  under  the  Tory  ministry  of  the 
Earl  of  Derby  the  sympathies  of  England  might  safely  be  relied 
on,  for  there  was  an  almost  morbid  hatred  manifested  there  to- 
ward King  Bomba,  the  papal  rule,  and  the  whole  Romish-abso- 
lutist system  in  Italy.  At  the  bare  thought  of  the  Hungarian 


NAPOLEON'S   ITALIAN  PLAN.  277 

rebellion  and  the  Crimean  war  Russia  fell  into  such  a  rage  that  it 
could  scarcely  wait  for  the  moment  k>  come  when  peace  should 
be  dictated  to  Austria.  Although  Sardinian  troops  had  stood  be- 
fore Sevastopol,  Russia  yet  displayed  a  sentimental  friendship  for 
Sardinia.  Great  Russia  and  little  Sardinia  pressed  hands  most 
affectionately  on  occasion  of  a  visit  of  the  empress  dowager  in 
Nice  in  1856,  and  the  harbor  of  Viliafranca  was  even  given  up  to 
the  Russian  fleet. 

But  more  important  than  this  exchange  of  sentiments  were 
Sardinia's  relations  to  France.  Napoleon,  delighting  in  his  new 
role  of  conqueror,  since  the  Peace  of  Paris  the  recognized  arbiter 
of  Europe,  found  the  Austrian  influence  in  Italy  unendurable. 
This  land  above  all,  where,  since  the  time  of  Francis  L,  French 
and  Austrian  influence  had  struggled  for  the  mastery,  where  his 
great  kinsman  had  won  his  first  and  most  splendid  triumphs,  he 
regarded  as  a  political  domain  of  France.  It  was  his  expressed 
wish  to  oppose  in  this  field  his  new  public  law  to  the  treaties  of 
1815;  and  a  beginning  had  already  been  made  by  the  occupation 
of  Rome  in  1849.  Nothing  could  be  more  opportune  for  him 
than  an  alliance  with  Sardinia,  which  by  the  conquest  of  Milan 
and  Venice  was  to  become  large  enough  to  form  a  dam  against 
Austria,  and  yet  remain  so  small  as  constantly  to  need  the  help 
of  France.  Then  his  plan  was  to  unite  this  north  Italian  king- 
dom with  the  other  states  of  the  peninsula  in  an  Italian  confeder- 
ation, like  the  powerless  German  one,  and  by  means  of  his  pro- 
tege play  in  Italy  the  part  of  a  protector. 

An  unexpected  event  hastened  the  maturation  of  his  plans. 
On  the  14th  of  January,  1858,  as  Napoleon  was  driving  to  the 
Opera  with  his  wife,  three  pear-shaped  bombs  were  hurled  at  his 
carnage.  A  number  of  persons  were  killed  or  wounded,  but  the 
imperial  pair  were  only  slightly  hurt.  The  author  of  this  desper- 
ate deed  was  Felix  Orsini.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  con- 
stitnant  assembly  in  Rome,  and  then  a  prisoner  in  Mantua.  After 
his  escape  from  that  place  to  England  he  had  formed  a  conspiracy 
with  three  other  refugees — Pierio,  Rudio,  and  Gomez — to  murder 
the  emperor.  Revenge  was  to  be  taken  on  him  because  he,  who 
in  1831  had  been  admitted  to  the  Carbonaria,  had  overthrown 
the  Roman  republic,  and  was  now  seeking  to  cast  the  shadow  of 
his  Napoleonic  despotism  over  the  whole  continent.  His  person 
appeared  to  Mazzini's  party  the  principal  hinderance  to  Italian  in- 


278  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

dependence,  and  it  was  resolved  that  he  must  fall.  On  his  trial 
Orsini  stated  that  he  had  formerly  regarded  Napoleon  as  Italy's 
destined  savior,  and,  recurring  to  that  opinion,  during  his  impris- 
onment he  addressed  two  letters  to  him.  In  the  first  of  these  he 
reminded  the  emperor  that  "  Italy's  sons  had  shed  their  hlood  for 
his  uncle,"  concluding  with  the  words,  "  Free  my  country,  and 
the  blessing  of  25,000,000  citizens  will  follow  you  into  the  next 
world."  This  letter  was  published  in  the  French  papers.  Orsini 
and  Pierio  were  executed,  and  the  others  transported.  There 
came  near  being  a  breach  between  France  and  England  on  account 
of  a  fifth  conspirator,  a  Frenchman  named  Bernard,  who  had  re- 
mained behind  in  England,  and  who  was  acquitted  by  an  English 
jury.  But,  as  England  was  busy  in  the  East  Indies,  and  Napo- 
leon had  his  Italian  war  on  hand,  a  reconciliation  was  in  the  in- 
terest of  both  parties.  This  reconciliation  was  sealed,  outwardly 
at  least,  by  the  personal  participation  of  Queen  Victoria  at  the 
inauguration  of  Cherbourg  harbor  (August  5th,  1858).  The  exe- 
cution of  Orsini's  testament,  which  was  published  at  Napoleon's 
desire  in  the  Gazetta  Piemontese,  progressed  rapidly.  In  July, 
1858,  Napoleon  and  Cavour  had  a  meeting  at  the  baths  of  Plom- 
bieres,  at  which  the  plans  with  reference  to  Italy  were  matured, 
and  the  treaty  conditions  agreed  upon.  On  his  return  Cavour 
visited  William,  the  Prince-regent  of  Prussia,  at  Baden-Baden,  in 
order  to  insure  Prussia's  neutrality  in  the  coming  war  with  Aus- 
tria. The  prince  afterward  said  of  him :  "  But  he  is  really  by  no 
means  so  revolutionary  as  they  say  he  is."  Soon  after  Cavour 
sent  Marquis  Pepoli  to  the  Prussian  minister- president,  Prince 
Hohenzollern,  at  Dusseldorf,  to  endeavor  to  procure  a  benevolent 
neutrality.  There  was  the  more  reason  why  Prussia  should  pur- 
sue such  a  policy,  because,  as  he  represented,  she  must  sooner  or 
later  be  drawn  into  the  same  national  current  in  which  Sardinia 
then  was ;  for  Olmiitz  was  for  Prussia  what  Novara  was  for  Sar- 
dinia. 

On  the  30th  of  January  the  marriage  of  Victor  Emmanuel's 
eldest  daughter,  the  Princess  Clotilde,  with  Prince  Napoleon  Bo- 
naparte, Jerome's  son,  took  place.  This  marriage  formed  part  of 
the  Plombieres  programme,  and  was  to  make  the  new  alliance 
still  closer  through  the  ties  of  relationship.  A  few  weeks  before — 
New-year's-day,  1859 — on  occasion  of  the  congratulatory  visits  at 
the  Tnileries,  Napoleon  said  to  the  Austrian  ambassador,  Baron 


WAR  BETWEEN  AUSTRIA  AND  FRANCE  AND  SARDINIA.    279 

Hiibner:  "I  regret  that  our  relations  are  not  so  good  as  I  could 
wish  to  see  them ;  but  I  beg  you  to  inform  the  emperor  that  my 
personal  feelings  toward  him  are  ever  the  same."  At  the  open- 
ing of  the  Sardinian  Chambers,  January  10th,  Victor  Emmanuel 
expressed  himself  still  more  plainly.  He  said  that,  notwithstand- 
ing all  his  respect  for  treaties,  he  could  not  be  insensible  to  the 
cry  of  distress  which  was  borne  to  his  ears  from  so  many  parts 
of  Italy.  In  the  Press  of  both  countries  much  was  said  about 
the  "  rights  of  nationality  "  and  "  revision  of  treaties."  Austria 
understood  this  language,  and  armed  herself  for  war.  Archduke 
Maximilian,  brother  of  the  emperor,  who  as  governor-general  had 
tried  to  make  the  hardship  of  foreign  rule  as  light  as  possible, 
was  recalled,  the  country  placed  under  martial  law,  and  troops 
upon  troops  despatched  to  upper  Italy.  Preparations  were  not 
wanting  on  the  part  of  Sardinia ;  and  France  held  her  best  troops 
in  Algeria  dn  readiness  to  embark  at  a  moment's  notice.  Diplo- 
macy still  exerted  itself  to  keep  the  swords  in  their  sheaths.  But 
it  was  to  no  purpose  that  Lord  Cowley,  the  English  ambassador 
in  Paris,  journeyed  to  Vienna  and  spoke  of  concessions ;  and  Rus- 
sia's proposition  of  a  congress  of  the  great  powers  in  which  the 
Italian  question  should  be  decided  proved  futile.  Austria  well 
knew  in  whose  favor  the  question  would  be  decided,  and  pre- 
ferred a  speedy  decision  by  arms  to  a  state  of  peace  by  which 
only  her  opponents,  who  were  not  yet  fully  armed,  could  profit, 
while  she  must  be  financially  ruined.  Accordingly,  on  the  23d 
of  April  she  announced  in  Turin,  as  her  ultimatum,  that  she 
would  begin  hostilities  if  the  Sardinian  army  were  not  disarmed 
within  three  days.  On  the  25th  of  April  Sardinia  refused  to 
comply  with  this  demand,  and  on  the  following  day  Napoleon 
caused  his  ambassador  in  Vienna  to  announce  that  he  would  re- 
gard the  passage  of  the  Ticino  by  the  Austrians  as  a  declaration 
of  war  on  France. 

The  Austrians  crossed  the  Ticino  on  the  29th  of  April,  and  the 
war  began.  But  from  the  very  outset  blunder  followed  blunder 
on  their  side.  Radetzky,  the  conqueror  of  Novara,  had  died  in 
the  previous  year.  Count  Francis  Gyulai  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief  in  his  place;  but,  excepting  his  old  Hungarian 
patent  of  nobility,  there  was  nothing  to  distinguish  him  from 
common  mortals.  In  the  interests  of  Austria  there  was  already 
ground  for  complaint  that  Frederic  the  Great's  strategy  of  1756 


280  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

had  not  been  imitated,  and  that  the  Austrians  had  not  broken 
into  Sardinia  in  the  middle  of  winter,  as  soon  as  they  learned  of 
the  conspiracy  of  Plombieres,  before  there  was  a  single  French- 
man in  the  country.  As  long  as  the  Austrian  government  could 
not  bring  itself  to  adopt  so  bold  a  course,  it  was  the  part  of  the 
commander-in-chief  to  move  rapidly  on  Turin,  destroy  whatever 
troops  and  material  of  war  he  could  find,  and  occupy  the  roads  to 
Savoy  and  Genoa,  in  order  to  cut  off  the  French  divisions  in  de- 
tail as  they  came  up,  and  drive  them  back  to  their  ships  and  to 
the  mountains.  Instead  of  this,  Gyulai  occupied  the  Lomellina,  a 
fruitful  tract  between  the  Sesia  and  the  Ticino,  and,  as  though  it 
were  a  case  at  law,  regarded  this  as  a  security,  safe  in  the  posses- 
sion of  which  he  might  quietly  observe  the  further  course  of 
events.  In  the  mean  time  some  French  troops,  following  the 
land  route,  marched  over  Mont  Cenis  and  Mont  Genevre ;  but  the 
greater  number  came  by  sea  to  Genoa,  and  among  them  Napo- 
leon himself,  with  his  most  famous  generals — MacMahon,  Canro- 
bert,  and  Niel.  Though  little  more  than  a  theorist  in  the  art  of 
war,  Napoleon  assumed  the  chief  command  of  the  Franco-Sar- 
dinian forces.  Finally,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  position  of  the 
enemy,  Gyulai  ordered  a  reconnaissance  in  force.  This  brought 
on  the  engagement  at  Montebello,  May  20th,  which  resulted  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  Austrians.  Gyulai  then  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  his  left  wing.  May  30th  and  31st,  the  allies  defeated  his 
right  wing  at  Palestro,  while  Garibaldi,  with  his  Alpine  rangers, 
pushed  forward  into  the  north  of  Lombardy,  occupying  Como, 
and  threatening  Milan. 

Gyulai  could  no  longer  hold  his  ground.  He  had  to  abandon 
the  Lomellina,  and  on  the  1st  of  June  he  rccrossed  the  Ticino  at 
Pavia.  The  allies  followed  him  closely.  For  a  time  Napoleon, 
with  his  Guard,  was  in  great  danger  at  the  bridge  of  Buffalora ; 
but  the  arrival  of  MacMahon,  late  though  it  was,  decided  the  bat- 
tle of  Magenta  in  favor  of  the  allies  (June  4th) ;  for  which  ser- 
vice MacMahon  received  the  title  Duke  of  Magenta.  The  Aus- 
trian soldiers  fought  heroically,  but  there  was  no  head  ;  no  one 
knew  who  was  commander;  the  individual  corps  commanders 
were  left  to  themselves.  This  defeat  was  followed  by  the  loss 
of  Lombardy.  Gyulai  abandoned  Milan  and  the  other  cities, 
blew  up  the  fortifications  of  Pavia  and  Piaccnza,  recalled  all  the 
Austrian  garrisons  from  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  fell  back 


THE   BATTLE   OF   SOLFERINO.  281 

with  his  whole  army  across  the  Mincio,  to  take  up  a  position  un- 
der cover  of  the  fortresses  of  the  Quadrilateral.  On  the  8th  of 
June,  Napoleon  and  Victor  Emmanuel  entered  Milan  amid  the  re- 
joicings of  the  populace ;  and  the  former,  in  a  proclamation  to 
the  Italian  people,  declared  that  he  had  not  come  from  selfish 
motives,  but  only  to  set  Italy  free.  Central  Italy  rose  in  revolu- 
tion behind  the  retreating  Austrians.  Duke  Francis  of  Modena, 
the  dowager  Duchess  Louisa  of  Parma,  with  her  minor  son  Kob- 
ert,  and  Grand-duke  Leopold  of  Tuscany,  had  to  leave  their  states 
and  seek  refuge  in  Austria  and  Switzerland,  while  provisional 
governments  were  formed  behind  them,  and  union  with  Sardinia 
proclaimed.  In  Bologna  the  papal  legate  had  to  withdraw  with 
the  Austrians,  and  the  people  proclaimed  the  dictatorship  of  Vic- 
tor Emmanuel.  Other  cities  also  fell  away  from  the  States  of 
the  Church,  and  it  was  only  the  bloody  storming  of  Perugia  by 
the  Swiss  troops  that  still  held  a  few  in  check. 

To  revive  the  fainting  courage  of  his  troops  and  restore  unity 
among  his  generals,  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  joined  the  army  and 
assumed  the  chief  command.  All  burned  with  impatience  to 
avenge  the  defeat  of  Magenta,  so  the  emperor  resolved  not  to  re- 
main on  the  defensive  and  undergo  a  tedious  siege,  but  himself 
to  attack  the  enemy.  June  24th,  the  Austrian  army  was  drawn 
up  between  the  Mincio  and  Chiese  in  the  form  of  a  semicircle,  in 
order  to  advance  upon  the  enemy  concentrically  from  three  sides. 
The  line  was  too  long — twelve  miles  or  thereabouts  in  extent — and 
the  centre  was  too  weak ;  further,  it  was  not  properly  supported 
by  reserve  troops.  A  height  by  the  village  of  Solferino  formed 
the  central  point  of  the  centre.  Fully  informed  of  all  the  enemy's 
arrangements,  Napoleon  was  not  taken  by  surprise.  His  main  at- 
tack was  directed  against  the  weak  centre  of  the  Austrians.  The 
French,  whose  long-range  rifled  cannon  gave  them  an  advantage, 
charged  the  heights  of  Solferino  several  times,  but  were  beaten 
back  each  time.  At  length,  toward  evening,  they  were  success- 
ful, just  as  a  terrific  thunder-storm  burst,  putting  an  end  to  the 
battle  at  most  points.  The  Austrians  retreated  across  the  Mincio 
in  good  order,  while  General  Benedek,  on  their  right  wing,  after 
having  twice  repulsed  the  Sardinians  at  San  Martino,  continued 
the  fight  until  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.  On  the  side  of 
the  allies  General  Niel,  who  commanded  the  right  wing,  distin- 
guished himself  most,  and  would  have  considerably  increased  the 


282  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECEXT   TIMES. 

amount  of  the  Austrian  losses,  if  he  had  been  opportunely  sup- 
ported by  Canrobert.  The  Austrians  lost  25,000  men  in  dead 
and  wounded,  6000  prisoners,  and  30  cannon.  The  French  loss 
was  15,000  dead  and  wounded;  the  Sardinians  lost  5000  dead 
and  wounded,  and  3000  prisoners.  Part  of  the  blame  for  this 
catastrophe  must  be  ascribed  to  the  wretched  army  administra- 
tion. The  negligence  and  peculation  were  disgraceful.  Enormous 
supplies  of  cattle,  bread,  and  wine  were  paid  for  and  never  de- 
livered, so  that  the  poor  soldiers  starved  for  days  together,  and 
finally  went  into  battle  exhausted.  It  seems  almost  incredible 
that  when  Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  in  order  to  retake  the  lost 
position  at  Solferino,  gave  the  command  to  bring  the  reserve  ar- 
tillery into  action,  the  answer  came  that  the  artillery  and  a  cavalry 
division  had  marched  off  to  the  Mincio  a  couple  of  hours  before. 
But  it  was  not  only  the  conduct  of  the  Austrian  army  that  dis- 
played a  total  lack  of  intelligence  and  strategy ;  the  French  gen- 
erals had  scarcely  given  a  single  proof  of  strategical  genius,  and 
Napoleon  himself  was  more  indebted  to  chance  than  to  the  wis- 
dom of  his  calculations  for  his  victories.  This  condition  of  af- 
fairs did  not  escape  the  observation  of  the  Prussian  staff,  where 
the  art  of  war  was  pursued  not  merely  as  a  matter  of  routine  and 
mechanical  dexterity,  but  as  a  science,  and  the  years  1866  and 
1870  were  prepared  for  with  tranquillity,  albeit  with  unremitting 
diligence. 

The  allies  followed  the  Austrians  up,  crossing  the  Mincio  on 
the  28th  of  June.  They  were  re-enforced  by  Prince  Napoleon's 
corps,  which  he  had  collected  in  Tuscany  after  his  landing  in  Li- 
vorno,  principally  for  the  purpose  of  winning  the  sympathies  of 
that  beautiful  land  for  a  French  prince.  But  as  the  people  did 
not  seem  in  any  way  inclined  to  let  their  sympathies  be  won,  lie 
crossed  the  Po  and  joined  the  allied  army.  A  French  fleet  ap- 
peared before  Venice,  and  all  Europe  awaited  the  further  devel- 
opment of  the  war,  in  which  Austria  seemed  about  to  be  assailed 
from  two  sides,  west  and  south.  Europe  was  all  the  more  aston- 
ished by  the  news  that  a  truce  had  been  concluded  at  Villafranca, 
July  8th  ;  and  on  the  llth  of  July  the  preliminaries  of  peace  were 
arranged  at  a  personal  interview  between  Francis  Joseph  and  Xa- 
poleon.  The  world  did  not  know  whether  to  be  more  surprised 
that  Francis  Joseph,  after  a  defeat  which  had  seriously  weakened 
the  enemy,  should  at  once  pay  the  price  of  war ;  or  that  Xapo- 


PRUSSIA'S  UNCERTAIN  ATTITUDE.  283 

leon  should  prove  untrue  to  his  programme — "  Italy  free  to  the 
Adriatic  " — and  after  two  brilliant  victories  be  content  with  the 
half  instead  of  the  whole.  Yet  the  reasons  for  the  action  of  both 
monarchs  were  tolerably  clear.  Napoleon  required  no  further 
victories  to  establish  his  military  reputation,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  those  already  won  had  terribly  thinned  the  ranks  of  his 
best  troops ;  and  while  each  day  made  it  harder  to  re-enforce  and 
supply  his  army,  it  was  becoming  in  the  same  ratio  easier  for  the 
Austrians,  who  were  approaching  their  base  of  supplies.  At  the 
same  time  a  quite  different  sort  of  war  was  now  about  to  begin, 
in  which  the  impetuous  charges  and  irregular  valor  of  the  Zouaves 
were  not  of  so  much  consequence.  The  siege  of  the  forts  of  the 
Quadrilateral  would  certainly  have  been  a  worthy  counterpart  to 
Scbastopol  as  far  as  the  difficulty  of  the  undertaking  is  concerned. 
There  was  not  much  to  win,  and  that  assuredly  could  not  be  won 
quickly,  but  there  was  a  great  deal  to  lose.  The  turn  which  Ital- 
ian affairs  had  taken,  too,  was  not  at  all  to  Napoleon's  taste. 
That  Sardinia  should  absorb  the  whole  peninsula,  and  grow  into 
a  state  needing  neither  mentor  nor  protector,  had  not  been  planned 
in  Plombieres ;  and  yet  that  was  what  everything  was  tending  to- 
ward. The  agreement  there  made  concerned  Lombardy,  Venice, 
Parma,  and  Modena,  but  nothing  further.  The  other  vacant,  or 
soon  to  be  vacant,  thrones  Napoleon  wished  to  fill  with  his  kins- 
men Murat  and  Napoleon,  a  change  which  would  have  been  of 
doubtful  advantage  for  Italy.  Sardinia  seemed  to  him  large 
enough  by  the  acquisition  of  Lombardy  and  the  prospective  ac- 
quisition of  the  duchies,  and  according  to  his  ideas  French  inter- 
ests required  that  Cavour's  avalanche  should  be  commanded  to 
halt.  But  even  an  emperor  finds  it  hard  to  deal  with  an  avalanche 
as  he  would  with  battalions. 

There  were  other  weighty  considerations  arising  from  the  atti- 
tude of  the  German  states,  among  which  the  political  precedence 
assumed  by  France,  and  the  embarrassment  of  the  German  impe- 
rial state,  had  caused  great  excitement.  In  south  Germany  open 
support  of  Austria  was  called  for,  and  there  was  even  talk  of 
marching  to  Paris.  In  Berlin  the  temperature  was  considerably 
cooler.  Francis  Joseph  had  already  several  times  made  overtures 
to  the  prince-regent,  asking  for  Prussia's  alliance,  and  represent- 
ing the  matter  as  one  concerning  not  merely  the  Po,  but,  and  in 
a  far  higher  degree,  the  Rhine  as  well,  so  that  no  other  choice 


284  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

was  left  to  Prussia  than,  either  in  union  with  Austria  and  the  rest 
of  Germany,  to  fall  upon  France  under  favorable  auspices,  or,  after 
an  eventual  defeat  of  Austria,  to  form  the  next  objective  of  a  Na- 
poleonic war,  and  find  itself  in  a  position  as  isolated  as  that  of 
Austria  at  present.  The  nephew  had  adopted  the  uncle's  princi- 
ple :  "L'un  apres  Vautre."  Russia  had  been  the  first  to  suffer, 
then  Austria,  and  after  that  it  would  be  Prussia's  turn,  and  even 
England  would  come  in  for  its  share.  This  was  as  certain  as  that 
the  year  1805  (Austerlitz)  was  followed  by  the  year  1806  (Jena). 
Not  until  then  would  Leipzig  and  Waterloo  be  avenged,  and  the 
new  Caesar  satisfied.  Owing  to  the  impenetrability  of  Napoleon's 
plans,  his  notorious  ambition,  and  his  desire,  already  several  times 
manifested,  to  imitate  his  uncle  in  all  things,  these  political  max- 
ims and  prophecies  of  the  Austrian  cabinet  had  something  seduc- 
tive about  them.  Prussia's  answer  was  not  altogether  unfavora- 
ble; but  neither  was  the  policy  of  the  "free  hand,"  on  which  it 
laid  so  much  stress,  entirely  favorable,  inasmuch  as  it  contained  a 
possibility  of  the  most  unfriendly  intentions.  In  any  case  it  was 
well  for  Germany  to  arm.  Prussia  mobilized  its  whole  army,  pro- 
posed to  the  Confederation  the  stationing  of  the  seventh  and 
eighth  army  corps  on  the  upper  Rhine,  and  asked  for  the  supreme 
command  over  the  united  forces  of  Germany.  It  appeared  deter- 
mined under  certain  conditions  to  assist  Austria  in  asserting  her 
claims  to  her  Italian  possessions,  not,  however,  as  a  mediaeval  vas- 
sal, but  as  a  European  and  German  great  power.  Those  condi- 
tions concerned  the  internal  affairs  of  Germany,  where  the  Berlin 
cabinet,  which  seemed  resolved  to  make  up  for  the  humiliation 
of  Olmiitz  at  one  stroke,  demanded  a  higher  position  in  the  Con- 
federation for  Prussia,  and  a  more  binding  federal  constitution  in 
matters  concerning  war.  Austria  acted  on  a  principle  similar  to 
that  which  an  Austrian  minister  had  propounded  during  the  first 
Silesian  war,  in  1741,  and  held  that  it  would  be  better  to  cede  all 
its  Italian  possessions  to  the  King  of  Sardinia  than  one  foot- 
breadth  of  land  to  Prussia.  In  Austria  it  was  believed  that  the 
Prussian  longings  after  the  hegemony,  which  Schwarzenberg's  im- 
perious policy  had  once  put  down,  were  seeking  opportunity  to 
break  out  again  with  fresh  violence,  and  hence  Austria  was  ready 
to  make  concessions  in  Italy,  in  order  that  she  might  be  free  to 
force  her  Prussian  rival  back  into  its  former  modest  position. 
She  objected  to  Prussia's  request  for  the  chief  command,  and 


FRANCIS  JOSEPH   OUTWITTED   BY   NAPOLEON   III.       285 

proposed  that  the  prince-regent  should  assume  the  office  of  com- 
mander of  the  forces  of  the  Confederation,  subject  to  the  direction 
of  a  central  council  of  war  at  Frankfort,  instead  of  taking  into 
his  own  hands,  as  regent  of  Prussia,  the  chief  direction  of  the  war. 
The  essential  incompatibility  of  the  positions  of  the  two  states 
was  most  distinctly  marked. 

This  made  it  all  the  easier  for  Napoleon  to  persuade  Francis 
Joseph  to  conclude  a  speedy  peace.  By  pointing  out  the  Prus- 
sian plans,  and  holding  before  him  the  danger,  in  case  he  prose- 
cuted the  war  in  Italy,  that  Prussia  would  make  use  of  his  embar- 
rassments to  subdue  the  secondary  and  lesser  German  states,  set 
herself  at  the  head  of  Germany,  and  exclude  Austria  altogether, 
and  laying  on  the  colors  with  unsparing  hand,  he  outwitted  his 
opponent  and  won  the  game.*  In  point  of  fact  Napoleon  was 

*  In  considering  the  causes  which  induced  Austria  to  consent  to  the  peace 
of  Zurich  it  may  be  worth  while  to  take  into  consideration  Kossuth's  nego- 
tiations with  Napoleon,  with  a  view  to  a  rising  in  Hungary,  as  recounted  in 
his  memoirs.  In  May,  1859,  he  had  an  interview  with  Napoleon  in  Paris,  in 
which  he  refused  to  excite  a  Hungarian  rebellion  simply  as  a  diversion  for 
France  and  Sardinia,  but  engaged  to  raise  200,000  men  if  France  would  send 
an  army  to  Hungary  and  irretrievably  commit  herself  and  Sardinia  to  the 
cause  of  Hungarian  independence.  Napoleon  objected  that  the  English  Tor/ 
cabinet,  which  was  Austria's  staunch  and  only  friend,  would  be  sure  in  that 
event  to  intervene,  and  Kossuth  undertook  to  procure  from  the  English  cabi- 
net written  assurances  of  neutrality  in  case  the  war  were  extended  to  Hun- 
gary. Kossuth,  Teleki,  and  Klapka  constituted  themselves  a  National  Direc- 
tory, and  the  last  two  went  to  Genoa  to  collect  a  Hungarian  legion,  while  the 
former  repaired  to  England.  He  was  successful  in  his  mission ;  the  Man- 
chester men  united  with  the  other  Liberals,  and  the  Derby  government  was 
overthrown.  Kossuth  joined  Napoleon  in  Italy  after  the  battle  of  Solferino, 
bringing  with  him  private  written  assurances  of  neutrality — one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  union  exacted  by  the  Manchester  men — from  Lord  Palmerstou,  Lord 
John  Russell,  and  three  other  members  of  the  new  cabinet.  In  the  mean 
time  the  National  Directory  had  negotiated  an  alliance  with  Prince  Couza, 
the  hospodar  elect  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  by  which  he  was  to  receive 
the  Bukovina  in  return  for  his  assistance,  and  arms  for  himself  and  the  Hun- 
garians had  actually  been  sent  to  him  from  France.  Negotiations  of  a  simi- 
lar character  were  pending  with  the  Prince  of  Servia ;  and  efforts  were  being 
made  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  Croatians.  Napoleon  had  received 
from  Russia  assurances  of  neutrality  in  case  the  war  spread  to  Hungary,  but 
had  been  obliged  to  give  counter-assurances  that  no  thrones  were  to  be 
erected  for  members  of  his  family.  The  Hungarian  legion,  composed  of  ex- 
iles and  a  few  Hungarian  prisoners  of  war,  7iow  numbered  4<>0<>,  and  witli 
Napoleon's  approval  the  National  Directory  had  prepared  a  manifesto,  which 


286  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

guilty  of  outrageous  perfidy  in  mating  such  representations.  It 
was  lie  who  as  early  as  1851  had,  through  M.  de  Persigny,  pro- 
posed to  King  Frederic  William  IV.  a  Franco-Prussian  alliance 
for  the  purpose  of  driving  the  Austrians  out  of  Italy,  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  France,  and  organizing  Germany  in  the  national  inter- 
ests, according  to  the  wishes  of  Prussia.  And  it  was  also  he  who, 
in  February  of  1859,  offered  Prussia  Hanover,  Holstein,  and  Elec- 
toral Hesse,  and  consequently  the  hegemony  in  Germany,  in  case 
she  would  support  him  in  the  Italian  war.  On  both  occasions 
his  proposals  were  rejected.  Francis  Joseph  listened  to  Napo- 
leon's insinuations,  and  consented  to  cede  Lombardy,  with  the 
exception  of  the  fortresses  of  Mantua  and  Peschiera,  to  France, 
which  was  then  to  hand  them  over  to  Sardinia.  Italy  was  to  con- 
stitute a  confederation  of  states  under  the  presidency  of  the  Pope, 
who  was  to  be  solicited  to  introduce  reforms  in  the  States  of  the 
Church.  The  restoration  of  the  sovereigns  of  Tuscany  and  Mo- 
dena  was  to  depend  on  their  formal  recall  by  their  subjects  with- 
out the  intervention  of  any  foreign  power.  What  had  been  pro- 
visionally agreed  upon  in  the  preliminary  consultations  at  Yilla- 
franca  was  ratified  by  the  Peace  of  Zurich,  November  10th,  1859, 
and  Austrian  influence  in  Italy  came  to  an  end.  Although  Aus- 
tria still  retained  Venetia  and  a  small  part  of  Lombardy,  yet  the 
rest  of  Italy  was  making  such  rapid  progress  in  unification  that 
on  the  next  opportunity  it  would  be  able  to  claim  those  territo- 
ries also  as  its  property. 

The  Italians  made  no  haste  about  carrying  out  those  provisions 
of  the  peace  of  Zurich  which  were  rather  in  Austria's  interest. 
They  would  hear  no  more  of  a  system  of  small  states.  They 

was  just  about  to  be  issued,  calling  upon  the  Hungarian  soldiers  in  the  Aus- 
trian army  to  join  the  French  and  Sardinians  and  fight  for  Hungarian  free- 
dom. Then  came  the  truce  of  Villafranca.  Napoleon  had  made  use  of  Kos- 
suth  to  secure  a  benevolent  neutrality  on  the  part  of  England,  and  to  frighten 
Austria  by  the  bugbear  of  a  Hungarian  rebellion.  It  might  have  been  con- 
venient under  certain  conditions  to  have  appeared  as  the  champion  of  Hun- 
garian liberty,  but  as  matters  stood  it  seemed  to  him  that  nothing  was  to  be 
gained  by  the  continuance  of  the  war.  Nice  and  Savoy  were  his  in  any  case, 
and  the  attitude  of  Russia  must  have  sealed  his  conviction  that  Europe  would 
never  consent  to  a  kingdom  of  central  Italy  for  Prince  Napoleon.  As  was 
the  case  after  the  Crimean  war,  he  sought  to  make  friends  of  the  Mammon 
of  unrighteousness,  and  magnanimously  gave  the  half-beaten  foe  terms  which 
were  calculated  to  win  his  gratitude.  —  Translator. 


GARIBALDI  EMBARKS  AT  GENOA.  287 

wished  for  no  federal  state,  much  less  a  confederation  of  states, 
but  for  a  single  state ;  and  they  foreboded  little  good  from  the 
presidency  of  the  Pope,  whose  government  in  his  own  land  was  a 
genuine  monstrosity.  They  were  angry  with  Napoleon  for  not 
leading  them  to  the  Adriatic,  and  helped  themselves  all  the  more 
greedily  in  central  and  southern  Italy.  The  National  Assembly 
in  Bologna  announced,  on  the  6th  of  September,  1859,  that  the' 
whole  northern  part  of  the  States  of  the  Church — the  so-called 
Emilia — would  not  return  to  the  papal  rule,  but  would  unite  with 
Sardinia.  Victor  Emmanuel  accepted  their  offer;  and  Napoleon 
recommended  to  the  Pope  the  voluntary  renunciation  of  his  rights  i 
over  those  provinces — advice  which  the  latter  rejected.  A  French 
publication,  "  The  Pope  and  the  Congress,"  in  the  composition  of 
which  Napoleon  was  concerned,  held  in  prospect  still  further  ces- 
sions, for  it  propounded  the  maxim  that  the  less  land  the  Pope 
has  to  rule,  the  better  Pope  can  he  be.  By  the  plebiscite  of  March, 
1860,  Tuscany,  Modena,  and  Parma  pronounced  for  union  with 
Sardinia ;  and,  to  give  the  lie  to  Napoleon's  professions  that  he 
did  not  draw  the  sword  for  an  increase  of  territory  but  for  an  '» 
idea,  a  plebiscite  was  taken  in  Nice  and  in  Savoy,  the  hereditary  • 
territory  of  Victor  Emmanuel's  house,  which  was  intended  to 
make  the  world  believe  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  population 
wished  for  union  with  France,  the  annexation  of  these  two  prov- 
inces being  one  of  the  conditions  Napoleon  had  made  at  Plom- 
bieres. 

With  such  progress  on  the  part  of  the  national  party,  Naples 
and  Sicily  could  not  remain  quiet.  Ferdinand  II.  had  died  on 
the  22d  of  May,  1859,  and  bequeathed  the  government  to  his  in- 
experienced son,  Francis  II.,  who  was  in  the  leading-strings  of  the 
queen-mother  and  the  Camarilla.  At  a  time  when  all  Italy  was 
like  a  Vesuvius,  absolutism  was  retained  in  Naples  as  the  system 
fraught  with  popular  blessing,  and  all  the  counsels  and  warnings 
of  the  English  and  French  ambassadors  rejected.  The  ground 
was  all  the  more  favorable  for  the  revolutionary  attempts  of  the 
Mazzinists,  and  they  managed,  furthermore,  to  effect  the  discharge 
of  the  Swiss  mercenaries,  the  only  troops  on  whom  the  king  could 
rely,  at  the  very  time  when  they  were  most  necessary.  In  April, 
1860,  outbreaks  occurred  in  Palermo  and  Messina,  which  were 
quickly  suppressed.  But  on  the  6th  of  May,  Garibaldi,  with  more 
than  1000  volunteers,  embarked  at  Genoa,  under  the  very  eyes  of 


288  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

the  authorities.  If  his  undertaking  succeeded,  the  result  would 
be  accepted  by  the  Sardinian  government ;  if  it  failed,  it  would 
be  disavowed.  On  the  llth  of  May  he  landed  near  Marsala,  on 
the  west  coast  of  Sicily,  under  the  protection  of  two  English  cor- 
vettes, and  by  re-enforcements  from  the  island  his  forces  were 
soon  increased  to  4000.  He  issued  a  proclamation  assuming  the 
dictatorship  of  Sicily  in  the  name  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  "  King 
of  Italy."  On  the  27th  of  May  he  appeared  before  the  gates  of 
Palermo.  In  a  few  days  one-half  of  the  city  had  been  captured ; 
but  it  was  bombarded  by  the  Neapolitan  general,  Lanza,  who  had 
a  force  of  25,000  men,  and  partially  reduced  to  ashes.  Finally, 
on  the  6th  of  June,  Lanza,  who  had  the  whole  population  against 
him,  had  to  capitulate  and  embark  for  Naples.  A  few  weeks 
later  Messina  yielded,  and  all  Sicily  was  free.  Garibaldi,  with 
5000  men,  at  once  crossed  the  Straits,  in  which  the  Neapolitan 
fleet  was  cruising,  and  landed  safely  on  the  main-land.  He  met 
with  no  resistance  anywhere.  All  the  garrisons  surrendered ;  ex- 
isting authorities  laid  down  their  offices;  everything  went  over  to 
him.  His  march  through  Reggio,  Cosenza,  and  Salerno  was  a 
triumphal  procession  ;  and  on  the  7th  of  September,  almost  with- 
out a  military  following,  wearing  the  red  blouse  and  the  felt  hat, 
he  reached  Naples  by  special  train,  and  was  received  by  the  people 
with  inexpressible  enthusiasm.  The  day  before  Francis  II.  had 
left  his  capital  and  embarked  for  Gaeta.  His  army,  about  40,000 
strong,  retreated  behind  the  Yolturno  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Capua.  Too  late  he  had  decided  to  yield ;  and  after  the  surren- 
der of  Palermo  he  restored  the  constitution  of  1848,  called  a  lib- 
eral ministry,  and  proffered  his  alliance  to  Sardinia.  This  farce 
had  already  been  so  often  enacted  in  Naples  that  no  one  would 
believe  him,  and  so  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  retreat  into  his 
fortresses  before  the  revolution. 

Garibaldi  now  assumed  the  dictatorship  of  Naples  also.  He 
cherished  the  plan  of  marching  into  the  States  of  the  Church, 
after  defeating  the  Neapolitan  royal  troops,  and  planting  his  ban- 
ner for  the  second  time  on  the  Capitol  in  Rome.  Hence  he  did 
not  at  once  proclaim  the  annexation  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  because, 
as  he  explained,  his  design  was  to  proclaim  the  Kingdom  of  Italy 
from  the  Quirinal.  This  aroused  not  merely  the  Pope  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  world,  but  also  'Napoleon.  In  the  States  of  the 
Church  everything  was  ripe  for  revolt.  Where  no  French  troops 


ANNEXATION   OF  UMBRIA  AND   LE   MARCHE.  289 

were  stationed  the  Pope  had  already  ceased  to  rule,  and  yet  he 
would  hear  nothing  of  mediation,  and  trusted  to  the  effect  of  his 
excommunication  of  the  robbers  of  Peter's  Church,  as  though  he 
lived  in  the  age  of  Gregory  and  Innocent,  and  not  in  a  century 
which  regards  such  things  merely  from  the  antiquarian  point  of 
view.  The  clergy  in  all  countries  were  ordered  to  agitate  for  the 
Peter's  penny,  and  to  persuade  young  men  to  enter  the  papal 
army,  which  was  to  be  reorganized.  The  French  general,  Lamori- 
ciere,  a  friend  of  Merode,  the  minister  of  war,  was  put  at  the 
head  of  this  army ;  but  it  was  not  possible  even  for  him  to  ac- 
complish the  impossible.  Napoleon  wished  to  wrest  the  power 
from  Garibaldi  at  any  price,  as  he  guessed  that  Mazzini  and  the 
republican  party  were  behind  him,  and  from  them  he  feared  the 
worst  in  case  they  came  into  possession  of  Rome.  So  on  his 
journey  through  Savoy  he  caused  Victor  Emmanuel  to  be  inform- 
ed that  he  should  have  free  scope  to  annex  Le  Marche  and  Um- 
bria  to  his  kingdom,  and  to  invade  Naples,  in  order  to  establish 
an  orderly  monarchical  government  there  instead  of  Garibaldi's 
revolutionary  dictatorship,  provided  only  that  he  should  leave 
Rome  itself  untouched  and  the  so-called  Peter's  Patrimony,  which 
the  French  would  occupy.  Thereupon  Fanti,  the  Sardinian  min- 
ister of  war,  occupied  Umbria,  and  General  Cialdini  entered  Le 
Marche.  Notwithstanding  the  inferiority  of  his  forces,  Lamori- 
ciere  confronted  the  latter  at  Castelfidardo  on  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember, but  after  a  brief  engagement  had  to  yield  to  numbers. 
With  a  few  followers  he  threw  himself  into  Ancona,  and  on  the 
29th  of  September,  attacked  by  land  and  sea,  he  and  the  whole 
garrison  surrendered  themselves  prisoners  of  war.  A  plebiscite  in 
Umbria  and  Le  Marche  declared  for  union  with  Sardinia. 

Victor  Emmanuel  arrived  in  Ancona  on  the  9th  of  October,  as- 
sumed the  chief  command  of  his  troops,  and  marched  to  Naples. 
Garibaldi  was  still  there  ;  and  although  he  had  about  25,000  men 
under  him,  he  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  breaking  through  the 
Volturno  lines,  or  persuading  the  Neapolitan  army  to  revolt.  On 
Victor  Emmanuel's  arrival,  he  made  a  solemn  entrance  into  Na- 
ples in  his  company,  and,  after  the  accession  of  Naples  to  Victor 
Emmanuel  had  been  proclaimed,  he  surrendered  his  dictatorship 
into  his  hands,  and  scorning  every  mark  of  distinction,  returned 
to  the  island  of  Caprera.  The  Sardinian  king  at  once  drove  the 
Neapolitan  army  across  the  Garigliano  into  the  fortress  of  Gaeta. 

13 


290  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

There  King  Francis  and  his  wife,  Maria  of  Bavaria,  held  out  for 
three  months,  defending  the  fortress  with  great  bravery.  But 
when  the  French  fleet,  which  had  occupied  the  harbor,  was  re- 
called, and  the  Neapolitan  fleet,  now  belonging  to  King  Victor 
Emmanuel,  took  its  place,  lack  of  provisions  and  ammunition  be- 
gan to  make  themselves  felt,  typhus  raged,  and  no  star  of  hope 
was  visible  on  any  side;  so  finally,  February  13th,  1861,  King 
Francis  capitulated.  He  embarked  on  a  French  ship  for  Terra- 
cina,  and  from  there  repaired  to  Rome.  Here,  as  a  pretender,  he 
vainly  organized  little  bands  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  Bour- 
bon standard  in  Naples  once  more.  These  royalist  robbers  cost 
him  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  the  disgraceful  deeds  perpetrated 
by  them  soon  obscured  the  glory  of  Gaeta. 

On  the  18th  of  February,  1861,  Victor  Emmanuel  opened  the 
first  Italian  parliament  in  Turin,  and  with  its  consent  adopted  the 
title  King  of  Italy.  That  which  Cavour  had  demanded  in  the 
peace  congress  at  Paris,  to  which  Napoleon  had  assented  at  Plom- 
bieres,  which  the  peace  of  Zurich  had  granted,  seemed  insignifi- 
cant in  comparison  with  these  results  of  the  exertions  of  two 
years.  With  the  exception  of  Venetia  and  the  districts  belonging 
to  Rome,  all  the  provinces  of  Italy,  diverse  though  they  were, 
were  united  into  one  single  state.  But  this  unity  was  as  ye* 
mainly  external,  and  the  efforts  of  Italian  statesmen  must  now  be 
directed  toward  rendering  it  internal,  and  amalgamating  the  vari- 
ous parts  into  one  inseparable  whole.  To  this  end  it  was  neces- 
sary to  refrain  from  all  further  undertakings  for  the  next  few 
years,  and  with  energy  and  good-fortune  make  the  best  use  of  a 
season  of  peace  to  cleanse  the  old  Bourbon  stables,  and  institute 
a  thorough  reform  in  the  array,  finance,  and  civil  administration. 
In  this  task,  also,  one  far  harder  than  mere  conquest,  Cavour  dis- 
played great  skill.  On  one  side  were  the  raging  republicans  to 
be  conciliated,  on  the  other  the  angry  Napoleon,  who  took  it  very 
much  amiss  that  his  doctrines  of  the  principle  of  nationality  and 
the  right  of  self-determination  had  been  put  in  practice  against 
his  will ;  and  in  addition  to  these  difficulties  the  Pope,  who  showed 
very  little  appreciation  of  Cavour's  maxim,  "  A  free  church  in  a 
free  state,"  still  had  an  arsenal  full  of  thunder-bolts.  On  the  6th 
of  June,  1861,  while  things  were  in  this  somewhat  chaotic  condi- 
tion, Count  Cavour  died,  worn  out  by  his  gigantic  labors.  Rica- 
soli,  his  successor,  preserved  an  attitude  of  reserve  toward  France, 


RETIREMENT  OF  RICASOLI  FOR  RATAZZI.  231 

but  in  his  internal  policy  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  the  great 
statesman.  He  despatched  General  Cialdini  against  the  brigands 
in  Naples,  and  by  numerous  executions  and  a  display  of  merciless 
energy  order  was  established  there.  This  independent  course  was 
not  to  Napoleon's  taste.  Ricasoli,  who  would  not  consent  to  be 
a  French  prefect,  had  to  retire  and  make  room  for  Ratazzi.  His 
policy  was  to  unite  all  parties,  which  still  came  now  and  again 
into  sharp  conflict,  and  above  all  to  conciliate  the  so-called  party 
of  action,  at  the  head  of  which  stood  Garibaldi.  He  took  into 
the  army  the  remnant  of  the  volunteers,  who  had  been  treated 
with  conspicuous  neglect  after  they  had  played  their  part,  and  de- 
clared the  decision  of  parliament  of  March  27th,  1861,  that  Rome 
was  the  future  capital  of  Italy,  still  in  force.  This  set  the  party 
of  action  and  with  it  all  Italy  in  a  blaze  once  more.  "Rome  and 
Venice !"  cried  the  Italianissimi ;  and  not  content  with  that,  they 
spoke  of  the  conquest  of  southern  Tyrol,  Istria,  and  the  Dalma- 
tian coast.  Garibaldi  wished  to  complete  his  work,  and  applied 
himself  first  of  all  to  the  solution  of  the  Romish  question,  which 
seemed  to  his  patriotic  impatience  to  have  become  altogether  too 
complicated.  He  sailed  to  Sicily,  collected  about  3000  volun- 
teers, and  landed  in  Calabria,  with  the  watchword  "Rome  or 
death !"  But  as  the  government  had  received  from  Napoleon  a 
very  decided  intimation  that  this  must  be  stopped,  it  issued  a 
proclamation  declaring  his  action  criminal,  and  despatched  Cial- 
dini against  him.  At  Aspromonte,  on  the  28th  of  August,  1862, 
Colonel  Pallavacino  encountered  Garibaldi  and  his  volunteers. 
An  engagement  resulted,  several  volunteers  fell,  and  Garibaldi, 
dangerously  wounded  in  the  ankle-joint,  had  to  surrender  with 
his  followers.  They  were  soon  set  free  again.  Garibaldi  lingered 
for  some  time  between  life  and  death,  but  the  ball  was  at  length 
extracted  from  the  wound  by  a  French  physician  in  Pisa,  and  in 
December  Garibaldi  again  returned  to  his  retirement  in  Caprera. 

The  government  had  demonstrated  that  it  was  master  in  its 
own  house,  and  that  it  would  not  let  itself  be  forced  into  impru- 
dent acts  by  any  one,  not  even  by  its  noblest  sons.  Hence  it  was 
time  for  France  to  remove  a  stone  of  stumbling,  and  itself  to 
practise  the  principle  of  non-intervention  which  it  was  so  ready 
to  preach  to  other  powers.  The  French  occupation  of  Rome  was 
a  continual  threat  to  Italy,  as  well  as  a  sign  of  French  tutelage, 
and  hence  it  must  be  brought  to  an  end.  The  treaty  concluded 


292  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

on  the  15th  of  September,  1864,  between  France  and  Italy,  pro- 
vided that  the  French  troops  should  be  withdrawn  within  two 
years  at  the  farthest;  that  Italy  should  make  no  attack  on  the  ter- 
ritory belonging  to  the  Pope,  and  should  protect  that  territory 
against  every  assault  from  without ;  that  Italy  should  assume  a 
part  of  the  Roman  debt,  renounce  its  pretensions  to  Rome  as  its 
capital,  and  transfer  its  seat  of  government  from  Turin  to  Flor- 
ence. These  provisions  were  carried  out.  In  1865,  king  and 
parliament  removed  to  Florence,  and  by  the  end  of  the  year' 1866 
there  was  not  a  French  soldier  in  Peter's  Patrimony. 


§20. 

EXTRA-EUROPEAN    COUNTRIES. 

IT  was  not  merely  in  Italy  that  a  question  of  nationality  arose ; 
India  was  agitated  by  the  same  question,  and  a  "  revision  of  the 
treaties  "  would  have  been  very  welcome  there  also.  It  was  only 
under  compulsion  that  the  Hindoos  endured  the  dominion  of  a 
completely  alien  race,  whose  religion  was  different,  and  which  had 
such  a  contempt  for  their  own  religion.  That  a  company  of  mer- 
chants— the  East  India  Company — should  possess  an  empire  of 
180,000,000  souls  to  govern  with  a  view  to  their  trade  interests, 
was  something  hitherto  unheard  of  in  history.  The  English  gov- 
ernment could  select  only  the  governor-general  and  the  military 
commander-in-chief ;  all  officials  were  appointed  by  the  twelve 
directors  of  the  East  India  Company,  and  confirmed  by  the  gov- 
ernor. The  administration  itself  was  subject  to  the  control  of  a 
royal  commission  only  in  the  most  weighty  matters.  Where  the 
government  was  conducted  as  a  mercantile  business  there  was  im- 
minent danger  that  it  would  be  conducted,  not  in  accordance  with 
justice,  but  caprice ;  not  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  well- 
being  of  the  governed,  but  for  the  satisfaction  of  avarice.  The 
inhabitants  of  Hindostan  are  partly  adherents  of  Brahmanisra, 
partly  of  Islam.  Both  saw  in  the  English  missionaries  a  com- 
mon foe,  by  whom  they  were  at  that  very  time  treated  with  great 
contempt,  and  both  conspired  together  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
common  enemy.  The  army  was  soon  won  over.  It  consisted  for 


THE  SEPOY  REBELLION.  293 

the  greater  part  of  natives,  the  Sepoys,  who  could,  however,  never 
attain  a  higher  rank  than  that  of  captain.  In  an  army  of  250,000 
men  there  were  only  30,000  English,  the  rest  being  all  Sepoys, 
most  of  whom  were  ready  to  take  part  in  the  Mutiny.  The  days 
of  British  rule  seemed  drawing  to  a  close ;  England's  power  was 
threatened  with  a  mighty  shock.  An  old  prophecy  was  set  in 
circulation,  that  the  foreign  rule,  which  had  been  established  by 
Lord  dive's  victories  exactly  a  century  before,  was  to  last  no 
longer  than  one  century. 

A  circumstance  which  from  an  Occidental  point  of  view  was 
thoroughly  insignificant  threw  the  spark  into  the  powder-maga- 
zine. In  the  cartridges  which  were  distributed  for  the  new  En- 
field  rifles  the  bullets  were  believed  by  the  natives  to  be  smeared 
with  cow's  fat  and  hog's  lard.  They  regarded  this  as  an  insult  to 
their  religion,  as  the  Hindoos  might  not  touch  the  former,  nor 
the  Mohammedans  the  latter.  In  Meerut,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Delhi,  May  9th,  1857,  some  Sepoys  refused  to  receive  these  car- 
tridges. They  were  arrested,  but  their  companions  set  them  free 
and  massacred  the  English  officers,  with  their  wives  and  children. 
Two  days  later  the  important  city  of  Delhi  rose.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  cannon,  vast  military  stores,  and  two  million  pounds 
sterling  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Sepoys.  The  Mutiny  affected 
all  the  garrison  cities  of  the  upper  Ganges,  and  almost  the  whole 
of  northern  India.  A  straw  emperor  was  set  up  in  the  person  of 
the  ninety-two-year-old  Akbar,  formerly  Grand  Mogul.  The  mal- 
treatment to  which  the  English  and  their  families  were  exposed 
was  terrible.  Mere  murder  was  not  enough,  they  were  put  to 
death  with  the  most  refined  tortures.  Not  one  of  the  cursed 
Frengi  brood  should  remain  alive.  The  horrors  of  Cawnpore, 
where  Nana  Sahib  gave  full  vent  to  his  rage,  is  one  of  the  most 
grewsome  pictures  afforded  by  the  embittered  wars  of  races. 

Fortunately  for  the  English,  the  Mutiny  did  not  brqak  out 
everywhere  at  the  same  time,  but  was  confined  at  the  outset  to 
Delhi  and  Oude.  This  enabled  them  to  localize  the  war,  and 
they  sought  to  destroy  the  germs  of  rebellion  by  dealing  out  fear- 
ful vengeance,  thus  spreading  terror,  and  retaining  the  timid  in 
their  obedience.  Transport  after  transport  sailed  for  India,  over 
100,000  men  in  all;  while  of  the  native  regiments  the  warlike 
Sikhs,  who  inhabit  the  Punjaub,  and  the  Ghorkas,  whose  home  is 
a  part  of  the  Himalaya  range,  remained  faithful.  After  a  siege 


294  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

of  three  months  General  Wilson  took  Delhi.  General  Havelock 
brought  assistance  to  Lawrence,  who  was  shut  up  in  the  citadel 
of  Lucknow,  the  capital  of  Oude,  with  400  women  and  children ; 
and  as  their  supplies  were  beginning  to  give  out,  both  of  them 
were  relieved  by  the  new  commander-in-chief,  Colin  Campbell,  who 
hurried  thither  from  Calcutta.  Campbell  had  too  few  troops  to 
storm  the  city,  which  was  defended  by  50,000  Sepoys,  and  it  was 
not  until  March  13th,  1858,  after  he  had  won  other  victories  and 
received  re-enforcements  from  Calcutta,  that  ne  took  Lucknow  by 
a  three  days'  assault,  and  gave  free  course  to  the  vengeance  of  his 
soldiers.  Hard  judgment  was  meted  out  to  the  rebels,  and  many 
hundreds  were  hanged,  or  bound  to  the  cannon's  mouth  and 
blown  to  pieces.  Nana  Sahib  succeeded  in  escaping.  His  com- 
panion, Tantia  Topi,  one  of  the  most  capable  of  the  rebel  leaders, 
was  captured  and  put  to  death  on  the  gallows.  With  the  year 
1858  the  rebellion,  in  which  both  sides  vied  with  one  another  in 
bloody  cruelty,  was  at  an  end,  and  the  moderation  of  Lord  Can- 
ning, the  governor-general,  a  son  of  the  famous  statesman,  could 
once  more  have  its  way.  In  England  it  was  felt  that  the  task  of 
ruling  so  vast  an  empire  exceeded  the  powers  of  a  private  com- 
pany, and  hence  Parliament  took  away  the  privileges  of  the  East 
India  Company,  and  decided  that  the  English  government  should 
itself  take  in  hand  the  administration  of  India.  A  special  secre- 
tary of  state  for  India  was  created,  and  a  viceroy  sent  thither  as 
representative  of  the  crown.  This  changed  the  East  Indies  from 
a  commercial  settlement  into  an  English  province,  and  the  ques- 
tion now  is  whether  the  people  have  gained  much  by  the  change. 
The  Indian  Mutiny  was  an  attempt  of  the  natives  to  cast  off 
foreign  rule;  the  direct  counterpart  of  that  was  the  attempt  of 
the  French  emperor  to  force  a  foreign  ruler  on  the  natives  of  Mex- 
ico. It  was  while  the  United  States,  torn  by  civil  war,  and  bleed- 
ing from  a  thousand  wounds,  exerted  but  little  influence  abroad, 
that  this  genuine  Napoleonic  piece  was  enacted  in  Mexico.  The 
"  great  uncle  "  had  been  imitated  in  many  things — one  thing  only 
was  still  lacking ;  inany  a  throne  had  been  overturned  by  the  Na- 
poleonic idea,  but  none  had  as  yet  been  erected,  and  Napoleon 
III.,  especially  after  his  fiasco  in  Italy,  could  not  deny  himself 
the  sweet  satisfaction  of  imitating  his  uncle  in  this  respect  also. 
Spain's  invitation  to  participate  in  an  intervention  in  Mexico 
came  very  opportunely.  England  was  also  interested,  and  so  the 


ENGLAND,  FRANCE,  AND  SPAIN  INTERVENE  IN  MEXICO.     295 

London  convention  of  October  31st,  1861,  was  held,  and  military 
measures  for  the  protection  of  injured  European  interests  an- 
nounced, but  a^y  intention  of  a  seizure  of  territory  or  interfer- 
ence in  the  form  of  government  expressly  repudiated.  The  Wash- 
ington cabinet  refused  to  take  part  in  the  convention.  Benito 
Juarez,  the  president  of  the  Mexican  republic,  a  lawyer,  of  Indian 
extraction,  had  certainly  been  guilty  of  numerous  infringements 
of  the  rights  of  Europeans.  He  had  impressed  them  for  military 
service,  arrested  their  consuls,  and  postponed  all  payments  to  for- 
eign countries  for  two  years.  In  these  measures  he  found  his 
support  among  the  liberals  and  radicals,  while  he  had  aroused  the 
Roman  Catholic  clergy  by  the  confiscation  of  church  property, 
and  they,  with  the  conservatives  in  general,  were  arrayed  against 
him.  He  did  not  yield  even  when  a  fleet  of  the  three  European 
powers  appeared  before  Vera  Cruz  and  took  possession  of  that 
and  other  cities.  Through  the  mediation  of  the  Spanish  general, 
Prim,  the  convention  of  Soledad  vvaa  concluded  with  Juarez,  on 
the  19th  of  February,  1862.  According  to  this  convention  the 
independence  of  the  Mexican  republic  was  not  to  be  molested, 
and  a  conference  was  to  be  held  in  Orizaba  to  settle  the  conflict- 
ing claims. 

Soon  after  this  General  Almonte,  who  had  been  banished  by 
President  Juarez,  appeared  in  the  camp  of  the  allies.  He  was  a 
man  in  whom  Napoleon  had  reposed  his  confidence,  and  Juarez's 
demand  for  his  surrender  was  refused.  Napoleon  was  already  in 
negotiation  with  Maximilian,  and  as  his  plans  became  more  and 
more  apparent,  the  divergency  of  views  and  intentions  on  the 
part  of  the  allies  became  more  marked,  and,  finally,  the  confer- 
ence of  Orizaba  was  dissolved.  The  plenipotentiaries  issued  a 
manifesto  to  the  Mexican  government,  the  English  and  Spanish 
troops  re-embarked  in  April,  and  the  London  convention  in  real- 
ity ceased  to  exist. 

So  the  French  alone  remained  behind.  Napoleon,  reckoning 
with  certainty  on  the  victory  of  the  Confederate  States,  thought 
that  he  could  win  the  game  alone.  In  a  land  of  such  vast  extent, 
however,  the  5000  additional  troops  which  Lorencez  brought  over 
from  France  could  accomplish  little,  and  Almonte's  representa- 
tions to  the  emperor,  that  the  population  would  rise  in  crowds 
against  Juarez,  proved  to  be  merely  the  product  of  an  ultramon- 
tane imagination.  The  people  were  less  ready  to  afford  the  em- 


296  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

peror  assistance  the  more  evident  it  became  that  he  and  Almonte 
in  their  interviews  had  agreed  to  transform  the  republic  into  a 
monarchy.  If  Napoleon  meant  to  carry  out  his  plans  he  must 
furnish  money  and  troops  in  greater  abundance  than  even  the 
pliant  French  Chambers  would  be  willing  to  consent  to.  After 
an  unsuccessful  attack  on  Puebla,  Lorencez  led  his  troops  to  Ori- 
zaba, and  there  awaited  the  arrival  of  General  Forey  with  a  larger 
force.  On  his  arrival,  Forey  assumed  the  chief  command  of  the 
army,  now  about  45,000  strong.  He  renewed  the  attack  on  Pue- 
bla, which  was  bravely  defended  by  General  Ortega,  and  after  a 
siege  of  three  months  succeeded  in  taking  it  on  the  17th  of  May, 
1863.  About  12,000  men  surrendered  with  Ortega.  Juarez  was 
no  longer  able  to  maintain  himself  in  the  capital,  Mexico,  where 
the  conservatives  were  especially  active,  and  retreated  northward 
to  San  Luis  Potosi.  On  the  10th  of  June,  Forey  and  Almonte 
entered  Mexico,  at  the  head  of  15,000  men.  An  assembly  of  not- 
ables was  summoned  to  meet  there.  This  assembly,  consisting 
only  of  enemies  of  President  Juarez,  decided  on  the  12th  of  July 
to  establish  an  hereditary  constitutional  monarchy,  and  offer  the 
imperial  throne  of  Mexico  to  Archduke  Ferdinand  Maximilian  of 
Austria,  with  whom  Napoleon  had  already  come  to  an  understand- 
ing. An  embassy  hurried  across  the  Atlantic  to  the  castle  of 
Miramar,  on  the  Adriatic  Sea,  and  imparted  this  decision  to  the 
archduke.  He  was  ready  to  accept  the  throne  as  soon  as  the 
whole  nation  should  pronounce  for  him  by  a  free  vote.  On  the 
news  that  2000  towns,  the  great  majority  of  the  people,  had  voted 
for  him  (the  French  are  famous  for  understanding  the  manipula- 
tion of  such  plebiscites)  he  embarked  with  his  wife,  Marie  Char- 
lotte, daughter  of  the  Belgian  king,  Leopold  I.,  and  entered  Mex- 
ico on  the  12th  of  June,  1864.  He  had  previously  concluded 
with  Napoleon  the  treaty  of  Miramar,  by  which  the  latter  pledged 
himself  to  retain  25,000  soldiers  in  Mexico,  and  not  to  withdraw 
them  until  Maximilian  was  able  to  organize  for  himself  an  army 
of  natives  and  foreigners.  On  his  part  the  new  emperor  had  prom- 
ised to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  French  expedition  (270,000,000 
francs),  in  fixed  instalments,  and  after  the  1st  of  July,  1864,  to 
maintain  the  French  army  of  occupation  wholly  at  the  expense  of 
the  Mexican  treasury.  He  had  also  incurred  further  pecuniary 
obligations  quite  surpassing  the  powers  of  Mexico  at  that  time. 
It  was  one  of  those  treaties  which  are  made  to  be  broken. 


MAXIMILIAN  ABANDONED  BY  THE  FRENCH.  297 

All  the  world  wondered  when  it  became  known  that  a  Haps- 
bnrger  had  accepted  a  throne  from  Napoleon.  No  one  had  be- 
lieved Maximilian  so  short-sighted  as  not  to  perceive  that  in  the 
summer  of  1864  this  throne  had  already  become  an  impossibility, 
for  the  defeat  of  the  Confederate  States  was  then  as  good  as  as- 
sured, and  as  soon  as  the  Union  regained  its  old  strength  one  of 
its  first  acts  would  certainly  be  to  shatter  this  Mexican  imperial 
throne.  The  United  States  would  not  quietly  submit  to  the  blow 
which  Napoleon  had  aimed  at  the  Monroe  doctrine  of  1823.  Ac- 
cording to  that  doctrine  no  European  power  might  interfere  in 
the  internal  affairs  of  American  States,  yet  here  was  an  interfer- 
ence which  had  been  carried  to  the  point  of  erecting  a  throne 
close  to  their  own  frontiers.  Those  were  right  who  affirmed  that 
this  throne  would  last  as  long  as  the  American  civil  war,  and  no 
longer,  and  that  the  chimes  of  Union  victory  would  be  the  knell 
of  the  Mexican  empire.  Bazaine,  who  had  succeeded  Forey,  now 
a  marshal,  in  the  command,  forced  Juarez  to  flee  to  Texas ;  but 
after  the  victory  of  the  Union  he  returned  to  Mexico,  supported 
by  the  United  States.  The  north  of  Mexico  had  remained  true 
to  the  president,  and  he  had  not  a  few  friends  in  the  south.  His 
influence  and  that  of  his  protectors  increased  daily,  while  Maxi- 
milian's position  was  becoming  constantly  more  difficult.  He 
had  at  first  relied  on  the  liberal  party,  and  broken  on  that  account 
with  the  clericals  and  the  Pope,  who,  by  his  nuntius,  Meglia,  re- 
quired unconditional  submission.  Later  he  attached  himself  to 
the  clericals,  as  the  liberals  gradually  deserted  him,  but  he  could 
never  wholly  win  them  over  to  himself,  since  the  restoration  of 
the  church  property,  which  had  been  sold,  was  a  demand  that 
could  no  longer  be  complied  with.  The  worst  came  from  Wash- 
ington and  Paris.  The  United  States  government  gave  Napoleon 
plainly  to  understand  that  he  had  no  other  choice  than  either  to 
withdraw  his  troops  from  Mexico  or  to  engage  in  a  war  with  the 
United  States.  Napoleon  had  been  altogether  at  fault  in  his 
judgments  on  American  affairs,  and  he  saw  more  clearly  each  day 
how  hated  the  costly  Mexican  expedition  was  in  all  France.  Fear- 
ing for  his  own  throne,  he  was  more  willing  to  abandon  Maximil- 
ian to  his  fate  than  to  engage  in  so  venturesome  a  war  on  his 
account.  On  the  30th  of  July,  1866,  he  forced  on  Maximilian  a 
new  treaty,  by  which  he  was  to  cede  the  greater  part  of  his  reve- 
nues to  the  French,  and  be  deprived  in  a  short  time  of  the  pro- 

13* 


298  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECEXT   TIMES. 

tection  of  the  French  soldiers.  This  left  him  an  almost  defence- 
less prey  to  the  republican  troops,  who  had  already  pressed  well 
southward.  Empress  Charlotte  hastened  from  Mexico  to  Paris 
and  reminded  Napoleon  of  the  treaty  of  Miramar;  but  he  re- 
mained inexorable,  for  the  Americans  were  becoming  constantly 
more  threatening  with  their  "  either — or,"  and  affairs  in  Germany 
were  growing  critical.  In  despair  Charlotte  hastened  to  Rome, 
and  from  there  she  returned  to  Miramar  a  victim  to  insanity.  In- 
stead of  abdicating  under  such  circumstances  and  returning  to 
Europe,  Maximilian  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  by  the  ultra- 
montanes,  into  whose  hands  he  had  surrendered  himself  complete- 
ly, that  they  could  raise  a  national  army  and  the  necessary  funds, 
and  that  French  help  was  no  longer  needful.  Clinging  to  his  im- 
perial throne,  he  was  blind  enough  not  to  see  that  they  were  de- 
ceiving themselves  and  him,  and  in  a  manifesto  of  December  1st, 
1866,  he  announced  to  the  Mexicans  that  he  would  make  his  de- 
cision dependent  upon  the  decision  of  a  national  congress.  But 
the  summoning  of  a  national  congress  was  an  impossibility,  since 
the  greater  part  of  the  country  was  already  in  the  hands  of  the 
republicans. 

January  14th,  1867,  he  convened  a  junta  at  Mexico,  and  laid 
before  it  the  question  of  abdication  or  persistence.  An  over- 
whelming majority  was  in  favor  of  maintaining  the  struggle 
against  the  republic ;  but  they  deceived  both  themselves  and  the 
emperor  regarding  the  possibility  of  such  a  course.  Maximilian 
believed  that  his  honor  would  not  permit  him  to  leave  his  adhe- 
rents in  the  lurch,  and  that  with  and  for  them  he  must  fight  out 
the  fight  with  Juarez.  February  19th,  between  the  departure  of 
the  last  French  from  the  capital  amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  popu- 
lace and  their  embarkation  at  Vera  Cruz,  he  arrived  at  Queretaro 
with  a  couple  of  thousand  men.  There  he  was  shut  up  by  the 
republicans  under  Escobedo,  into  whose  hands  he  fell  on  the  loth 
of  May  through  the  treason  of  Colonel  Lopez.  On  the  13th  and 
14th  of  Jane  he  was  tried  before  a  court-martial.  The  issue  of 
the  decree  of  October  3d,  1865,  which  directed  that  all  republi- 
cans found  with  arms  in  their  hands  should  be  shot  within  twen- 
ty-four hours,  was  the  principal  charge  against  him.  He  was  con- 
demned to  death  and  shot  at  Queretaro  on  the  19th  of  June,  1867, 
together  with  generals  Miramon  and  Mejia,  who  had  been  taken 
at  the  same  time.  The  capital  surrendered  to  the  republicans  on 


INTERMENT   OF  MAXIMILIAN   AT   VIENNA.  299 

the  21st  of  Juno,  and  Vera  Cruz  on  the  27th.  July  15th,  Presi- 
dent Juarez  made  his  entrance  into  Mexico  and  resumed  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  country.  Maximilian's  body  was  brought  back  to 
Austria  by  Rear-admiral  Tegetthoff,  and  on  the  18th  of  January, 
1868,  the  imperial  victim  was  solemnly  interred  in  the  Hapsburg 
vault  in  the  Capuchin  church  at  Vienna. 

Contemporary  with  the  latter  part  of  Maximilian's  career  was 
the  war  which  broke  out  in  1865,  between  Paraguay  on  the  one 
side,  and  Brazil,  La  Plata,  and  Uruguay  on  the  other,  although  the 
last  two  contributed  but  little  toward  the  successful  result.  At 
first  Paraguay  was  victorious,  but  in  1868  and  1869  the  Brazilian 
troops  won  several  victories,  first  under  Marshal  Caxias,  and  later 
under  the  Count  of  Eu,  the  son-in-law  of  the  Emperor  of  Brazil. 
The  death  of  Lopez  on  the  1st  of  March  put  an  end  to  the  war, 
Paraguay  being  obliged  to  pay  the  costs. 


300  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 


FOUKTH  PERIOD.    1864-1869. 

PRUSSIA  USURPS  THE   SUPREMACY  IN   GERMANY. 


§  21. 
SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 

BEFORE  affairs  in  Mexico  had  quite  assumed  the  form  recorded 
in  the  last  section  they  were  crowded  out  of  the  foreground  of 
history  by  events  of  great  importance  in  Europe,  and,  to  the  sur- 
prise of  the  French  nation,  this  time  it  was  not  France  that  set 
the  world  agog,  but  Germany ;  yet  not  that  Germany  which  in 
Eschenheimer  Lane,  in  Frankfort,  busied  itself  with  trifles  and 
absurdities  and  called  them  politics,  but  the  new  and  progressive 
Germany  whose  centre  was  Berlin.  The  desire  for  unity,  politi- 
cal importance,  and  a  development  of  power  commensurate  with 
its  external  possibilities  and  its  internal  resources,  had  not  been 
expelled  from  the  German  system  spite  of  the  numerous  unpala- 
table concoctions  which  Austrian  and  Prussian  court  quacks,  or 
second  and  third  class  doctors,  had  prescribed  for  it  to  swallow 
since  1849.  Then  the  movement  had  failed  because  precious 
time  had  been  dreamed  away  in  painting  the  fresco  of  freedom 
before  the  building  of  unity  had  been  erected;  now  an  opposite 
principle  was  about  to  be  adopted — unity  was  to  be  forced  upon 
the  German  people  at  the  cannon's  mouth,  however  loudly  some 
tribunes  of  the  people  might  complain  of  loss  of  freedom.  As 
at  the  close  of  1849,  it  was  again  the  two  German  great  powers 
which,  like  gigantic  gladiators,  confronted  one  another  in  the 
German  arena.  The  words  which  Maria  Theresa  had  used  with 
reference  to  Frederic  the  Great,  "  the  bad  man,"  charging  him 
with  endeavoring  to  usurp  the  rank  in  Germany  that  belonged  of 
right  to  the  Austrian  house,  received  in  these  latter  years  many 


"OCTOBER  DIPLOMA"   AND   "FEBRUARY  PATENT."        301 

confirmative  illustrations.  Austria's  supremacy  in  Germany  had 
certainly  been  most  seriously  threatened  since  the  time  of  the 
second  Hobenzollern  Frederic,  and  the  more  the  house  of  Haps- 
burg  basked  beneath  the  blue  Italian  heaven,  or  buried  itself  in 
the  mediaeval  lore  of  papal  jurisprudence,  the  greater  the  danger 
became.  Nothing  in  recent  times  had  wrought  such  injury  to 
Austria  as  the  concordat  with  Rome,  by  which  it  had  been  re- 
duced almost  to  a  level  with  Spain  and  Turkey.  Let  any  one 
look  about  and  ask  himself  which  states  in  Europe  show  the 
greatest  youthful  vigor;  his  answer  must  surely  be — not  those 
which  still  continue  to  hold  the  papal  stirrup. 

After  the  peace  of  Villafranca  it  was  hoped  that  a  total 
change  of  system  would  supervene  in  Austria,  for  it  was  not  so 
much  the  brave  soldiers  of  the  empire  that  had  been  beaten  at 
Solferino  as  its  theocratical  and  absolutist  system,  the  existence 
of  which  three  centuries  after  the  Reformation  was  a  vicious  an- 
achronism. Either  that  antique  mode  of  government  must  be 
abolished  or  new  Solferinos  must  ensue.  Only  the  removal  of 
the  corner-stone  of  priestcraft  and  despotism  could  save  the  Aus- 
trian structure  from  overthrow.  Necessary  as  other  reforms 
might  be,  their  necessity  was  secondary ;  this  one  great  radical 
reformation  was  vital. 

A  few  reforms  were  exacted  by  the  disorder  of  the  finances 
and  the  unending  strife  with  Hungary.  A  feeble  beginning  of 
these  was  made  in  1860,  when  the  "strengthened  Reichsrath" 
was  convened,  in  which  the  nobles  and  clergy  had  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority.  As  enemies  of  centralization,  they  pronounced  for 
the  historical  rights  of  the  separate  crown  lands,  and  so  on  the 
20th  of  October,  1860,  appeared  the  so-called  "October  diploma," 
which  gave  a  modernized  constitution  to  the  lands  pertaining  to 
the  Hungarian  crown,  and  to  the  other  provinces  separate  parlia- 
ments, so  constituted,  however,  that  feudalism  should  again  hold 
sway.  Common  interests  were  to  be  considered  in  a  common 
Reichsrath.  No  one  was  charmed  by  such  a  "  diploma  "  except- 
ing the  gentry  of  antiquity.  The  Hungarians  longed  for  their 
old  constitution  of  1848,  and  cursed  this  innovation.  The  other 
countries  would  gladly  have  accepted  a  new  deal,  provided  only 
they  were  freed  from  the  rule  of  clerical  long-coats  and  knightly 
spurs.  The  universal  discontent  led  to  a  new  change  of  front  j 
Chevalier  von  Schmerling  was  made  minister  of  state,  and  cen- 


302  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

tralization  received  another  trial.  February  26th,  1861,  appeared 
the  so-called  "February  patent,"  which  created  an  inner  Reichsrath 
side  by  side  with  the  general  or  outer  one.  In  the  former  the 
common  interests  of  the  German  and  Slavonic  provinces  were  to 
be  dealt  with;  in  the  latter,  which  was  developed  into  a  com- 
plete parliament,  consisting  of  House  of  Lords  and  House  of 
Representatives,  the  affairs  of  the  whole  empire  were  to  be  dis- 
cussed, and  hence  the  Hungarians  as  well  as  Germans  and  Sla- 
vonians would  have  to  send  representatives  thither.  But  not  only 
did  Hungary  refuse  to  send  representatives,  and  protest  against 
the  validity  of  the  measures  of  the  Reichsrath,  so  far  as  Hun- 
garian affairs  were  concerned,  it  even  demanded  the  recognition 
of  the  constitution  of  1848  as  the  primary  condition  of  its  par- 
ticipation. As  that  meant  personal  union,  and  would  have  made 
Austria  dependent  upon  the  good-will  of  the  Hungarian  parlia- 
ment, the  demand  was  refused,  and  it  was  announced  that  the 
"  continuity  of  the  Hungarian  kingdom,"  insisted  upon  by  the 
Hungarians,  had  been  forfeited  by  the  revolution,  and  that  in  a 
conquered  country  new  laws  might  be  introduced  by  right  of 
conquest.  So  the  Hungarian  parliament  was  dissolved,  Chevalier 
von  Schinerling  confidently  remarking,  "  We  can  wait." 

These  words  could  become  more  than  a  mere  phrase  only  in 
case  government  and  Reichsrath  travelled  together  the  road  of 
freedom  ;  in  case  the  Vienna  court  was  in  earnest  with  the  new 
constitutional  system,  and  by  abolishing  feudalism  gave  free  play 
to  the  principles  of  the  nineteenth  century.  By  adopting  such  a 
course  as  this  it  might  enable  the  western  half  of  the  empire  to 
exert  a  powerful  attraction  on  the  eastern.  But  nothing  of  all 
this  occurred.  The  government  employed  the  Reichsrath  princi- 
pally as  an  assistant  in  the  task  of  extricating  itself  from  its  finan- 
cial difficulties,  and  showed  no  inclination  whatever  to  speak  with 
voice  of  thunder  into  the  darkness  of  old  Austria's  political  and 
religious  condition  the  creative  words,  "  Let  there  be  light !"  The 
dispute  with  Hungary  continued  without  any  step  being  made 
toward  a  final  settlement;  Hungary,  for  its  part,  not  making  the 
least  sign  of  an  intention  to  recognize  the  February  constitution 
and  send  delegates  to  the  Reichsrath.  Even  in  the  western  half 
of  the  empire  opposition  to  the  Reichsrath  manifested  itself,  the 
Slavs,  who  cherished  separatist  tendencies,  finding  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  German  element  in  that  body  objectionable.  The 


DISSATISFACTION   AND   CHANGES  OF  SYSTEM.  303 

financial  estimates  of  the  year  1865  revealed  a  veritable  abyss  not 
many  steps  ahead.  The  House  of  llepresentatives  was  all  the 
more  urgent  in  its  demands  for  economy,  especially  in  the  expen- 
ditures for  army  and  navy,  the  very  points  on  which  the  court 
circle  was  most  sensitive.  Count  Moritz  Esterhazy  and  the  old 
noble  party  took  advantage  of  this  difference  between  court  and 
representatives  to  get  rid  at  the  same  time  of  Schmerling  and  the 
February  constitution,  and  to  make  another  attempt  at  the  con- 
ciliation of  Hungary.  At  the  beginning  of  June,  1865,  the  en> 
peror  made  a  journey  to  Pesth,  where  he  met  with  a  brilliant  re- 
ception. This  afforded  him  an  opportunity  to  make  acquaintance 
with  the  leading  men  in  Hungary,  above  all,  Francis  Deak.  The 
Hungarian  chancellor,  Count  Zichy,  was  dismissed,  and  the  popu- 
lar Count  Mailath  put  in  his  place.  Schmerling's  ministry  ten- 
dered its  resignation,  and  was  succeeded  after  a  crisis  of  four 
weeks  by  the  "  ministry  of  the  three  counts,"  in  which  Count 
Belcredi  was  minister  of  state,  and  Count  Larisch  minister  of 
finance,  while  Count  Mensdorff-Pouilly  (who  had  been  minister 
since  October  21st,  1864)  continued  in  charge  of  foreign  affairs. 
The  plans  of  the  new  ministry  were  soon  made  public.  The 
lands  of  St.  Stephen's  crown — Hungary,  Transylvania,  Croatia,  etc. 
— were  again  to  constitute  one  whole,  the  outer  Reichsrath  was 
to  be  abolished,  but  the  inner  Reichsrath  was  still  to  form  the 
bond  of  union  for  the  Germano-Slavonic  provinces.  Even  this, 
however,  was  not  allowed  to  continue  long  in  existence.  By  the 
patent  of  September  20th,  1865,  the  whole  February  constitution, 
including  both  outer  and  inner  Reichsrath,  was  suspended,  the 
parliaments  of  the  various  lands  of  the  Hapsburg  imperial  crown 
summoned,  and  the  promise  given  to  lay  before  them  the  results 
of  the  Hungarian  settlement.  This  new  coup-d'etat  re-established 
something  very  like  the  old  absolutism,  and  hence  in  all  the  Ger- 
man provinces  the  "  inhibition  "  of  the  constitution  was  protested 
against,  and  the  emperor  requested  to  restore  it ;  but  the  Slavs  of 
Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Carniola  were  jubilant.  The  Bohemian 
Czechs,  \\ho  did  not  wish  to  stand  second  to  Hungary,  dreamed 
of  a  holy  throne  of  Wenceslaus,  and  held  a  language  toward  the 
German  population  which  recalls  the  Danish  brutalities  in  Schles- 
wig.  The  tendencies  which  in  1848  had  been  forced  to  yield  to 
Windischgratz's  cannon  were  again  rife,  and  Schmerling's  suc- 
cessor, Belcredi,  was  foolish  enough  to  encourage  this  Slavonic 


304  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

separatism  and  talk  of  "  historico-political  individualities."  If  he 
and  Mailath  thought  that  the  government  could  come  out  of  the 
negotiations  with  Hungary  so  cheaply — with  the  abolition  of  the 
constitution — they  were  sorely  mistaken.  The  Hungarians  would 
have  all  or  nothing.  They  insisted  on  complete  independence, 
on  the  restoration  of  their  constitution  of  1848,  and  on  the 
establishment  of  a  special  Hungarian  ministry,  and  the  utmost 
they  would  concede  was  that,  as  the  administration  of  foreign 
affairs,  finance,  and  the  army  concerned  them  in  common  with 
the  other  parts  of  the  empire,  those  departments  might  be  admin- 
istered by  imperial  ministers.  In  the  year  1865  the  Vienna  cab- 
inet was  not  willing  to  consent  to  such  a  division  of  its  power, 
but  the  events  of  the  following  year  were  about  to  make  it  more 
compliant. 

Quite  different  was  the  course  of  affairs  in  Prussia,  although 
there,  too,  collisions  between  government  and  people  were  not 
lacking.  The  constitution  was  not,  indeed,  "  inhibited,"  but  it 
was  found  to  contain  a  very  serious,  and  for  the  government  not 
altogether  unwelcome,  "omission."  From  the  day  of  his  acces- 
sion King  William  I.  had  bestowed  his  chief  attention  on  the 
military  administration.  A  soldier  through  and  through,  for  him 
the  power  and  glory  of  Prussia  consisted  in  a  well-trained,  well- 
equipped  army.  He  did  not  mean  to  submit  to  an  Olmiitz,  as 
his  brother  had  done,  and  from  the  beginning  of  his  reign  his 
purpose  seemed  to  be  to  wipe  out  that  disgrace  and  win  for 
Prussia  the  position  in  Germany  to  which  she  was  of  right  enti- 
tled when  real  power  was  allowed  to  weigh.  As  the  existing 
army  system  did  not  seem  to  him  altogether  adapted  to  rapid 
mobilization,  it  was  his  wish  to  introduce  some  changes,  and 
above  all  to  strengthen  the  regular  army  by  a  longer  period  of 
service.*  This  reorganization  of  the  army,  his  pet  work,  was  one 

*  The  reorganization  of  1861  increased  the  time  of  service  in  the  standing 
army  from  five  years  to  eight,  the  increase  being  in  the  time  of  reserve  ser- 
vice, which  was  raised  from  two  years  to  five.  The  reorganized  Prussian 
army  of  1861  was  in  all  important  points  similar  to  that  of  the  North  Con- 
federation after  1867,  with  the  exception  that  the  time  of  service  in  the 
standing  army  had  been  reduced  from  eight  years  to  seven.  The  following 
sections  of  the  army  laws  of  November  9th,  1867,  will  enable  the  reader  to 
understand  the  essential  features  of  the  system : 

§  1.  Every  North  German  is  liable  to  military  service,  and  may  not  per- 
form that  service  by  proxy. 


THE  PRUSSIAN  ARMY.  305 

which  later,  under  the  test  of  war,  approved  itself  completely ; 
but  as  it  would  cost  the  country  much  money,  besides  depriving 
it  of  valuable  labor,  the  House  of  Representatives,  not  recognizing 
its  national  aim,  could  not  be  induced  to  provide  the  means  for 
carrying  it  out.  Prorogations  and  dissolutions  ensued.  March 

§  2.  The  armed  power  consists  of  the  army,  the  navy,  and  the  landstiirm. 

§  3.  The  army  is  divided  into:  1st, the  standing  army;  2d,  the  landwehr. 
The  navy  is  divided  into :  1st,  the  fleet ;  2d,the  seewehr.  The  landsturm  con- 
sists of  all  persons  liable  to  military  service  between  the  ages  of  seventeen 
and  forty-two,  inclusive,  who  belong  neither  to  the  army  nor  the  navy. 

§  5.  The  landwehr  and  the  seewehr  are  intended  for  the  support  of  the 
standing  army  and  the  fleet. 

§  6.  The  obligation  to  serve  in  the  standing  army  or  the  fleet  begins  with 
the  1st  of  January,  in  the  year  in  which  the  person  completes  his  twentieth 
year,  and  lasts  seven  years. 

(The  first  three  years  are  spent  in  unbroken  active  service.  During  the 
remaining  four  years  the  man  belongs  to  the  reserve,  liable  in  case  of  war  to 
take  his  place  among  the  three-year  men ;  in  case  of  peace  obliged,  during 
his  four  years  of  reserve  service,  to  take  part  in  two  "  exercises,"  each  of 
which  shall  last  not  more  than  eight  weeks.) 

§  7.  The  duration  of  the  period  of  obligatory  service  in  the  landwehr  or 
seewehr  is  five  years. 

(The  landwehr  consists  of  those  who  have  already  served  their  time  in  the 
standing  army.  In  case  of  peace  they  are  liable  to  be  called  out  only  twice 
during  the  five  years  for  periods  of  from  eight  to  fourteen  days  ;  in  case  of 
war  they  constitute  a  second  reserve.) 

§  10.  In  order  in  general  to  interfere  with  scientific  and  technical  educa- 
tion as  little  as  is  compatible  with  the  universal  obligation  to  military  ser- 
vice, each  young  man  is  permitted,  on  the  completion  of  his  seventeenth 
year,  to  enter  the  service  voluntarily,  provided  he  possess  the  requisite  moral 
and  physical  qualifications. 

§  11.  Young  persons  of  education  who  clothe,  arm,  and  maintain  themselves 
during  their  time  of  service,  and  who  have  acquired  the  requisite  amount  of 
knowledge  [equivalent  to  a  diploma  from  a  German  gymnasium,  or  realschule], 
shall  be  transferred  to  the  reserve  after  one  year's  active  service  in  the  stand- 
ing army,  reckoned  from  the  actual  commencement  of  such  service.  In  pro- 
portion to  their  capacities  and  acquirements  they  may  become  officers  of  the 
reserve  and  landwehr. 

(The  whole  period  of  service  is  not  shortened  by  this  arrangement,  and 
hence  one-year  volunteers  must  serve  six  years  instead  of  four  in  the  re- 
serve.) 

§  16.  The  landsturm  can  be  called  out  only  by  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  Confederation  [the  King  of  Prussia],  in  case  a  hostile  invasion  occupies 
or  threatens  portions  of  the  territory  of  the  Confederation. 

The  provisions  regarding  service  in  the  navy  are  practically  the  same  as 
for  the  army. —  Translator's  note. 


306  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

18th,  1862,  the  liberal  ministry  was  dismissed.  On  the  23d  of 
September  the  conservative  Hohenlohe  ministry  resigned,  and  on 
the  same  day  von  Bismarck-Schonhausen  assumed  the  ad  interim 
presidency  of  the  cabinet.  On  the  8th  of  October  he  became 
minister  president  with  the  special  department  of  foreign  affairs. 
This  was  the  man  whom  King  William  required  to  carry  out  his 
plans.  Distinguished  for  the  acuteness  of  his  political  diagnosis, 
of  unbending  will,  an  ardent  enthusiast  for  Prussian  and  German 
greatness,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven  he  already  had  a  checkered 
career  behind  him.  He  had  gathered  a  rich  store  of  experience 
in  the  various  posts  which  he  had  filled,  had  seen  into  the  secret 
plans  and  motives  of  cabinets,  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
ruling  personages  of  the  day,  had  learned  to  distinguish  between 
the  real  and  fictitious  power  of  foreign  states,  and  in  1860  was 
already  regarded  by  those  who  knew  him  well  as  a  statesman  of 
the  first  order,  who  would  effect  the  unity  of  Germany,  even 
though  his  way  of  doing  it  might  cause  much  offence.  In  the 
United  Landtag  of  1847  he  was  the  leader  of  the  extreme  right, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  his  determined  opposition  to  a  na- 
tional assembly  and  a  constitution.  In  1849  he  stigmatized  the 
war  in  Schleswig-Holstein  as  "a  revolution  against  the  rightful 
rnlcr,  a  fight  about  the  emperor's  beard,  a  genuine  querelle  alle- 
mande."  He  accepted  for  his  party  the  nickname  Junker,  and 
replied  to  his  opponents :  "  Be  assured  that  we  for  our  part  will 
bring  the  name  of  Junker  to  respect  and  honor."  As  delegate 
to  the  Diet  at  Frankfort,  in  1851,  he  had  an  opportunity  to  ob- 
serve Austria's  influence  over  the  second-rate  and  lesser  German 
states,  and  to  appreciate  thoroughly  Prussia's  false  position. 
Hitherto,  in  Junker  fashion,  he  had  overflowed  with  praise  of 
Austria,  but  now  "  there  fell  from  his  eyes  as  it  had  been  scales," 
as  he  himself  said,  and  from  that  time  he  stood  forward  as  her 
open  and  secret  adversary.  That  he  might  not  be  compromised 
by  Bismarck's  sympathy  for  the  cause  of  Italy,  the  king  trans- 
ferred him  to  St.  Petersburg  as  ambassador  at  the  beginning  of 
1859.  In  the  spring  of  1862  he  became  ambassador  at  Paris, 
and  had  a  chance  to  study  his  future  rival.  Napoleon.  In  politi- 
cal affairs  his  conviction  was  firm  as  granite  that  Prussia  must 
regard  the  Confederation  in  its  existing  form  as  a  burdensome 
fetter  from  which  she  ought  to  free  herself  as  soon  as  possible, 
and  that  the  total  dissolution  of  the  Confederation  would  be 


BISMARCK'S  "BLOOD  AND   IRON"   POLICY.  307 

more  advantageous  for  her  than  its  continued   existence  in  its 

o 

present  form.  Austria  and  the  secondary  states,  refusing  to  take 
into  consideration  the  real  power  of  the  various  countries  com-  • 
posing  it,  profited  at  Prussia's  expense,  acquiring  a  high  position 
which  in  no  way  corresponded  to  their  actual  strength.  Hence 
a  revolution  in  the  distribution  of  power,  or  the  complete  disso- 
lution of  the  Confederation,  was  the  goal  toward  which  as  prime- 
minister  Bismarck  drove  with  all  his  might.  His  words  in  the 
budget  committee  attracted  universal  attention :  "  Prussia  must 
collect  its  strength  for  the  favorable  moment,  which  has  already 
been  several  times  allowed  to  pass.  Prussia's  borders  are  not 
adapted  to  sound  health  in  the  political  body.  It  is  not  by 
speeches  and  resolutions  of  majorities  that  the  great  questions  v 
of  the  time  are  to  be  decided — that  was  the  mistake  of  1848  and 
1849 — but  by  blood  and  iron."  He  met  the  opposition  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  which  in  a  short-sighted  way  insisted 
on  its  parliamentary  rights,  especially  its  control  of  the  budget, 
by  his  national  programme,  which,  however,  was  for  the  present 
somewhat  veiled.  Not  understood  by  the  liberal  fractions,  and 
repulsed  by  them,  he  abandoned  all  attempts  at  an  understanding 
with  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  sought  support  among 
his  former  associates,  the  feudal  party,  who  willingly  assented  to 
the  army  reorganization,  and  proved  amenable  to  his  wishes  in 
every  way.  As  the  House  of  Representatives  each  year  refused 
the  money  for  the  reorganization,  which  had  been  already  car- 
ried out,  and  rejected  the  budget,  which  the  House  of  Lords  as 
regularly  accepted,  Bismarck  announced  that  such  a  division  be- 
tween the  two  houses  had  not  been  contemplated,  and  that  the 
"  omission  in  the  constitution  "  justified  the  Government  in  ad- 
ministering the  finances  without  laws.  He  was  equally  undis- 
turbed by  the  refusal  of  a  loan,  and  said,  with  a  frankness  leaving 
nothing  to  be  desired,  that  in  that  case  he  would  take  the  money 
which  he  needed  wherever  he  could  get  hold  of  it. 

His  external  policy  was  not  dissimilar  in  character.  In  the 
matter  of  Prussia's  position  in  Germany  he  was  resolved  on 
energetic  measures.  Prussia's  subordination  to  the  Confedera- 
tion with  Austria  as  its  president  was  to  cease.  Little  value  was 
set  on  "  moral  conquests  in  Germany,"  or  on  the  political  sym- 
pathies of  the  German  people.  A  strong  army  was  in  Bismarck's 
estimation  a  far  surer  means  for  carrying  out  Prussia's  wishes 


308  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

and  founding  its  relations  to  the  other  members  of  the  Confed- 
eration on  the  basis  of  actual  strength.  In  December  of  1862, 
in  conversation  with  the  Austrian  ambassador,  Count  Karolyi, 
Bismarck  declared  himself  in  regard  to  Prussia's  future  attitude 
toward  Austria.  "  Prussia  wished  for  better  relations  with  Aus- 
tria. Austria  had  the  choice  whether  she  would  persist  in  her 
present  hostile  policy,  trusting  for  support  to  a  coalition  of  the 
secondary  states,  or  whether  she  would  enter  into  an  honorable 
alliance  with  Prussia,  involving  the  giving  up  of  her  anti-Prus- 
sian activity  at  the  different  German  courts.  By  such  an  alli- 
ance the  conduct  of  the  Confederation  would  be  in  the  hands  of 
its  two  greatest  states,  in  such  a  manner  that  no  question  of  real 
importance  could  be  submitted  to  its  decision  excepting  after 
previous  agreement  of  those  states,  nor  be  decided  by  Austria 
against  Prussia's  will  simply  through  a  majority  vote.  Any 
overstepping  of  the  competence  of  the  Diet  by  mere  majority 
votes  would  be  regarded  by  Prussia  as  a  breach  of  the  articles 
of  confederation,  and  treated  accordingly.  It  would  be  well  for 
Austria  to  put  away  the  illusion  that  in  case  of  war  Prussia 
would  in  any  event  stand  by  her,  and  she  would  certainly  be 
acting  for  her  own  best  interests  by  transferring  her  centre  of 
gravity  to  Buda."  These  views  did  not  meet  with  Austria's  ap- 
proval. The  Austrian  statesmen  did  not  credit  Prussia  with  the 
courage  to  assert  her  independence,  and  even  in  case  she  resolved 
upon  a  struggle  they  looked  for  the  support  of  all  Germany, 
and  hoped  to  inflict  a  lasting  humiliation  on  this  aspiring  rival. 
They  believed  that  Austria's  power  in  the  German  confederation 
must  be  strengthened,  not  weakened,  and  it  was  with  this  end  in 
view  that  Francis  Joseph  laid  his  reform  project  before  the  con- 
gress of  princes  in  Frankfort,  August  16th,  1863.  Instructed  by 
Bismarck  as  to  the  significance  of  the  project,  King  William  took 
no  part  in  the  congress,  and  refused  his  consent  to  the  Frankfort 
resolutions.  Bismarck  declared  Austria's  schemes  of  reform  in- 
compatible with  the  position  to  which  the  Prussian  monarchy 
was  of  right  entitled,  and  with  the  interests  of  the  German  peo- 
ple; and  in  an  official  document  of  September  loth,  after  subject- 
ing the  proposed  new  constitution  to  a  destructive  criticism,  he 
put  forward  in  contrast  with  it  his  own  widely  different  plan. 
The  whole  scheme  went  to  wreck  on  Prussia's  opposition.  The 
Diet,  where  Austria  sought  to  grasp  the  reins  more  firmly  than 


SCHLESWIG  INCORPORATED  WITH  DENMARK.     309 

ever,  in  order  by  that  means  to  compel  Prussia  to  submission, 
continued  unchanged,  and  it  was  not  long  before  its  total  lack 
of  character  was  forcibly  exhibited. 

King  Frederic  VII.  of  Denmark  died  on  the  15th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1863.  His  successor  was  Christian  IX.,  who  had  been  des- 
ignated as  king  by  the  London  protocol  of  1852.  That  he  was 
king  in  Denmark  proper  no  one  denied,  but  whether  he  was  king 
in  the  disputed  duchies  was  another  question.  Neither  the  Estates 
of  those  duchies  nor  the  German  confederation  had  signified  their 
assent  to  the  protocol ;  and,  although  Christian  had  already  taken 
possession  of  them,  they  still  remained  faithful  to  Prince  Frederic 
of  Augustenburg,  who  on  his  part  protested  without  delay  against 
Christian's  usurpation,  and  assumed  the  title  Duke  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein.  Even  those  states  which  had  signed- the  protocol — 
such  as  Austria,  Prussia,  and,  among  the  secondary  states,  Hano- 
ver, Saxony,  and  Wiirtemberg — were  under  no  real  obligation  to 
carry  out  the  treaty,  inasmuch  as  Denmark  had  failed  to  fulfil  the 
conditions  on  her  side.  She  had  pledged  herself  to  restore  the 
provincial  constitutions  of  the  duchies,  and  never  to  incorporate 
Schleswig  with  Denmark  proper ;  but  on  the  30th  of  March, 
1863,  the  Eider-Dane  party,  which,  in  order  to  get  a  firmer  hold 
on  Schleswig,  was  willing  to  let  Holstein  go,  since  it  belonged  to 
the  German  confederation,  had  succeeded  in  carrying  through  the 
so-called  March  patent ;  and,  without  the  consent  of  its  Estates, 
Holstein  (although,  in  accordance  with  the  treaty,  it  was  sepa- 
rated from  the  Danish  monarchy)  was  converted  into  a  tributary 
province,  whose  soldiers  were  commanded  by  Danish  officers  in 
Danish  garrisons.  At  the  same  time  a  joint  parliament  for  Den- 
mark and  Schleswig  was  convened  at  Copenhagen,  where  a  com- 
mon constitution,  formally  pronouncing  the  incorporation  of  the 
latter,  was  proposed  and  debated.  It  was  adopted  by  the  parlia- 
ment on  the  14th  of  November,  and  on  the  15th  King  Frederic 
died.  The  new  king  had  the  choice  of  signing  this  constitution 
and  setting  all  Germany  on  fire  once  more,  or  refusing  his  signa- 
ture and  being  torn  from  his  throne  by  the  Copenhagen  mob 
that  threateningly  surrounded  the  palace.  Regarding  the  former 
as  the  lesser  danger,  and  hoping  for  the  help  of  England  and 
Sweden,  he  signed  the  new  constitution  on  the  18th  of  Novem- 
ber. Under  his  predecessor  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance 
with  Sweden  had  been  arranged,  but  at  the  time  of  his  death  this 


310  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

had  not  yet  been  ratified  by  Sweden.  Of  the  great  powers  Eng- 
land was  the  one  which  gave  herself  the  most  trouble  to  avert 
from  Denmark  the  threatening  danger;  but,  as  in  the  case  of 
Poland  shortly  before,  her  efforts  did  not  pass  the  limits  of  mere 
diplomatic  intervention ;  and  when  she  protested  in  Frankfort 
against  a  federal  execution  in  Holstein,  she  was  told  that  that  was 
wholly  a  German  affair,  and  did  not  concern  foreign  countries. 

Since  1848  no  such  agitation  had  been  known  in  Germany  as 
that  of  the  winter  of  1863-'64.  Every  one  felt  that  it  was  not 
merely  a  question  concerning  the  defence  of  an  unhappy  and 
deserted  brother  race,  but  one  involving  Germany's  future,  and 
promising  a  speedy  development  of  that  endless  drama  whose 
final  act,  they  hoped,  would  represent  Germany  as  a  united  and 
powerful  state,  the  peer  of  the  mightiest  great  power.  The  rights 
of  Schleswig-Holstein  were  maintained  in  the  Press,  in  popular 
assemblies,  and  in  parliaments  with  an  enthusiasm  that  did  not 
hesitate  to  challenge  all  Europe  to  arm  and  enter  the  lists  against 
it.  The  higher  the  flood  of  popular  excitement  rose,  the  cooler 
and  more  reserved  became  the  ministers  of  the  German  great 
powers,  Bismarck  and  Rechberg.  Both  affected  a  violent  respect 
for  the  binding  character  of  the  London  protocol,  and  conducted 
themselves  as  though  its  validity  would  be  likely  to  last  to  the 
end  of  the  world.  In  Vienna  the  agitation  in  behalf  of  the 
duchies  was  very  ungraciously  received,  and  so  far  as  possible 
put  down.  With  Bismarck  it  met  with  a  little  more  favor ;  not 
that  he  would  set  himself  at  the  head  of  the  German  volunteers, 
bat  if  the  matter  could  be  turned  to  account  for  the  purpose  of 
increasing  Prussian  power  or  enlarging  the  Prussian  borders,  then 
he  would  be  quite  willing  to  set  the  London  protocol  at  defiance. 
If  anything  were  to  come  of  the  whole  matter,  the  Diet  must  first 
raise  its  voice.  It  made  one  step  forward  and  half  a  step  back. 
After  excluding  the  Danish  delegates  from  its  sittings,  it  resolved, 
on  the  7th  of  December,  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the  two 
great  powers,  not  to  occupy  Holstein,  as  the  German  people  wish- 
ed, but  only  to  carry  out  an  execution  there.  Petitions  were  re- 
ceived from  the  members  of  the  Holstein  Estates,  from  the  no- 
bles and  prelates,  and  from  the  university  of  Kiel,  begging  for 
the  recognition  and  institution  of  their  rightful  duke,  Frederic 
VIII.  In  addition  to  this,  almost  all  the  officials  in  Holstein 
refused  to  take  the  oath  to  King  Christian. 


DECLARATION   IN  FAVOR   OF  DUKE   FREDERIC.          311 

But  it  was  much  the  same  whether  it  was  occupation  or  exe- 
cution, provided  only  some  active  measure  was  taken.  Hanover 
and  Saxony  were  intrusted  with  the  execution,  each  of  them  fur- 
nishing 6000  men.  These  were  to  march  into  Holstein  under 
the  chief  command  of  the  Saxon  Lieutenant-general  Hacke.  Aus- 
tria and  Prussia  were  each  to  hold  5000  men  in  reserve  on  the 
border,  and  in  case  of  need  put  larger  forces  in  the  field.  De- 
cember 23d  the  troops  of  the  Confederation  crossed  the  Holstein 
frontiers,  and  by  the  end  of  the  month  they  were  in  possession 
of  the  whole  duchy  as  far  as  Kiel  and  Rendsberg,  the  Danes 
having  retired  across  the  Eider  within  the  strongly  fortified  line 
of  the  Danewerk.  On  their  departure  all  the  towns  proclaimed 
Frederic  duke ;  and,  although  the  civil  commissioners  of  the  Con- 
federation wished  to  avoid  any  open  demonstration  before  Fred- 
eric was  recognized  by  the  Diet,  yet  on  the  27th  of  December 
about  20,000  Holsteiners  met  in  the  open  air  at  Elmshorn,  de- 
clared Duke  Frederic  their  rightful  sovereign,  and  invited  him  to 
come  and  rule  over  them.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  been  residing 
at  Gotha,  but,  in  accordance  with  their  invitation,  he  appeared  at 
Kiel  on  the  30th  of  the  same  month. 

The  question  now  was  whether  the  German  Confederation 
would  recognize  Frederic  as  Duke  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  af- 
ford him,  as  a  prince  of  the  Confederation,  armed  assistance  for 
the  conquest  of  Schleswig.  The  governments  of  the  secondary 
states,  partly  forced  into  that  attitude  by  the  people,  showed  a 
willingness  to  recognize  him ;  but  the  Augustenburg  claims  to 
the  succession  needed  to  be  once  more  carefully  investigated  be- 
fore any  definite  action  could  be  taken.  The  matter  was  rendered 
somewhat  doubtful  by  the  fact  that  in  1852  the  father  of  this 
prince  had  renounced  his  rights  on  receipt  of  2,250,000  thalers, 
without  protest  on  the  part  of  his  two  sons,  both  of  whom  were 
then  of  age,  and  it  was  not  until  seven  years  later  that  Prince 
Frederic  had  protested.  The  Bavarian  delegate,  von  der  Pford- 
ten,  who  had  been  appointed  referee  by  the  Diet,  had  not  more 
than  half-completed  his  work  of  investigation  when  Austria  and 
Prussia  took  the  matter  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Confederation 
into  their  own.  Prussia,  not  pleased  that  the  secondary  states 
should  take  the  lead  in  this  matter,  persuaded  her  rival,  Aus- 
tria, to  fight  out  the  German-Danish  quarrel  in  league  with  her. 
Bismarck  neither  intended  to  renounce  the  London  treaty,  as  he 

i 


312  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECEXT   TIMES. 

feared  that  that  might  lead  to  war  with  England  and  Russia, 
nor  to  set  up  the  Prince  of  Augustenbuvg  as  duke,  his  plan  be- 
ing, in  case  Denmark  persisted  in  a  breach  of  the  treaty,  to  unite 
Schleswig-Holstein  to  Prussia.  If  Denmark  fulfilled  her  treaty 
obligations  there  would  be  no  war;  if  she  did  not  fulfil  them 
then  the  maintenance  of  the  London  protocol  afforded  an  excel- 
lent pretence  for  marching  into  Holstein  and  occupying  Schles- 
wig  by  way  of  security  for  their  fulfilment.  The  Austrian  alli- 
ance was  welcome  to  Bismarck  partly  because  it  prevented  her 
from  taking  part  with  the  foreign  powers,  and  partly  because 
such  opposition  on  Austria's  part  to  the  plans  of  the  Diet  would 
breed  dissension  between  her  and  the  secondary  states.  On  the 
other  hand,  Austria  accepted  his  invitation  to  joint  action  be- 
cause she  hoped  by  that  means  to  curb  Prussia's  lust  for  annex- 
ation. Accordingly  the  two  great  powers  announced  that  they 
would  take  into  their  hands  the  assertion  of  German  rights  in 
reference  to  Schleswig;  and  the  protest  of  Bavaria  and  the  other 
German  States  passed  unheeded.  If  those  states  did  not  wish 
to  conjure  up  a  civil  war  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  submit 
to  their  fate.  January  16th,  1864,  the  two  powers  announced 
in  Copenhagen  that  if  the  Danish-Schleswig  constitution  of  1863 
were  not  repealed  within  forty-eight  hours,  they  would  occupy 
Schleswig  with  their  troops,  and  recall  their  ambassadors.  The 
Eider-Dane  leaders,  thinking  that,  as  in  1848,  the  foreign  powers 
would  not  allow  Germany  to  enter  upon  a  war  for  the  settlement 
of  her  own  affairs,  compelled  the  king  to  return  an  unfavorable 
answer. 

The  new  allies  already  stood  on  the  Holstein  border.  Although 
the  Prussian  House  of  Representatives,  making  a  question  of  min- 
isterial opposition  out  of  a  matter  of  foreign  policy,  refused  their 
consent  to  a  war  loan  of  12,000,000  thalers  (about  $9,000,000), 
and  gave  expression  to  the  most  decided  distrust  of  Bismarck's 
policy,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  go  forward  with  the  execution  of 
his  plans.  Toward  the  end  of  January  the  allied  army  entered 
Holstein;  the  Prussians,  with  39,000  men  and  110  guns,  under 
Prince  Frederic  Charles;  the  Austrians,  with  20,800  men  and  48 
guns,  under  Lieutenant  Field-marshal  Baron  von  Gablenz.  The 
eighty-year-old  Prussian  Field-marshal  Wrangel  was  commander- 
in-chief  of  both  corps,  and  consequently  Prussia  had  the  deciding 
voice  in  this  campaign.  Fredt-nc  Charles  was  on  the  right  wing, 


THE  ALLIES  DRIVE  THE  DANES  OUT  OF  SCHLESWIG.     313 

Gablcnz  led  the  centre,  and  the  Prussian  Guard  division,  under 
General  von  der  Miilbe,  formed  the  left  wing.  In  this  order  the 
allies  advanced  against  the  famous  Danewerk,  of  which  it  was  be- 
lieved in  Copenhagen  that  there  the  gallant  Danish  army  would 
be  as  safe  as  in  Abraham's  bosom.  But  these  thirty  or  forty 
miles  of  trenches,  whose  origin  dates  back  to  the  year  808,  in 
the  time  of  Charlemagne,  required  for  their  defence  an  army  of 
60,000  men  at  least,  and  de  Meza,  the  Danish  commander,  had 
not  more  than  30,000.  The  allies  crossed  the  Eider  on  the  1st 
of  February.  Prince  Frederic  Charles  occupied  Eckernfordc,  and 
after  an  unsuccessful  assault  on  the  trenches  at  Missunde,  on  the 
2d,  he  bridged  the  Schlei  farther  down,  at  Amis,  and  directed  his 
march  toward  Flensburg,  in  order  to  intercept  the  enemy's  re- 
treat. At  the  same  time  the  Austrians,  whose  part  it  was  to  at- 
tack the  enemy  in  front,  reached  the  Danewerk  proper,  after  en- 
gagements with  the  Danes  at  Jagel,  Overselk,  and  Konigsberg. 
As  they  were  preparing  to  storm  it  they  learned  that  it  had  been 
evacuated,  and  the  enemy  were  in  full  retreat  toward  the  Diippel 
trenches.  In  the  night  of  February  5th,  since  General  de  Meza 
perceived  that  he  could  neither  meet  the  superior  forces  of  the 
allies  in  the  field,  nor  hold  the  Danewerk  against  them,  with  the 
almost  unanimous  consent  of  a  council  of  war  he  retreated  toward 
the  second  line  of  intrenchments,  the  Diippel  heights,  in  order 
to  rescue  for  his  country  her  army  at  the  least.  The  -allies  fol- 
lowed him  closely.  At  Oeversee,  on  the  6th  of  February,  the  Aus- 
trian van  overtook  the  Danish  rear  and  defeated  it  in  a  bloody 
engagement.  Without  a  pause  the  allies  moved  northward  along 
the  whole  line,  Prince  Frederic  Charles  toward  Diippel,  and  Ga- 
blenz  and  Miilbe  toward  Northern  Schleswig  and  Jutland.  On 
the  19th  of  February  Miilbe  occupied  Kolding,  a  border  town  in 
Jutland.  With  the  exception  of  the  islands  and  the  Diippel  lines 
on  the  peninsula  of  Sundewitt,  all  Schleswig  was  already  in  the 
hands  of  the  allies.  The  Prussian  Guards  and  the  Austrians 
did  not  turn  southward  until  they  had  chased  the  enemy — who 
were  once  more  defeated  by  Gablenz  at  Veile — across  the  Lym- 
fiord,  in  Northern  Jutland.  Part  of  the  Guards  then  went  to 
Diippel  to  take  part  in  the  assault,  and  the  rest  moved  with  the 
Austrians  against  the  fortress  of  Fridericia.  This  was  quietly 
evacuated  by  the  Danes  on  the  29th  of  April,  ten  days  after  the 
capture  of  the  Diippel  lines. 

14 


314  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OP  KECEls'T  TIMES. 

The  intrenchments  at  Diippel  were  so  strong  as  to  necessitate 
a  regular  siege,  if  too  many  men  were  not  to  be  sacrificed,  and  a 
siege  involved  the  bringing  of  siege  artillery  from  Prussia.  It 
was  a  little  Sebastopol,  where  the  subterranean  work  took  up  sev- 
eral weeks.  On  the  18th  of  April  the  assault  took  place,  under 
the  lead  of  Prince  Frederic  Charles.  Obstinate  though  the  de- 
fence was,  the  valor  and  devotion  of  the  Prussian  soldiers  over- 
came all  obstacles.  By  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Diippel 
lines  were  in  possession  of  the  Prussians,  and  the  main-land  of 
Schleswig  freed  from  its  Danish  oppressors.  The  Prussians  lost 
1188  dead  and  wounded,  including  70  officers.  The  Danish  loss 
was  110  officers  and  4736  men,  of  whom  2600  were  unwounded 
prisoners.  The  remainder  of  the  Danish  force  was  driven  across 
the  bridge  of  Sonderburg  to  the  island  of  Alsen.  One  hundred 
and  twenty  cannon  and  4000  stand  of  arms  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  victors.  The  allies  now  moved  northward,  occupied  all  Jut- 
land as  far  as  Lymfiord,  and  levied  a  contribution  on  the  inhabi- 
tants by  way  of  compensation  for  the  blockade  of  German  ports 
and  the  capture  of  German  merchantmen.  There  was  also  some 
fighting  at  sea,  although  here  the  former  negligence  of  the  Ger- 
man great  powers  made  itself  painfully  sensible.  March  17th,  on 
the  east  side  of  Riigen,  an  engagement  took  place  between  the 
Prussian  navy,  under  Rear-admiral  Jachmann,  and  a  Danish  fleet 
superior  in  number,  in  which  the  Prussians  conducted  themselves 
creditably ;  and  on  the  9th  of  May,  under  Rear-admiral  Tegetthoff, 
the  two  Austrian  frigates  Schwarzenberg  and  Radetzky,  together 
with  three  Prussian  ships,  attacked  a  Danish  squadron  near  Heli- 
goland ;  but  as  the  Schwarzenberg  caught  fire  they  had  to  draw 
off  and  retire  to  the  mouth  of  the. Elbe.  This  "  brilliant  victory  " 
of  the  Danish  fleet  gave  occasion  for  malicious  exultation  in  the 
English  parliament. 

The  English  cabinet  had  done  everything  in  its  power  to  main- 
tain the  sanctity  of  the  London  protocol.  It  even  called  upon 
Napoleon  to  make  a  hostile  demonstration  on  the  Rhine  for  the 
relief  of  Denmark.  But,  popular  as  a  Rhine  campaign  would 
have  been  in  France,  Napoleon,  mindful  of  his  uncle's  fate,  had 
no  inclination  to  undertake  such  a  demonstration  alone — and  if 
he  had  undertaken  it  he  would  not  have  been  content  to  stop  at 
a  simple  demonstration — so  he  returned  answer  that  he  could  not 
possibly  oppose  by  force  of  arms  the  national  wishes  of  Germany 


THE  LONDON  CONFERENCE  PROVES  ABORTIVE.         315 

and  Schleswig-IIolstein  for  a  closer  union.  It  was  his  belief  that 
Prussia,  which  he  had  not  hitherto  been  able  to  make  serviceable 
for  the  furtherance  of  his  projects,  now  that  she  had  at  last  step- 
ped into  the  arena  of  great  political  and  military  measures,  would 
soon  become  involved  in  such  external  and  internal  difficulties 
that  she  would  be  obliged  to  accede  to  his  demands  without  re- 
sistance. Napoleon's  position  put  any  European  intervention  out 
of  the  question.  The  English  ministers  could  not  venture  upon 
military  intervention  without  allies,  and  at  the  same  time  they 
could  make  no  consistent  accusation  against  Austria  and  Prussia, 
inasmuch  as  they  had  themselves  recognized  Denmark's  obliga- 
tion to  carry  out  its  promises  in  the  matter  of  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein's  constitutional  rights.  The  German  powers  had  nothing 
whatever  to  fear  from  Russia,  which  welcomed  this  new  compli- 
cation as  likely  to  draw  off  attention  from  Poland's  fate.  At  last 
England,  where  the  daughter  of  the  Danish  king,  Princess  Alex- 
andra of  Wales,  exerted  all  her  powers  to  arouse  the  prim  old 
gentlemen  of  the  cabinet  to  engage  in  a  hearty  tilt  for  her  father, 
brought  about  a  conference  of  the  signers  of  the  London  proto- 
col. This  was  opened  in  London  on  the  25th  of  April,  and  its 
first  work  was  to  arrange  a  cessation  of  hostilities  from  the  12th 
of  May  to  the  12th  of  June,  which  was  afterward  prolonged  to 
the  26th  of  that  month.  The  German  confederation  was  repre- 
sented by  the  Saxon  minister,  von  Beust.  The  German  Press 
and  associations,  as  well  as  the  duchies  of  Schleswig  and  Holstein, 
protested  against  the  assumption  on  the  part  of  this  conference 
to  act  as  arbiter  in  a  matter  which  did  not  concern  it.  Fortu- 
nately, Germany  had  the  best  ally  it  could  have  wished  for  in  the 
obstinacy  of  the  Danish  delegate.  May  17th,  Austria  and  Prus- 
sia proposed  a  personal  union  between  Denmark  and  the  duchies, 
but  the  Danes  recoiled  from  such  a  possibility,  and  would  not 
even  consent  to  consider  it.  But  that  was  the  utmost  concession 
which  Prussia  would  make,  and  if  that  were  refused  it  would 
offer  still  less.  Moreover  the  military  party,  which  reckoned  ac- 
cording to  the  very  simple  system  of  the  right  of  conquest,  and 
not  according  to  the  complicated  clauses  of  the  London  protocol, 
had  gained  the  upper  hand  in  the  Berlin  court.  Prussia  and 
Austria  now  openly  refused  to  be  bound  by  the  protocol,  and  in 
the  session  of  May  28th  they  demanded  the  complete  separation 
of  the  duchies  from  Denmark,  and  their  union  into  one  state 


316  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

under  the  rule  of  the  hereditary  prince  of  Augustenburg,  without, 
however,  committing  themselves  definitely  as  to  his  hereditary 
rights  in  the  duchies.  England  endeavored  to  secure  for  Den- 
mark as  much  of  Schleswig  as  possible,  and  a  long  higgling  en- 
sued about  a  more  northern  or  more  southern  boundary.  The 
most  the  German  powers  were  willing  to  concede  was  the  restora- 
tion to  Denmark  of  the  most  northern  part  of  Schleswig,  which 
was  principally  Danish,  by  way  of  compensation  for  Laucnburg. 
This  offer  the  Danish  delegates  rejected.  They  also  rejected  von 
Beust's  proposition  to  allow  the  population  of  Schleswig-Holstein 
to  decide  the  matter  by  vote ;  and,  finally,  they  rejected  England's 
proposal  to  choose  an  arbitrator  to  settle  the  boundary  line.  The 
resources  of  English  wit  were  exhausted,  for  there  is  no  helping 
the  man  who  will  not  take  advice.  June  25th,  the  conference 
separated  without  having  accomplished  anything.  The  sword 
must  hew  the  Danish  knot  asunder.  The  Danes  were  deceived 
as  to  England's  attitude  as  the  Poles  had  been,  for  it  was  a  dip- 
lomatic intervention  only,  and  not  a  military  one,  on  which  both 
cabinet  and  Parliament  were  agreed. 

Germany  was  well  pleased  with  the  position  taken  in  the  con- 
ference by  its  two  great  powers  on  the  28th  of  May,  and  rejoiced 
at  the  thought  that  the  decision  was  again  about  to  be  referred 
to  the  cannon.  Prince  Frederic  Charles,  who  had  assumed  the 
chief  command  in  old  Wrangel's  place,  transported  his  battalions 
across  the  Alsen  Sound  on  160  boats  before  daybreak  of  June 
29th,  and  effected  a  landing  on  the  island  under  the  fire  of  the 
Danish  batteries.  General  Herwarth  von  Bitten f  eld  was  in  imme- 
diate command  of  the  Prussian  troops.  The  Danes  were  defeated 
at  all  points  and  driven  back  to  the  extreme  corner  of  the  island 
of  Alsen,  the  peninsula  of  Kelenis,  whence  on  the  following  day 
they  escaped  to  the  island  of  Fiinen.  About  3000  prisoners  with 
a  large  amount  of  material  of  war  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  vic- 
tors. The  Danes  themselves  set  fire  to  the  little  town  of  Sonder- 
burg.  Almost  at  the  same  time  with  the  attack  on  Alsen  the 
allies  began  their  advance  in  Jutland.  They  crossed  the  Lymfiord, 
forced  the  Danish  army  of  5000  men  to  embark  for  Zealand,  and 
planted  their  banners  on  the  northernmost  point  of  Denmark, 
Cape  Skagen,  and  on  the  shores  of  Otho's  sound,  where  Emperor 
Otho  had  once  hurled  his  spear  far  out  into  the  waves.  The  Aus- 
trian ships  wore  aiso  finally  successful  in  freeing  the  West  Frisian 


THE  DUCHIES  CEDED   TO  AUSTRIA  AND   PRUSSIA.       317 

islands,  Syl,  Fohr,  and  the  rest,  from  their  tyrant,  the  Danish  sea- 
captain  Hammer,  who  was  taken  prisoner,  with  his  boats  and 
crews. 

Violent  as  the  rage  of  the  Copenhagen  populace  had  been 
after  the  evacuation  of  the  Danewerk,  which  had  cost  Meza  the 
chief  command,  it  was  pusillanimous  enough  now  that  the  whole 
Danish  monarchy  consisted  of  a  few  islands.  Even  Copenhagen 
no  longer  felt  itself  safe  from  Prussian  attacks,  and  called  for  the 
protection  of  army  and  fleet.  King  Christian  took  advantage  of 
the  popular  despondency  to  dismiss  the  Eider-Dane  ministry  of 
Monrad,  beg  for  a  truce,  and  send  an  ambassador  to  Vienna  to  ne- 
gotiate a  peace.  August  1st  the  preliminaries  were  arranged  be- 
tween Austria,  Prussia,  and  Denmark,  with  total  exclusion  of  the 
German  Confederation,  and  on  the  30th  of  October  peace  was  . 
concluded.  By  this  Vienna  peace  the  King  of  Denmark  re- 
nounced all  his  rights  to  Schleswig,  Holstein,  and  Lauenburg 
in  favor  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  the  King  of  Prussia. 
The  long  injustice  was  righted  at  last;  insolent,  arrogant  Den- 
mark was  remanded  to  its  islands,  and  poor  Schleswig  could  once 
more  speak  its  mother-tongue.  Three  German  duchies  had  been 
restored  to  Germany.  But  it  might  be  asked :  To  wham  in  Ger- 
many ?  The  duchies  themselves,  the  rest  of  Germany,  and  even  • 
Austria,  believed  that  nothing  now  stood  in  the  way  of  the 
Prince  of  Augustenburg's  inauguration  as  Duke  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein.  But  whoever  studied  the  phraseology  of  the  treaty 
more  closely  could  scarcely  entertain  a  doubt  that  it  was  Prus- 
sia's unalterable  purpose  to  establish  herself  in  the  duchies ;  for 
in  the  peace  express  mention  was  made  of  the  rights  of  King 
Christian,  which  rights  Prussia  by  her  renunciation  of  the  Lon- 
don protocol  had  distinctly  repudiated.  If  she  now  returned  to 
the  old  stand-point,  it  was  manifestly  in  order  that  she  might 
find  a  way  to  set  aside  the  rights  of  the  Augustenburger,  which 
she  had  maintained  on  the  28th  of  May,  and  acquire  all  rights 
for  herself  and  Austria.  They  and  no  one  else  were  to  have  a 
right  to  the  duchies.  Austria's  joint  possession  was  certainly 
burdensome,  but  Bismarck,  the  soul  of  the  new  policy  of  annexa- 
tion, believed  that  the  constant  embarrassments  of  that  state 
would  readily  furnish  means  to  effect  a  dissolution  of  the  part- 
nership. Austria  had  no  conceivable  interest  on  the  North  Sea, 
and  could  not  possibly  covet  this  remote  possession  for  herself. 


318  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

From  the  beginning  Austria  had  evidently  been  more  inclined  to 
favor  Denmark  than  the  Augustenburger ;  why  should  she  not, 
then,  be  willing  to  shut  her  eyes  while  her  ally  of  '64  either  al- 
together appropriated  provinces  which  had  been  freed  principally 
by  Prussian  blood,  or  made  them  completely  dependent  upon  it- 
self in  maritime  and  military  matters?  And  if  in  her  jealousy 
at  the  progress  of  this  younger  rival  Austria  should  wish  to  in- 
flict upon  its  voracious  appetite  the  torments  of  Tantalus,  she 
had  herself  a  Hungary  and  an  Italy,  and  these  were  a  very  moun- 
tain of  embarrassments,  which  might  be  placed  across  her  path  in 
case  she  failed  to  show  herself  a  pliant  comrade.  Bismarck  fur- 
ther reasoned  that  if  Austria  proved  unfriendly  it  would  be  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  settle  accounts  with  her  at  last,  to  put 
the  German  question  on  the  carpet,  and  with  the  reorganized 
army  and  the  needle-gun  drive  the  Austrians  out  of  Germany 
and  form  a  new  confederation  in  which  the  Prussian  state  should 
be  the  one  to  utter  the  word  of  command.  Then  and  not  till 
then  would  Prussia — by  the  acquisition  of  the  duchies  potentially 
a  naval  power — become  a  real  great  power ;  then  and  not  till  then 
would  Frederic  the  Great's  work  be  completed. 

Immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  peace  sagacious  politicians 
prophesied  that  the  victorious  allies  would  become  involved  in 
war  about  the  division  of  the  booty.  Their  hatred  had  been 
gathering  for  a  hundred  years.  Prussia's  Union  in  1849  and 
1850  had  almost  brought  on  a  war,  which  Frederic  William  was 
able  to  avoid  only  by  yielding;  and  the  sting  of  that  surrender 
still  rankled.  But  King  William  and  Bismarck  would  not  hesi- 
tate even  at  a  war,  if  Prussia's  position  were  in  danger.  No 
other  choice  was  left  to  Austria  than  either  to  abandon  the 
duchies  to  Prussia  or  engage  in  a  life  or  death  struggle,  for  Bis- 
marck's mind  was  made  up  on  that  point ;  and  the  more  evident 
it  became  that  he  was  the  only  man  capable  of  carrying  through 
the  army  reorganization,  the  higher  rose  his  influence  with  the 
king.  He  viewed  with  unconcern  the  opposition  of  the  Prussian 
landtag,  while  the  Diet  and  the  secondary  and  lesser  German 
states  were  treated  by  him  as  powerless  creatures,  which  were 
ready  enough  to  set  up  a  great  outcry,  but  which  always  went 
quietly  back  to  their  civil  duties  the  moment  they  saw  any  real 
danger.  This  was  well  exhibited  at  that  very  time  in  the  prov- 
ince of  the  Zollverein.  In  the  name  of  the  Zollverein  Prussia 


CONFEDERATION  TROOPS  EVACUATE  THE  DUCHIES.     319 

had  in  1862  concluded  a  commercial  treaty  with  France,  to  which 
several  of  the  secondary  states,  influenced  by  Austria,  whose  com- 
mercial interests  were  threatened,  refused  their  assent.  Prussia 
replied  by  notice  of  the  eventual  dissolution  of  the  Zollve.rein, 
and  the  recalcitrant  states,  threatened  with  industrial  ruin,  under 
pressure  of  the  mercantile  and  manufacturing  classes  gave  up 
their  customs'  treaties  with  Austria,  which  state  had,  further- 
more, offended  them  by  the  slight  she  put  upon  the  Confedera- 
tion in  the  Schleswig-Holstein  war,  accepted  the  obnoxious 
treaty,  and  sent  their  plenipotentiaries  to  the  customs'  conference 
in  Berlin,  September  30th,  1864.  This  was  at  the  same  time  a 
blow  for  Austria,  who  now  found  herself  excluded  from  all  inti- 
mate relations  with  the  Zollverein,  and  obliged  to  negotiate  with 
it  like  any  foreign  state. 

Prussia's  course  toward  the  commissioners  and  generals  of  the 
Confederation  in  Holstcin  was  not  a  whit  gentler.  During  the 
war  she  had  not  paid  the  least  heed  to  them  or  their  regulations, 
and  "for  the  security  and  freedom  of  the  military  operations" 
had  occupied  Altona,  Kiel,  and  Neumiinster,  and,  on  the  21st  of 
July,  the  fortress  of  Rendsburg  as  well.  On  conclusion  of  the 
peace  she  declared  that,  as  Holstein  was  now  to  be  surrendered 
to  Prussia  and  Austria,  any  further  occupation  of  the  country  by 
troops  of  the  Confederation  was  unnecessary.  Hanover  and  Sax- 
ony did  not  acquiesce  in  this  view.  The  Austrian  troops  had 
already  for  the  most  part  left  Holstein,  and  the  Prussians  from 
Schleswig  were  slowly  following,  when  the  latter  were  suddenly 
diverted  from  their  homeward  march  in  order  to  occupy  all  the 
important  points  in  Holstein.  Hanover  and  Saxony  were  sum- 
moned to  withdraw  their  troops,  and,  in  order  to  hasten  their  ac- 
tion, Prussia  stationed  a  division  at  Minden,  and  another  south  of 
Berlin,  as  a  threat  to  those  two  states.  Hanover  took  the  hint, 
but  Saxony  armed  itself  and  brought  the  matter  before  the  Diet. 
Here  Austria  helped  its  ally,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  of 
the  Confederation  was  ordered,  as  the  execution  was  now  at  an 
end.  December  7th,  1864,  the  commissioners  of  the  Confedera- 
tion surrendered  Holstein  and  Lauenburg  to  the  Austro-Prussian 
commissioners,  and  the  homeward  march  of  the  Hanoverians  and 
Saxons  at  once  began.  Prussia  established  herself  in  the  duchies 
in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  evident  that  she  would  not  leave  of 
her  own  free-will.  Among  the  people,  however,  she  met  with  lit- 


V 


320  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

tie  encouragement.  Only  the  Lauenburg  nobility  wished  to  see 
the  country  joined  to  Prussia  by  a  personal  union ;  in  Schleswig 
the  sentiment  was  cooler,  and  went  no  farther  than  submission  to 
the  inevitable ;  while  Holstein  held  fast  to  the  right  of  the  Au- 
gustenburger,  and  declared  that  he  must  first  of  all  be  inaugurated 
as  duke — then  he  would  be  in  a  position,  in  concert  with  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people,  to  determine  what  concessions  should 
be  made  to  Prussia.  This  method  did  not  seem  to  Bismarck  suf- 
ficiently sure,  especially  as  the  Prince  of  Augustenburg  during  his 
stay  in  Berlin  had  not  been  willing  to  consent  to  any  concessions 
of  importance.  It  appeared  to  him  far  better  to  make  the  rec- 
ognition of  the  duke  dependent  on  a  preliminary  cession  to  the 
King  of  Prussia  by  prince  and  people  of  the  unconditional  control 
of  the  military  and  naval  strength  of  the  duchies.  If  this  were 
not  done,  he  would  listen  to  no  talk  of  an  independent  Schleswig- 
Holstein  and  a  Duke  Frederic,  and  the  Prussians  would  for  the 
present  remain  masters  of  the  country.  To  involve  matters  still 
further,  Bismarck  called  upon  the  Grand-duke  of  Oldenburg  to 
prove  his  claims  to  Schleswig-Holstein,  asserted  similar  claims  on 
the  part  of  the  Prussian  royal  house,  and  convened  the  crown 
lawyers  for  a  legal  examination  of  this  complicated  question. 
Their  decision  was  that  none  of  the  claimants  was  entitled  to 
the  whole,  but  each  one  to  some  part ;  that  the  Augustenburger 
had  in  no  case  more  right  than  the  others,  and  that,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  father's  renunciation  of  his  claims,  and  acceptance 
of  a  money  compensation,  with  the  constructive  consent  of  his 
sons,  what  rights  he  had  had  were  forfeited ;  and  that  Prussia 
and  Austria,  which  alone  had  conquered  the  country,  were  not 
responsible  to  any  one,  not  even  the  Diet,  for  any  disposition 
which  they  chose  to  make  of  the  ceded  duchies. 

Austria's  proposition  to  surrender  the  duchies  to  the  Augus- 
tenburger, as  the  one  who  had  on  the  whole  the  best  title,  was 
rejected  by  Bismarck;  and,  on  the  13th  of  December,  1864,  he 
declared  that,  before  pronouncing  decision  on  the  matter  of  the 
succession,  the  question  of  Prussia's  future  position  in  the  duchies 
must  first  be  decided,  and  gave  Austria  to  understand  that  Prus- 
sia was  thinking  of  annexation,  naturally,  however,  not  without 
payment  of  a  money  equivalent.  But  in  the  mean  time  a  change 
had  taken  place  in  the  Vienna  cabinet.  Count  Rechberg,  who 
had  let  himself  be  led  by  Bismarck  altogether  too  easily,  and  had 


AUSTRIA  AND   PRUSSIA  BEGIN   TO   DISAGREE.  321 

forfeited  the  confidence  of  the  secondary  states  by  his  conduct 
in  the  matter  of  the  duchies,  made  way,  on  the  21st  of  October, 
1864,  for  Count  Mensdorff-Pouilly.  The  new  minister  did  not 
propose  to  go  so  far  as  to  engage  in  war  with  Prussia  on  account 
of  this  much-blundered  question,  but  merely  to  put  as  many  hin- 
derances  as  possible  between  her  and  the  attainment  of  her  object. 
He  had  the  means  for  such  a  course  at  his  command  in  the  fact 
that  Austria  was  joint  possessor  and  had  equal  rights  with  Prus- 
sia. It  was  the  policy  of  the  latter  to  prevent  the  erection  of  the 
duchies  into  an  independent  state,  doing  nothing  for  and  every- 
thing against  such  a  solution  of  the  question.  As  the  best  means 
to  thwart  this  policy,  Count  Mensdorff  fell  in  with  Prussia's  prop- 
osition of  annexation,  and  sent  to  the  duchies,  as  civil  commis- 
sioner on  the  part  of  Austria,  von  Halbhuber,  who  understood 
how  to  hold  his  own  against  the  Prussian  commissioner,  Baron 
von  Zedlitz,  better  than  his  predecessors  had  done.  MensdorfF s 
reply  to  Bismarck's  despatch  of  December  21st  was  to  the  effect 
that  Austria  could  consent  to  the  annexation  of  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein  only  in  consideration  of  an  equivalent  increase  of  her  own 
German  territory.  Thereupon  Bismarck,  in  his  despatch  of  Fel> 
ruary  22d,  1865,  specified  what  Prussia  demanded  before  she  could 
consent  to  an  independent  Schleswig-Holstein.  The  essential  part 
of  her  requirements  was  the  surrender  to  the  King  of  Prussia  of 
unconditional  control  over  the  land  and  sea  forces  of  the  duchies. 
Austria,  while  not  denying  that  there  was  some  sort  of  justifica- 
tion for  these  demands,  replied  that  the  formation  of  a  semi-sov- 
ereign state  was  not  compatible  with  the  rights  of  the  Confed- 
eration, and  on  the  6th  of  April  in  the  Diet  gave  her  assent  to 
a  motion  of  the  south  German  states  that  the  administration  of 
Holstein  be  at  once  and  unconditionally  made  over  to  the  Au- 
gustenburger.  The  motion  was  carried,  but  led  to  no  results, 
owing  to  Prussia's  opposition.  An  assembly  of  the  leading  men 
of  the  duchies  indicated  the  concessions  which  they  were  willing 
to  make ;  but  Bismarck,  who  openly  declared  that  the  Schleswig- 
Holstein  question  could  be  settled  only  in  connection  with  the 
German  one,  and  who  was  working  toward  the  attainment  of  that 
result,  would  consent  to  no  compromise,  and  at  once  began  prep- 
arations to  convert  Kiel  into  a  Prussian  naval  station.  Here 
the  watchful  von  Halbhuber,  without  whose  consent  von  Zedlitz 
could  do  nothing,  was  very  much  in  the  way.  All  resources  were 

14* 


322  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

exhausted  in  vain.  Prussia  wished  to  convene  the  Estates  of 
Schlcswig- Holstein,  but  Austria  objected;  and  when,  later,  she 
withdrew  her  opposition,  Prussia  was  no  longer  willing  that  they 
should  be  convened,  demanding  first  of  all  the  expulsion  of  the 
"  pretender,"  on  the  ground  that  under  the  influence  of  the 
" Augustenburg  side-government"  no  free  expression  of  opinion 
on  the  part  of  the  Estates  was  possible.  Through  dread  of  the 
public  opinion  of  Germany,  Austria  was  unwilling  to  subscribe 
to  such  a  measure,  nor  did  she  find  herself,  furthermore,  in  any 
way  hampered  by  the  existence  of  this  "  side-government."  She 
was  not  at  all  displeased  that  the  6th  of  April,  the  Augusten- 
burger's  birthday,  was  celebrated  throughout  the  whole  country, 
numerous  deputations  from  both  Holstein  and  Schleswig  wending 
their  way  to  Niedstadtcn,  the  residence  of  the  duke,  while  the 
number  of  persons  that  celebrated  the  King  of  Prussia's  birthday 
was  noticeably  small. 

Each  week  the  situation  grew  more  critical.  In  July,  while 
the  king  and  Bismarck  were  in  Carlsbad,  the  Vienna  cabinet  re- 
ceived a  despatch  full  of  bitter  reproaches  for  its  opposition  in 
Holstein,  and  intimating  that  Prussia  might  be  induced  to  pro- 
ceed to  violent  measures  without  consulting  Austria.  With  his 
well-known  frankness  Bismarck  told  the  Duke  of  Gramont,  the 
French  ambassador  in  Vienna,  that,  far  from  fearing  a  war  with 
Austria,  he  rather  wished  for  one.  By  fair  means  or  foul,  Prussia 
was  resolved  to  acquire  the  duchies  and  the  first  place  in  Ger- 
many. That  weighty  events  were  impending  was  shown  by  the 
cabinet  council  which  was  held  while  the  king  was  on  the  way 
from  Carlsbad  to  Gastein.  July  21st  all  the  cabinet  ministers, 
together  with  the  French  and  Austrian  ambassadors,  were  sum- 
moned to  Ratisbon,  and  shortly  after  Bismarck  had  a  meeting 
in  Salzburg  with  the  Bavarian  minister,  von  der  Pfordtcn,  in 
which  he  endeavored  to  impress  upon  the  secondary  states  the 
necessity  of  maintaining  a  strict  neutrality  in  the  approaching 
war  between  Prussia  and  Austria.  He  professed  unconcern  as  to 
the  result  of  the  struggle,  as  Austria  was  not  prepared  and  had 
no  money  with  which  to  carry  on  the  war.  At  the  same  time 
he  put  in  execution  his  threat  of  acting  independently  in  the 
duchies.  June  26th,  without  consulting  the  Austrian  commis- 
sioner, he  caused  May,  a  Silesian  by  birth,  an  editor  who  was  agi- 
tating in  behalf  of  the  Augustcnburger,  to  be  arrested  in  Altona 


THE   KING   MAKES  BISMARCK   A   COUNT.  323 

and  taken  to  the  fortress  of  Rendsburg ;  and  a,  member  of  the 
Prussian  parliament,  Frese,  who  was  in  Kiel  for  the  purpose  of, 
agitating  against  annexation  to  Prussia,  to  be  expelled  from  Hoi- 
stein.  Austria  did  not  fail  to  protest,  but  she  had  by  no  means 
made  up  her  mind  to  go  to  war,  for  it  was  just  at  the  time  when 
the  constitution  had  been  repealed,  and  she  was  endeavoring  to 
come  to  an  agreement  with  Hungary  ;  and  furthermore  her  finan- 
cial calamities  had  made  a  bad  impression  on  the  people.  Au- 
gust 14th,  after  some  negotiating,  in  which  Austria  at  first  main- 
tained the  rights  of  the  Confederation,  while  Prussia  was  in  favor 
of  annexation,  the  Gastein  convention  was  concluded.  Without 
prejudice  to  the  rights  of  both  powers  to  both  the  duchies,  the 
government  of  Schleswig  was  committed  to  Prussia,  and  that  of 
Holstein  to  Austria,  while  Lauenburg  was  wholly  ceded  to  Prus- 
sia, in  consideration  of  the  payment  of  2,500,000  thalers  to  Aus- 
tria. The  harbor  of  Kiel  was  to  belong  to  the  Confederation, 
Prussia  being  provisionally  intrusted  with  the  military  command 
and  police  administration.  Rendsburg  was  made  a  fortress  of 
the  Confederation,  and  occupied  by  a  mixed  Austrian  and  Prus- 
sian garrison,  the  command  alternating  year  by  year ;  and  Prussia 
was  allowed  to  carry  the  Baltic  and  North  Sea  canal  through 
Holstein,  and  to  build  railroads  and  lay  telegraph  wires  there. 

This  brought  Prussia  somewhat  nearer  the  attainment  of  her 
object,  and  on  the  16th  of  September,  as  a  reward  for  his  ser- 
vices, the  king  made  Bismarck  a  count.  September  15th  the 
joint  government  of  the  duchies  was  dissolved,  and  in  its  place 
Baron  von  Gablentz  appeared  in  Kiel  as  Austrian  stadtholder  of 
Holstein,  while  Baron  von  Manteuffel  took  up  his  abode  in  Flens- 
burg  as  Prussian  governor  of  Schleswig.  But  there  was  still  no 
prospect  of  a  definitive  settlement;  Bismarck  was  as  far  from 
formal  annexation  after  the  Gastein  convention  as  before  it;  it 
was  merely  the  exchange  of  one  provisional  arrangement  for  an- 
other. As  a  result  of  all  that  had  occurred,  Prussia's  relations  to 
Austria  were  as  bad  as  they  could  be  without  actual  war,  and  that 
must  inevitably  break  out,  if  one  of  the  two  did  not  yield  to  the 
wishes  of  the  other.  But,  in  view  of  Austria's  jealousy  of  any 
increase  of  Prussia's  strength,  and  the  latter's  determination  to 
increase  her  strength  and  raise  herself  from  her  present  contract- 
ed circumstances  to  the  position  of  a  dangerous  and  respected 
great  power,  there  was  not  the  slightest  prospect  of  a  reconcilia- 


324  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

tion.  If  Prussia  could  have  offered  its  ally  any  land  as  compen- 
sation, Austria  would  cheerfully  have  evacuated  her  already  half- 
los.t  position  in  Holstein  and  ceded  it  to  Prussia,  as  she  had  al- 
ready ceded  Laucnbnrg.  A  part  of  Silesia,  with  the  fortress  of 
Glatz,  would  have  satisfied  the  Austrian  cabinet,  but  Prussia  could 
not  part  with  them.  She  and  Italy  were  already  on  the  way  to- 
ward a  mutual  understanding.  The  conclusion  of  a  commercial 
treaty  between  Italy  and  the  German  Zollverein  contributed 
greatly  to  this  result.  Prussia  had  proceeded  as  energetically 
here  as  in  the  negotiations  for  a  similar  treaty  with  France,  and 
there  was  nothing  left  for  the  secondary  German  states  but  to 
sign  (end  of  1865  and  beginning  of  1866),  and  by  that  act  for- 
mally recognize  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  This  naturally  made  the 
latter  favorably  disposed  toward  an  alliance  with  Prussia. 

From  France  Bismarck  thought  that  he  had  nothing  to  fear  in 
case  of  a  war  with  Austria.  At  his  meeting  with  Napoleon  in 
Biarritz  late  in  the  autumn  of  1865  he  had  frankly  said  to  him 
that  Prussia  could  not  continue  in  her  present  position,  but  that 
she  must  round  out  her  territory.  Napoleon  acquiesced,  but  at 
the  same  time  spoke  of  "  compensation."  It  is  probable  that  Bis- 
marck left  him  in  the  belief  that  in  case  of  a  victory  over  Aus- 
tria he 'should  receive  from  Prussia  some  sort  of  compensation  for 
his  neutrality  or  other  services;  but  it  is  certain  that  Bismarck 
did  not  make  him  the  slightest  promise,  although  on  his  part  he 
was  able  to  carry  away  with  him  the  impression  that  he  might 
depend  upon  the  neutrality  of  France,  and  would  not  be  under 
the  necessity  of  occupying  the  Rhine  frontier.  Notwithstanding 
the  Gastein  convention,  Bismarck  was  firmly  resolved  on  war,  as 
the  only  way  in  which  he  could  hope  to  gain  both  his  Prussian 
and  German  objects  at  one  blow ;  for,  much  as  he  desired  to  gain 
possession  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  which  was  an  absolute  necessity 
if  Prussia  was  to  become  a  great  power,  yet  this  was  not  every- 
thing. Prussia's  false  position  toward  Austria  and  the  secondary- 
states,  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  Confederation,  would  be  the 
same  after  that  acquisition  as  before  it,  unless  the  Schleswig- 
Ilolstein  question  were  regarded  as  only  one  member  of  a  larger 
whole,  as  a  part  of  the  German  question.  The  solution  of  the 
former  did  not  necessarily  involve  the  solution  of  the  latter,  but 
the  solution  of  the  latter  carried  with  it  that  of  the  former.  In 
order  to  bring  the  German  question  to  a  final  settlement,  to  en- 


BISMARCK   IS   BEXT   ON    WAR.  325 

large  Prussia,  and  set  it  at  the  head  of  Germany,  and  thus  con- 
vert despised  Germany  into  the  first  power  in  Europe  —  this 
was  the  grand  and  national,  if  dangerous  and  audacious,  plan 
of  Count  Bismarck.  But  he  had  great  difficulties  to  contend 
with  at  home.  The  queen  as  well  as  the  crown  prince  and 
princess  were  decidedly  opposed  to  a  war,  and  the  last  two  ex- 
pressed themselves  very  emphatically  in  favor  of  the  rights  of  \\ 
the  Augustenburger,  and  did  not  conceal  their  dislike  of  the 
minister -president.  Nevertheless,  he  won  the  king  more  and 
more  to  his  plans,  and  imbued  him  with  something  of  his  own 
confidence  in  the  successful  result  of  the  war.  But  there  were, 
of  course,  times  of  wavering.  One  plan,  to  which  Bismarck  was 
not  at  all  favorably  inclined,  was  to  persuade  Austria  to  yield  in 
the  Schleswig-Holstein  matter  by  guaranteeing  to  her  the  posses- 
sion of  Venetia.  In  addition  to  the  fact  that  there  were  many 
undertakings  in  which  such  a  guarantee  might  prove  a  serious 
hinderance,  the  German  question  would  still  be  left  unsettled.  At 
one  time,  when  the  king  could  not  be  brought  to  venture  upon  a 
war,  Bismarck  advised  him,  if  he  were  resolved  upon  a  peaceful 
policy,  to  proclaim  the  German  constitution,  enter  upon  the  path 
of  moral  conquests,  and  seek  to  unite  the  different  German  peo- 
ples under  the  black,  red,  and  gold  banner.  But  in  that  case,  he 
explained,  he  would  have  to  retire  from  office,  even  if  his  retire- 
ment were  only  temporary,  since  by  reason  of  his  antecedents  he 
was  not  the  right  man  for  such  a  task.  The  men  of  the  liberal 
era  would  have  to  appear  upon  the  stage  once  more.  This  was 
what  thousands  of  patriotic  Germans  had  been  asking  of  Prussia 
in  the  latter  years.  Whether  such  a  course  would  lead  to  a 
speedy  result  or  to  any  result  at  all  was,  however,  very  questiona- 
ble at  the  least. 


326  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF  KECENT   TIMES. 


§22. 

WAR  IN  GERMANY  AND  ITALY. AUSTRIA'S  EXIT  FROM  GER- 
MANY.  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CONFEDERATION. FOR- 
MATION OF  A  NORTH  GERMAN  CONFEDERATION  UNDER  PRUS- 
SIAN SUPREMACY. 

THE  year  1866  began  under  unfavorable  auspices.  January 
23d  nineteen  members  of  the  Holstein  gentry  presented  an  ad- 
dress to  Count  Bismarck  praying  for  the  personal  union  of  the 
duchies  with  Prussia ;  but  on  the  same  day,  in  Altona,  an  assem- 
bly of  three  or  four  thousand  persons  out  of  both  duchies,  with- 
out adopting  formal  resolutions,  demanded  that  the  Schleswig- 
Holstein  Estates  be  convened,  and  cheered  their  "  rightful  and 
beloved  prince,  Duke  Frederic."  This  occasioned  Count  Bis- 
marck's despatch  of  January  26th,  in  which  he  attacked,  from  a 
political  point  of  view,  Austria's  whole  system  of  government  in 
Holstein,  pronouncing  it  detrimental  to  conservative  interests,  ex- 
pressed his  regret  that  "  revolutionary  tendencies  of  a  character 
hostile  to  every  throne  "  should  be  allowed  to  develop  under  the 
protection  of  the  Austrian  double  eagle,  and  threatened  a  breach 
of  the  existing  alliance.  In  his  answer  of  February  7th  Count 
Mensdorff  denied  the  charges  made  against  Austria'*  policy  in 
Holstein,  closing  with  the  remark  that  the  emperor  was  deter- 
mined to  persist  in  that  policy  even  at  the  risk  of  a  breach  with 
Prussia.  It  had  become  necessary  to  look  the  possibility  of  im- 
pending war  fairly  in  the  face.  In  recognition  of  this  fact  the 
council  of  marshals  was  summoned  to  meet  in  Vienna,  and  re- 
mained in  session  from  the  7th  of  March  to  the  13th,  the  emperor 
presiding,  while  troops  were  ordered  from  Hungary  and  other 
provinces  to  Bohemia  in  numbers  for  which  the  persecution  of 
the  Jews,  that  had  broken  out  in  a  few  Bohemian  towns,  could 
afford  no  adequate  pretext.  On  her  part,  Prussia  put  her  Saxon 
and  Silesian  fortresses  in  readiness  for  war,  and  entered  into  nego- 
tiations with  General  Govone,  the  Italian  ambassador,  who  reached 
Berlin  on  the  10th  of  March,  with  reference  to  a  Prussian-Italian 
alliance  against  Austria,  a  measure  for  which  Bismarck  had  been 


ENERGETIC  MILITARY  PREPARATIONS.  327 

preparing  the  way  ever  since  he  entered  the  ministry.  On  the 
8th  of  April  a  treaty  between  the  two  states  was  concluded, 
Italy  pledging  herself  to  stand  by  Prussia  in  case,  within  three 
months,  the  latter  became  involved  in  war  on  account  of  her  re- 
form measures ;  while  in  the  like  event  Prussia  promised  the  King 
of  Italy  her  assistance  in  the  acquisition  of  Venetia.  Bismarck 
would  not  consent  to  the  further  demand  of  the  Italian  minister- 
president,  Lamarmora,  that  the  Trentino  should  be  annexed  to 
Italy,  since  that  involved  the  cession  of  territory  belonging  to  the 
German  Confederation.  These  negotiations  were  conducted  with 
Napoleon's  full  cognizance,  neither  Victor  Emmanuel  nor  Lamar- 
mora taking  a  single  step  without  first  obtaining  his  consent. 

After  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty  both  states  energetically 
pushed  forward  their  military  preparations.  The  secondary 
states,  which  were  for  the  most  part  arrayed  on  the  Austrian 
side,  also  prepared  for  war,  especially  Saxony,  whose  royal  family 
was  on  terms  of  close  friendship  with  Francis  Joseph,  while  its 
minister-president,  von  Beust,  was  a  bitter  enemy  of  Count  Bis- 
marck. In  the  mean  time  the  latter  had  freed  himself  from  the 
inconvenience  of  parliamentary  opposition  by  closing,  on  the  23d 
of  February,  the  session  which  had  opened  on  the  15th  of  Janu- 
ary. The  opposition,  although  thus  ignominiously  sent  home, 
possessed  so  much  national  spirit  that  only  eight  members  of  the 
Prussian  parliament  took  part  in  the  general  parliamentary  gath- 
ering (Abgeordnetentay)  at  Frankfort  on  the  20th  of  May ;  and 
Twestcn,  a  leader  of  the  opposition,  said  in  his  letter  of  refusal 
that  he  must  take  into  consideration  not  alone  the  right  of  pop- 
ular self-determination,  and  the  rights  of  the  people  over  against 
the  government,  but,  in  addition  to  that,  the  position  of  his  coun- 
try with  reference  to  other  states,  and  that  he  would  never  give 
his  consent  to  any  measures  which  would  result  to  the  disadvan- 
tage of  Prussia,  since  there  was  no  other  power  that  could  do 
anything  for  Germany.  This  was  the  prevalent  sentiment  among 
an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Prussian  people  ;  and  hence,  al- 
though in  general  disinclined  toward  war,  they  cheerfully  ranged 
themselves  beneath  the  unfurled  banners  of  their  country ;  and 
even  when  the  landwehr  was  called  out  there  were  but  few  dis- 
turbances— a  thing  greatly  to  the  credit  of  both  their  patriotism 
and  their  discipline. 

Both  great  powers  sought  to  secure  the  good-will  of  the  secon-  - 


328  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

daiy  states,  with  a  view  to  the  impending  war,  Austria  directing 
her  efforts  toward  an  actual  alliance,  Prussia's  utmost  hope,  at 
least  with  regard  to  the  south  German  states,  being  to  persuade 
them  to  remain  neutral.  In  a  confidential  circular  of  March 
16th  Austria  imparted  to  the  governments  with  which  she  was 
on  friendly  terms  her  proposed  plan  of  operations  with  regard  to 
Prussia.  She  would  absolve  herself  from  her  pledge  to  settle  the 
Schleswig-Holstein  question  in  concert  with  that  state,  and  com- 
mit its  settlement  to  the  Confederation.  If  this  led  to  Prussia's 
taking  up  arms,  she  was  to  be  met  by  the  7th,  8th,  9th,  and  10th 
army  corps  of  the  Confederation,  in  conjunction  with  the  Aus- 
trian army,  and  hence  immediate  mobilization  was  necessary.  On 
his  side,  Bismarck,  in  a  circular  to  the  German  governments,  is- 
sued on  the  24th  of  March,  propounded  the  question  whether  and 
to  what  extent  he  might  rely  upon  their  support  in  case  of  war 
with  Austria.  At  the  same  time  he  called  their  attention  to  the 
necessity  of  a  reform  which  would  bring  the  relations  of  the  dif- 
ferent members  of  the  Confederation  into  conformity  with  their 
real  power,  and  prophesied  for  Germany  Poland's  fate  in  case 
Prussia  were  defeated.  Repulsed  by  most  of  the  governments, 
Prussia  moved  in  the  Diet  on  the  9th  of  April  that  a  German 
parliament  be  convened,  on  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage  and 
direct  election  by  the  people,  to  consider  the  revision  of  the  ex- 
isting constitution  of  the  Confederation  in  accordance  with  prop- 
ositions to  be  laid  before  it  by  the  respective  governments.  The 
Prussian  official  organ  attributed  the  proposed  reform  to  Prus- 
sia's desire  to  unite  about  herself  in  a  practical  manner  the  mili- 
tary strength  of  northern  and  central  Germany.  This  sounded 
to  the  sovereigns  too  much  like  mediatization.  Neither  people 
nor  princes  showed  any  enthusiasm  for  a  parliament;  the  former, 
altogether  in  the  dark  as  to  Prussia's  aims,  were  unwilling  to  re- 
pose any  confidence  in  such  an  uncertain  ally,  while  the  latter 
since  1848  stood  in  the  greatest  dread  of  a  German  parliament. 
After  a  meeting  of  plenipotentiaries  from  nine  of  the  secondary 
states  in  Augsburg  to  discuss  their  common  interests,  a  simulta- 
neous disarmament  of  all  the  members  of  the  Confederation  was 
moved  in  the  Diet  on  the  19th  of  May,  and  carried  by  a  unani- 
mous vote.  But,  inasmuch  as  Austria  and  Prussia  assumed  the 
right  of  naming  the  conditions  upon  which  they  would  disarm, 
this  unanimity  proved  useless. 


FAILURE   OF   THE   PEACE   CONGRESS.  329 

Eager  to  play  the  role  of  "  prince  of  peace,"  on  the  28th  of 
May,  Xapoleon,  in  conjunction  with  the  cabinets  of  London  and 
St.  Petersburg,  extended  in  Vienna,  Florence,  Berlin,  and  Frank- 
fort invitations  to  a  peace  conference  to  take  place  in  Paris.  This 
conference  was  to  consider  the  burning  questions  of  the  moment, 
namely,  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  the  Elbe  duchies,  the  Ital- 
ian claims  on  Venetia  and  Trentino,  and,  in  so  far  as  it  concerned 
the  European  balance  of  power,  the  reorganization  of  the  German 
Confederation.  Prussia,  Italy,  and  the  Diet  accepted  the  invita- 
tion. Austria  was  willing  to  accept  only  on  condition  that  every 
combination  looking  to  the  enlargement  of  the  territory  or  the 
increase  of  the  power  of  any  one  of  the  invited  states  be  excluded 
from  the  discussions.  England  and  France  declared  the  confer- 
ence impossible  under  those  conditions,  and  the  plan  was  aban- 
doned. 

The  diplomatic  game  which  Napoleon  was  playing  was  full  of 
the  most  perfidious  double-dealing.  A  war  between  Prussia  and 
Austria  was  very  welcome  to  him.  He  hoped  that  it  would  be 
of  long  duration,  greatly  weakening  both  parties,  and  that  it 
would  result  in  driving  Prussia,  of  whose  defeat  he  made  no 
doubt,  into  his  arms,  and  disposing  her  to  accede  to  his  plans  of 
conquest.  It  was  in  this  hope  that  he  urged  Prussia  into  war, 
assuring  her  of  his  benevolent  neutrality,  and  giving  his  express 
consent  to  the  Prussian-Italian  alliance,  which  was  to  tear  Ve- 
netia from  Austria,  and  keep  a  part  of  the  Austrian  army  busy 
on  the  Mincio.  He  also  negotiated  directly  with  Bismarck,  who 
in  his  circular  of  July  29th,  1870,  forming  part  of  the  famous 
disclosures  so  compromising  to  Napoleon,  says,  with  regard  to 
these  negotiations,  that  as  early  as  the  year  1862,  while  he  was 
still  ambassador  in  Paris,  the  French  Government  made  overtures 
to  him  with  a  view  to  carrying  out  its  designs  on  Belgium  and 
the  Rhine  frontier  by  means  of  Prussian  assistance.  In  the  Ger- 
man-Danish war  France  had  remained  neutral  only  in  the  hope 
of  winning  over  Prussia  to  its  plans,  and  hence  the  treaty  of 
Gastein  was  very  ill-received  in  Paris  through  fear  that  a  perma- 
nent understanding  between  Austria  and  Prussia  might  deprive 
the  cabinet  of  the  Tuileries  of  the  fruits  of  its  non-intervention. 
But  in  1865,  as  soon  as  the  relations  between  those  two  states 
began  to  be  manifestly  inharmonious,  France,  counting  with  cer- 
tainty on  a  war,  again  of  her  own  accord  made  friendly  advances 


330  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

in  Berlin.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  propositions  were 
made  to  Bismarck,  partly  by  relatives  of  the  emperor  (Prince 
Napoleon),  partly  by  confidential  agents,  looking  to  the  conclu- 
sion of  a  treaty  for  mutual  increase  of  territory,  the  emperor 
sometimes  speaking  of  Luxemburg,  or  the  boundaries  of  1814 
with  Landau  and  Saarlouis,  sometimes  suggesting  the  annexation 
of  French  Switzerland  and  broaching  the  question  of  the  proper 
language-boundary  in  Piedmont.  In  May  of  1866  all  these  in- 
formal suggestions  were  comprised  in  the  formal  draught  of  an  of- 
fensive and  defensive  alliance,  the  main  provisions  of  which  were 
that,  in  case  of  a  congress,  the  two  allies  should  direct  their  ef- 
forts toward  the  acquisition  of  Venetia  for  Italy  and  Schleswig- 
Holstein  for  Prussia ;  that,  in  case  no  congress  were  convened, 
Prussia,  ten  days  after  the  signature  of  the  treaty,  should  declare 
war  upon  Austria;  and  that,  after  the  commencement  of  hostili- 
ties, France  should  do  the  same,  assisting  her  ally  with  an  army  of 
300,000  men.  Peace  was  to  be  concluded  by  France  and  Prus- 
sia under  the  following  conditions :  Venetia  to  be  ceded  to  Italy ; 
Prussia  to  receive  German  territory — location  to  suit  herself — 
with  a  population  of  seven  or  eight  millions,  and  liberty  to  reor- 
ganize the  German  Confederation  in  accordance  with  her  own 
wishes ;  France  to  take  the  territory  between  the  Mosel  and  the 
Rhine,  with  the  exclusion  of  Coblenz  and  Mayence,  i.  e..  a  piece 
of  Rhenish  Prussia,  Rhenish  Bavaria,  Birkenfeld,  Homburg,  and 
Rhenish  Hesse. 

In  spite  of  several  almost  threatening  admonitions  Bismarck 
definitely  rejected  this  plan  of  alliance,  although,  in  order  to  se- 
cure Napoleon's  neutrality,  he  held  out  some  hopes  of  later  con- 
cessions in  case  of  victory.  As  soon  as  the  French  emperor  per- 
ceived that  his  proposals  were  not  favorably  entertained  he  di- 
rected his  efforts  toward  securing  Prussia's  defeat,  as  a  means  of 
rendering  her  more  amenable  to  his  demands.  For  this  purpose 
he  endeavored  to  undermine  the  Italian  alliance,  confirm  Austria 
in  her  warlike  mood,  and  obtain  from  her  the  most  favorable 
terms  possible  for  France.  The  negotiations  with  Austria  were 
carried  on  almost  at  the  same  time  as  those  with  Prussia.  In 
1865  Italy  had  sent  an  agent  to  Vienna  with  an  offer  of  very 
considerable  financial,  economical,  and  political  advantages,  in 
consideration  of  the  cession  of  Venetia,  but  met  with  a  refusal, 
Austria  replying  that  her  military  honor  would  not  admit  of 


NAPOLEON'S   INTRIGUES  WITH  AUSTRIA.  331 

such  a  course.  But  now,  at  the  instigation  of  France,  May  5th, 
1866,  Austria,  unsolicited,  offered  the  Italian  cabinet  Venetia  free 
of  compensation,  on  the  sole  condition  that  Italy  should  remain 
neutral  in  the  approaching  struggle.  The  temptation  was  great, 
but  the  breach  of  treaty  was  too  flagrant ;  furthermore,  the  Ital- 
ian ministers  believed  that  a  victorious  Austria  would  be  a  con- 
stant menace  to  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  and  so  the  offer  was  re- 
jected, and  the  alliance  with  Prussia  remained  unbroken.  But 
Napoleon  did  not  give  up  his  plans.  The  alliance  might  be  ren- 
dered useless  through  the  failure  of  Italy  to  carry  on  the  war 
with  the  necessary  energy.  The  president  of  the  Italian  cabinet, 
Lamarmora,  an  unconditional  admirer  of  Napoleon,  was  readily 
accessible  to  such  counsels.  At  the  same  time  negotiations  were 
in  progress  elsewhere  resulting  in  the  French  -  Austrian  treaty 
of  June  9th,  by  which  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  was  to  cede 
Venetia  to  France  for  the  benefit  of  Italy,  and  receive  Silesia  as 
compensation.  It  is  uncertain  what  Napoleon  was  to  acquire  in 
accordance  with  this  carefully  guarded  treaty,  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  Austria,  which  has  not  scrupled  in  times  gone  by  to  sacrifice 
German  territory,  would  have  hesitated  to  cede  the  left  bank  of 
the  Rhine,  if  by  doing  so  she  could  defeat  her  hated  rival.  Na- 
poleon now  felt  sure  of  success.  On  the  llth  of  June,  three 
days  after  the  conclusion  of  this  secret  treaty,  he  wrote  a  letter 
to  his  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  Drouin  de  Lhuys,  in  which  he 
expressed  himself  very  openly :  "  The  conflict  that  has  arisen  is 
attributable  to  three  causes :  Prussia's  unsatisfactory  geograph- 
ical position,  the  wish  of  Germany  for  a  political  organization 
more  in  conformity  with  the  wants  of  its  people,  and  the  neces- 
sity on  Italy's  part  of  securing  her  national  independence.  So 
far  as  we  are  concerned,  we  should  have  wished  for  the  minor 
states  of  the  German  Confederation  a  closer  union,  a  more  pow- 
erful organization,  and  a  more  important  role ;  for  Prussia,  an 
increase  of  territory  and  military  strength  in  the  north ;  for 
Austria,  the  maintenance  of  her  influential  position  in  Germany. 
Further,  we  should  have  wished  the  cession  of  Venetia  to  Italy 
in  return  for  a  moderate  compensation,  for  if  Austria  in  common 
with  Prussia,  disregarding  the  treaty  of  1852,  could  wage  war 
against  Denmark  in  the  name  of  German  nationality,  it  appears 
to  us  that  the  same  principle  should  be  recognized  in  Italy,  and 
the  independence  of  the  peninsula  completed."  Napoleon's  plan 


332  POLITICAL   HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

would  not  have  abated  the  rivalry  between  Austria  and  Prussia, 
which  was  crippling  Germany's  power.  Prussia  was  to  receive 
the  Elbe  duchies,  and  perhaps  Hanover  or  Hesse  Cassel,  as  com- 
pensation for  Silesia,  while  it  was  hoped  that  the  secondary  and 
lesser  states  would  be  ripe  for  a  renewal  of  the  Confederation  of 
the  Rhine.  For  France  the  immediate  result  of  these  political 
changes  would  have  been  the  annexation  of  Belgium  and  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine. 

Something  of  how  matters  stood  with  regard  to  the  cession 

~  C7 

of  Venetia  and  the  proposed  compensation  for  Austria  became 
known  in  Berlin  in  the  early  part  of  May.  The  Duke  of  Co- 
burg,  who  had  gone  thither  to  work  for  peace,  cautioned  the 
Prussian  ministers  against  Napoleon's  double-dealing,  and  pro- 
nounced Italy's  friendship  unreliable.  As  his  words  found  little 
credit,  he  exhibited  a  letter  which  he  had  received  from  the  Aus- 
trian minister,  Count  Mensdorff,  in  which  he  expressed  his  confi- 
dence of  victory,  and  added  that,  if  Prussia  went  to  war,  she 
would  have  to  deal  not  only  with  Austria,  but  with  France  as 
well,  since  Francis  Joseph  had  come  to  a  complete  understanding 
with  Napoleon,  had  ceded  Venetia  to  him  to  dispose  of  accord- 
ing to  his  pleasure,  and  had  received  his  assurance  that  he  would 
offer  no  objection  in  case  Austria  indemnified  herself  by  the  an- 
nexation of  Silesia.  If  Italy  made  war  upon  Austria  she  would 
be  appeased  by  Napoleon,  who  would  deprive  her  of  all  occasion 
for  hostility  by  the  present  of  Venetia.  This  would  break  up 
the  Prussian -Italian  alliance,  and  Austria  and  her  confederates 
would  be  at  liberty  to  direct  all  their  strength  against  isolated 
Prussia.  For  reasons  easy  to  be  understood,  no  mention  was 
made  in  this  letter  of  the  compensation  required  by  Napoleon — 
whether  or  not  Austria  had  offered  him  Rhenish  Bavaria,  Rhen- 
ish Hesse,  and  Luxemburg. 

All  sorts  of  negotiations  and  mediations  had  failed  to  main- 
tain the  peace.  Charles  Cohen,  a  step-son  of  Blind,  one  of  the 
refugees  from  Baden,  sought  to  secure  its  maintenance  in  a  to- 
tally different  manner.  This  gallant  but  fanatical  young  man, 
who  had  spent  his  time  of  late  in  the  study  of  agriculture  at 
Hohenheim,  and  on  the  Blasiberg,  near  Tubingen,  came  to  Ber- 
lin for  the  purpose  of  murdering  Bismarck.  The  attempt  was 
made  on  the  7th  of  May,  and  miscarried,  Bismarck  escaping  un- 
wounded.  Cohen  put  an  end  to  his  own  life  while  awaiting  trial. 


THE   PRUSSIANS  OCCUPY   HOLSTE1N.  333 

By  this  time  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Italy  had  about  completed 
their  armaments.  The  two  latter  complained  that  they  had  been 
forced  to  arm  because  Austria  had  done  so,  and  when  disarma- 
ment was  proposed  insisted  that  Austria  should  take  the  initia- 
tive. Austria,  on  the  other  hand,  solemnly  averred  that  she  would 
never  assault  Prussia,  and  represented  herself  as  obliged  to  main- 
tain her  army  on  a  war-footing  on  account  of  Italy,  which  wished 
to  conquer  Venetia.  On  the  26th  of  April  Austria  had  made 
still  another  attempt  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  Prussia, 
regarding  Schleswig-Holstein  within  the  limits  of  the  legal  rights 
of  the  Confederation,  but  without  a  single  concession  to  the 
demands  which  Bismarck  had  formulated  two  months  previous. , 
As  Prussia  would  not  agree  to  this,  and,  indeed,  could  not,  unless 
she  wished  to  pave  the  way  to  a  second  Olmutz,  Austria,  on  the 
1st  of  June,  according  to  the  notice  she  had  already  given,  sub- 
mitted the  Schleswig-Holstein  question  to  the  decision  of  the 
Confederation,  pledging  herself  to  yield  the  readiest  submission 
to  that  decision.  At  the  same  time  she  announced  that  the 
imperial  stadtholder  in  Holstein  had  been  authorized  to  convene 
the  Estates  of  that  duchy,  since  the  wishes  and  views  of  the 
country  itself  would  have  an  important  influence  on  its  fate. 
On  the  following  day  Gablenz  issued  a  summons  to  the  Estates 
of  Holstein  to  meet  at  Itzehoe  on  the  llth  of  June.  Prussia 
pronounced  the  transfer  of  the  quarrel  to  the  Diet  a  breach  of 
the  Gastein  convention,  and  Manteuffel  received  orders  to  enter 
Holstein  with  his  troops,  and  form,  in  conjunction  with  the  Aus- 
trian stadtholder,  a  joint  government  for  the  two  duchies,  as  had 
been  the  case  before  that  convention.  Gablenz  refused  to  co-op- 
erate with  Manteuffel ;  and  when,  on  the  7th  of  June,  20,000  Prus- 
sians crossed  the  Eider  and  occupied  Kiel,  Rendsburg,  and  Itze- 
hoe, he,  with  the  Kalik  brigade,  consisting  of  about  3000  men, 
accompanied  by  Prince  Frederic,  who  had  spent  two  years  and  a 
half  in  vain  waiting  for  his  dukedom,  and  the  members  of  the 
government,  retired  to  Altona.  On  the  10th  of  June  Manteuf- 
fel dissolved  the  existing  government,  and  appointed  Baron  von 
Scheel-Plessen  first  president  of  the  two  duchies.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  he  resorted  to  force  to  prevent  the  Estates  from  meeting 
in  Itzehoe.  On  the  12th,  Gablenz,  who  could  not  in  such  a  dis- 
tant outpost  undertake  a  contest  with  a  force  six  times  as  large 
as  his  own,  crossed  the  Elbe  into  Hanover,  whence  he  continued 


334  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

his  march,  by  way  of  Cassel  and  Frankfort,  to  Bohemia,  hoping 
to  carry  the  Austrian  flag  to  victory  on  a  more  convenient  battle- 
ground. A  few  weeks  previous  Austria  had  entertained  the  plan 
of  strengthening  her  forces  in  Holstein,  uniting  them  with  the 
Hanoverian  army,  and  concentrating  the  combined  forces,  under 
the  command  of  Gablenz,  at  Stade,  to  be  used  as  a  sort  of  parti- 
san corps  in  the  rear  of  the  Prussian  main  army.  But  this  plan 
failed,  owing  to  Hanover's  irresolution. 

The  alliance  of  1864  had  resulted  in  the  separation  from  one 
another  as  foes  of  the  armies  which  had  entered  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein  as  brothers  in  arms.  The  war,  which  had  been  undertaken 
for  the  liberation  of  the  duchies,  had  developed  into-  a  struggle 
for  the  leadership  in  Germany.  Both  questions,  that  of  the 
duchies,  and  that  of  reorganization  of  the  German  Confederation, 
were  to  be  settled  at  one  stroke ;  and  to  these  two  had  been 
added  further  the  Italian  question.  Count  Bismarck  now  took 
in  hand  what  the  German  National  Union  had  been  striving 
since  1859  to  accomplish,  and  proposed  to  make  Prussia  the 
military  and  political  director  of  Germany ;  for  nothing  else 
than  this  was  meant  by  the  "  outlines  of  a  new  constitution  for 
the  Confederation,"  which  was  submitted  to  the  German  govern- 
ments, with  the  exception  of  Austria,  on  the  10th  of  June.  The 
question  was  put  whether,  in  case  of  a  dissolution  of  the  old  con- 
federation, they  would  unite  with  Prussia  in  forming  on  the  basis 
of  this  proposed  constitution  a  new  confederation,  from  which 
the  Austrian  and  Netherlandish  members  were  to  be  excluded. 
The  aim  of  this  constitution  was  to  concentrate  the  power  of  all 
Germany  in  the  hands  of  military  Prussia,  exacting  from  the  Ger- 
man sovereigns  only  such  sacrifices  as  were  necessary  in  the  in- 
terests of  unity,  and  dividing  the  land  forces  of  the  Confederation 
into  a  northern  and  a  southern  army,  the  former  under  the  chief 
command  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  the  latter  under  that  of  the 
King  of  Bavaria.  This  proposition  drove  those  sovereigns  who 
were  still  wavering,  like  the  King  of  Hanover  and  the  Elector  of 
Hesse,  and  who  dreamed  of  nothing  less  than  sovereignty  and  in- 
dependence, completely  over  to  the  side  of  Austria,  under  whose 
double  eagle  they  thought  to  sway  a  less  hampered  sceptre. 

On  the  llth  of  June  Austria  moved  in  the  Diet  the  prompt 
mobilization  of  the  entire  army  of  the  Confederation,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Prussian  contingent,  on  the  ground  that  Prussia 


PRUSSIA  SECEDES.  335 

by  its  invasion  of  Holstein  was  guilty  of  an  act  of  forcible 
expropriation,  which  by  articles  18,  19,  and  20  of  the  Vienna 
Schlussakte  of  1820  the  Confederation  was  bound  to  prevent. 
This  meant  a  declaration  of  war  on  Prussia,  to  which  Savigny, 
the  Prussian  delegate,  with  right  objected  that  the  law  of  the 
Confederation  knew  no  declaration  of  war,  but  only  a  process  of 
execution  according  to  certain  set  forms.  Without  paying  any 
attention  to  such  formal  provisions  the  Diet  resolved  on  the  14th 
of  June,  by  a  vote  of  nine  to  six,  to  mobilize  the  troops  of  the 
Confederation  against  Prussia.  Among  these  nine  votes  was  one, 
that  of  the  16th  curia,  which  was  with  justice  challenged.  Upon 
the  announcement  of  this  result  the  Prussian  delegate  declared 
that  Prussia  regarded  the  former  treaty  of  confederation  as  no 
longer  binding,  laid  before  the  Diet  the  draught  of  a  new  treaty — 
involving  also  a  German  parliament  —  which  had  already  been 
communicated  to  the  individual  governments,  and  then  withdrew. 
The  states  which  had  voted  with  Prussia — Luxemburg,  Mecklen- 
burg, Oldenburg,  the  Saxon  duchies,  and  the  free  cities,  with  the 
exception  of  Frankfort-— followed  her  example  and  recalled  their 
delegates  from  Frankfort  within  the  next  few  weeks.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  other  states  declared  Prussia's  withdrawal  from 
the  Confederation  illegal,  and  continued  to  regard  themselves  as 
the  German  Diet,  whose  right  it  was  to  force  refractory  members 
into  obedience.  The  relation  of  the  majority  to  the  minority 
was  compared  to  that  of  the  Northern  States  of  the  American 
Union  to  the  Confederate  States,  or  with  that  of  the  Swiss  Tag- 
satzung  to  the  Sonderbund,  and  with  considerable  justice.  But 
when  war  has  once  broken  out,  the  question  ceases  to  be  one  of 
right  and  becomes  one  of  might.  In  point  of  numbers  the  might 
was  decidedly  on  the  side  of  the  majority.  Austria  alone,  it  was 
said,  could  put  in  the  field  at  once  from  six  to  eight  hundred 
thousand  men,  a  number  which  reassured  her  credulous  allies,  but 
which  did  not  impose  on  Prussia,  where  it  was  believed  to  be  too 
large  by  half.  But  spirit  and  energy,  which  outweigh  mere  num- 
bers, were  on  the  side  of  the  minority.  Austria  was  so  confident 
of  victory  that  in  the  session  of  June  16th  the  presiding  delegate 
announced  that  the  imperial  government  expressly  guaranteed  to 
all  who  remained  faithful  to  the  Confederation  their  territories, 
little  thinking  that  it  would  be  well  if  some  one  could  guarantee 
to  the  Austrian  imperial  state  its  own  territory. 


336  POLITICAL    HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

Prussia  showed  no  lack  of  energy  and  decision.  In  order  to 
remove  the  theatre  of  war  as  far  as  possible  from  Brandenburg 
and  Berlin,  and  not  to  allow  the  connection  between  the  Rhine 
province  and  the  eastern  half  of  the  kingdom  to  be  sundered,  it 
was  necessary  to  make  sure  of  Saxony  on  the  one  side,  and  Han- 
over and  Electoral  Hesse  on  the  other.  These  three  states  had 
voted  against  Prussia  on  the  14th  of  June.  On  the  15th  they, 
and  Nassau  as  well,  received  an  ultimatum  from  Prussia  requir- 
ing them  to  remain  neutral,  to  disband  their  armies,  and  to  con- 
sent to  the  reorganization  of  the  Confederation,  at  the  same  time 
guaranteeing  the  integrity  of  their  territory  and  the  preservation 
of  their  sovereign  rights.  Refusals  were  returned  on  the  same 
day,  and,  as  it  had  been  announced  beforehand  that  a  refusal 
would  be  treated  as  a  declaration  of  war,  Prussian  soldiers  entered 
those  states  on  the  16th.  In  the  west,  under  the  chief  command 
of  General  Vogel  von  Falckenstein,  were  the  two  divisions  of 
Gobcn  and  Beyer,  numbering  in  all  about  36,000  men,  and  Man- 
teuffcl's  division  of  14,000,  which  had  been  ordered  to  enter 
Hanover  from  Holstein  and  join  the  force  already  with  Falcken- 
stein. While  this  division  was  marchii'g  down  from  the  north, 
Falckenstein,  with  Goben's  division,  set  out  from  Mindeu,  and  on 
the  17th  was  in  the  Hanoverian  capital,  king  and  crown  prince 
having  beat  a  hasty  retreat  southward  with  the  army.  June  18th 
the  little  fortress  of  Stade  was  surprised,  and  by  the  22d  all  Han- 
over had  been  occupied,  with  the  exception  of  Gottingen,  whither 
the  Hanoverian  army  had  retreated.  Valuable  military  stores 
also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Prussians. 

June  17th  the  south  German  contingents,  the  7th  (Bavaria) 
and  8th  (Wurtemberg,  Baden,  and  Hesse- Darmstadt)  army  corps, 
assembled,  the  former  on  the  Main,  in  Lower  Franconia,  and  the 
latter  at  Frankfort.  Prince  Alexander  of  Hesse,  who  had  won 
some  military  reputation  in  the  Italian  campaign,  where  he  had 
served  as  an  Austrian  general,  was  appointed  commander  of  the 
8th  army  corps.  The  7th  was  commanded  by  the  aged  Prince 
Charles  of  Bavaria,  to  whom  was  also  intrusted  the  chief  com- 
mand of  the  whole  south  German  contingent,  with  the  proviso 
that  he  should  carry  out  the  plan  of  operations  agreed  upon  with 
Benedek,  the  Austrian  coimnander-in-chicf.  This  was  the  agree- 
ment which  had  been  concluded  between  Austria  and  Bavaria  at 
Olmutz  on  the  14th  of  June.  According  to  that  treaty  Austria 


PRUSSIA  INVADES  HESSE-CASSEL.  331 

pledged  herself  to  negotiate  no  peace  without  the  consent  and 
participation  of  Bavaria,  and  if  territorial  changes  became  neces- 
sary to  exert  all  her  powers  to  prevent  Bavaria  from  undergoing 
any  loss,  securing  her  compensation  in  case  a  cession  of  territory 
should  prove  necessary.  Whether  this  compensation  was  to  be 
in  Baden,  which  was  too  favorably  inclined  toward  Prussia,  or 
where  it  was  to  be,  was  not  mentioned  in  the  official  document. 
(Prussia  had  also  opened  negotiations  with  Bavaria  at  the  same 
time,  offering  her  a  prominent  position  in  New  Germany  in  case 
she  would  remain  neutral ;  but  these  negotiations  came  to  noth- 
ing owing  to  the  Austrian  tendencies  of  von  der  Pfordten,  the 
Bavarian  minister.)  Not  much  could  be  expected  from  this  mili- 
tary arrangement  between  Austria  and  Bavaria.  It  was  too  com- 
plicated, requiring  at  least  a  couple  of  weeks  to  be  set  up  and  put 
in  order.  Counting  upon  this  slowness,  the  Prussians  pushed  for- 
ward the  execution  of  their  plan  of  occupation  at  the  expense  of 
temporarily  stripping  some  important  posts  of  troops.  Leaving 
Wctzlar  on  the  16th,  and  marching  through  Giessen  and  Marburg, 
Beyer  entered  Cassel  on  the  19th  with  17,000  men.  The  elec- 
tor's army  had  left  for  Fulda  by  rail  on  the  16th  for  the  purpose 
of  joining  the  8th  army  corps — the  Nassau  contingent  pursuing 
a  similar  course — but  he  himself  still  remained  at  his  residence 
at  Wilhelmshohe.  On  the  24th,  as  he  persisted  in  his  refusal  of 
tlie  Prussian  demands,  he  was  carried  to  Stettin  as  a  prisoner  of 
state. 

The  fate  of  the  Hanoverian  army,  eighteen  or  nineteen  thou- 
sand strong,  with  a  well-equipped  and  numerous  force  of  cavalry, 
and  fifty-two  guns,  was  soon  decided.  The  occupation  of  Cassel 
by  the  Prussians  had  blocked  the  road  to  Frankfort ;  and  so,  af- 
ter having  lingered  too  long  in  Gottingen,  they  at  length  turned 
south-eastward  with  the  intention  of  forcing  a  passage  to  Bavaria 
by  way  of  Gotha.  On  the  21st  of  June,  encumbered  by  an  endless 
train  of  baggage-wagons  and  carriages  of  state,  and  loaded  with 
untold  plate,  they  crossed  the  Prussian  border,  passed  through  Hei- 
ligenstadt,  Miihlhausen,  and  Langensalza,  and  on  the  24th  had 
reached  a  point  midway  between  Eisenach  and  Gotha.  That 
night  Onno  Klopp,  Councillor  of  the  Archives,  was  despatched  to 
the  Bavarian  head-quarters  at  Bamberg  to  urge  a  speedy  advance 
to  the  assistance  of  the  Hanoverians.  But  Prince  Charles  could 
not  be  prevailed  upon  to  abandon  his  defensive  attitude,  and  ex- 

15 


338  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  EECEXT   TIMES. 

pressed  the  opinion  that  an  army  of  19,000  men  ought  to  be  able 
to  fight  its  own  way  through.  At  the  same  time  negotiations 
had  been  opened  with  the  King  of  Prussia,  both  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  Duke  of  Coburg  and  directly.  June  25th  Prussia 
again  offered  King  George  alliance  on  the  same  conditions  which 
had  been  offered  on  the  1 5th ;  but  he  refused  the  offer,  and  de- 
manded unmolested  passage  to  Bavaria.  On  the  26th  the  Prus- 
sians, who  had  been  joined  by  the  Cobarg  troops,  were  strong 
enough  to  render  any  farther  advance  impracticable ;  and  accord- 
ingly the  Hanoverians  retraced  their  steps  to  Langensalza,  aim- 
lessly inarching  northward.  General  Falckenstein,  who  had  fol- 
lowed them  from  Hanover  with  the  divisions  of  Goben  and  Man- 
teuffel — while  Beyer  had  advanced  from  Cassel  to  Eisenach — had 
orders  from  Berlin  to  remain  at  Gotha  and  await  the  Bavarians 
there.  But  he  waited  in  vain ;  for,  beyond  a  brigade  of  cavalry 
which  was  pushed  forward  as  far  as  Meiningen  on  the  26th,  no 
Bavarians  appeared.  Falcken stein's  plan  was  to  attack  the  Han- 
overians at  once,  in  case  the  Bavarians  advanced  and  endeavored 
to  form  a  junction  with  them,  otherwise  to  wait  until  all  the 
approaching  Prussian  columns  were  on  the  spot,  and  an  attack 
could  be  made  from  all  sides  with  the  certainty  of  victory.  Ac- 
cordingly, General  Flies,  who,  with  9000  men  of  Manteuffel's  di- 
vision, stood  nearest  to  the  enemy,  received  orders  on  the  26th 
not  to  attack  them,  but  in  case  of  retreat  to  follow  close  upon 
their  heels.  On  the  27th  Falckenstein  went  to  Cassel  on  a  polit- 
ical mission,  and  in  his  absence  a  despatch  arrived  from  Berlin 
commanding  him  to  attack  the  Hanoverians  under  any  circum- 
stances and  compel  their  immediate  capitulation.  In  consequence 
of  these  commands  Flies  attacked  them  at  10  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing of  June  27th.  He  had  but  9000  men  and  very  little  artillery 
to  oppose  to  their  18,000  men  and  52  guns,  and  the  attack  was 
too  premature  for  him  to  reckon  on  any  assistance  from  the  other 
divisions.  After  a  sharp  struggle  the  Hanoverian  van  was  driven 
back  through  Langensalza ;  Flies  followed  them,  and  endeavored 
to  carry  the  heights  of  Merxleben  by  storm,  but  was  met  by  a  hot 
fire  of  grape.  Confronted  by  the  whole  force  of  the  enemy,  he 
was  obliged  to  retreat,  the  squares  of  his  infantry  gallantly  re- 
pulsing the  attacks  of  the  Hanoverian  cavalry.  The  Prussian  loss 
was  41  officers,  800  men,  and  two  cannon  ;  that  of  the  Hanoveri- 
ans, 1400  men.  The  former  had  in  so  far  the  advantage  that  the 


THE  HANOVERIAN  ARMY  SURRENDERS.  339 

enemy  was  prevented  from  leaving  Langensalza.  The  net  was 
constantly  being  drawn  tighter.  About  40,000  Prussians  and 
Coburgers  were  ready  to  dispute  every  step,  and  the  only  choice 
was  to  fight  to  the  last  man  or  capitulate.  King  George  chose 
the  latter,  and  surrendered  to  the  Prussians  on  the  29th  of  June. 
The  common  soldiers  were  disarmed  and  sent  home ;  the  officers 
gave  their  word  of  honor  not  to  bear  arms  against  Prussia  before 
the  close  of  this  war.  All  the  military  stores,  including  500  ex- 
cellent horses,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Prussians.  The  king 
and  crown  prince — having  received  permission  on  the  guarantee 
of  their  private  property  to  take  up  their  residence  wherever  they 
pleased,  provided  only  it  was  not  in  Hanover — travelled  to  Vien- 
na, with  their  suites.  From  the  North  Sea  to  the  Main  all  op- 
position had  been  overcome.  There  could  be  no  farther  hope  of 
the  co-operation  of  the  Austrian  allies  in  the  Bohemian  cam- 
paign, and  Prussia  was  at  liberty  to  turn  all  her  strength  against 
Austria  and  the  south  German  states. 

Prussia's  ally,  the  King  of  Italy,  had  less  success  to  boast  of. 
The  proffer  of  Venetia  exerted  a  crippling  influence  on  his  con- 
duct of  the  war ;  in  addition  to  which,  France  did  not  weary  of 
impressing  upon  him  the  fact  that  energetic  military  action  on 
the  part  of  Italy  was  entirely  superfluous ;  that  it  was  a  mere 
military  duel  with  Austria  which  she  was  fighting,  and  not  a 
serious  war.  Accordingly,  Lamarmora  said  that  he  went  into  the 
field  with  Venetia  in  his  pocket.  A  mere  duel  did  not  accord 
with  Prussia's  interests,  and  was  not  a  satisfaction  of  the  duties 
of  an  ally ;  and  hence  Count  Usedom,  the  Prussian  ambassador 
in  Florence,  addressed  a  letter  to  Lamarmora  on  the  17th  of 
June,  in  which  he  sought  to  convince  him  that  the  approaching 
campaign  must  be  a  thorough  one  (guerra  a  fondo).  Italy  must 
not  be  content  with  advancing  to  the  northern  boundary  of  Ve- 
netia ;  she  must  break  her  way  through  to  the  Danube  and  meet 
Prussia  at  the  central  point  of  the  Austrian  Empire — in  other 
words,  she  must  march  on  Vienna.  To  secure  to  Italy  the  per- 
manent possession  of  Venetia,  the  Austrian  power  must  first  be 
wounded  to  the  heart.  While  the  main  army  was  thus  marching 
on  Vienna,  Garibaldi's  volunteers,  on  its  right  flank,  should  force 
their  way  into  Hungary,  there  to  join  hands  with  the  Prusso- 
Hungarian  corps,  which  was  to  enter  that  province  from  Silesia. 
According  to  all  reports,  these  partisan  flying  columns  would 


340  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

meet  with  an  enthusiastic  reception  among  the  Hungarians  and 
Slavs.  This  bold  and  brilliant  plan,  which  marked  out  Vienna 
as  the  point  of  junction  of  the  Prussian  and  Italian  armies,  and 
proposed  revolutionizing  Hungary,  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  complete 
overthrow  of  Austria,  was  not  at  all  to  the  taste  of  the  mentor 
of  the  Italian  cabinet,  Napoleon.  He  represented  to  Lamarmora 
and  the  king  that  the  maintenance  of  a  strong  Austria  within  its 
natural  limits  was  far  more  to  the  advantage  of  Italy  than  the 
establishment,  under  Prussian  guidance,  of  a  German  empire 
stretching  from  the  Baltic  Sea  to  Trieste.  The  docile  scholars 
followed  their  French  teaching.  Lamarmora  took  not  the  least 
notice  of  TJsedom's  letter,  communicated  it  to  none  of  his  col- 
leagues, and  never  made  it  public  until  July  of  1868,  when,  long 
after  he  had  ceased  to  be  minister,  he  complained  in  the  Italian 
Parliament  of  the  way  he  had  been  handled  in  the  report  of  the 
Prussian  staff.  Instead  of  the  plan  recommended  in  this  letter 
he  proceeded  to  carry  out  his  own,  substituting,  in  the  old  style 
of  military  tactics,  isolated  for  combined  action,  and  uselessly  bat- 
tering his  horns  against  the  walls  of  fortresses.  Victor  Emman- 
uel declared  war  on  the  20th  of  June.  On  the  22d  he  crossed 
the  Mincio  with  two  army  corps,  leaving  a  third  aimlessly  idle 
at  Goito ;  while  Cialdini,  with  a  fourth  corps,  stronger  than  the 
rest,  was  to  cross  the  lower  Po  and  push  forward  to  the  Adige. 
At  the  same  time  Garibaldi  was  to  enter  the  Tyrol  with  his  vol- 
unteers. The  Italians  had  a  field  army  of  218,000  men;  the 
Austrian  field  army  numbered  only  85,000,  but  had  behind  it  the 
support  of  the  strongly  fortified  Quadrilateral.  Archduke  Albert, 
a  son  of  the  Archduke  Charles,  who  defeated  Napoleon  at  As- 
pern,  held  the  chief  command,  and  had  in  General  John  an  able 
chief  of  staff.  His  head-quarters  were  at  Verona,  and  the  greater 
part  of  his  army  were  in  and  about  that  place.  The  Italians,  ad- 
vancing in  an  incomprehensibly  careless  manner,  neglected  to  oc- 
cupy the  barrier  of  hills  north-west  of  Custozza.  The  Austrians, 
perceiving  this  omission,  hastened  to  occupy  that  important  posi- 
tion, and  on  the  24th  of  June,  the  anniversary  of  Solferino,  the 
battle  of  Custozza  was  fought  at  the  same  place  where,  fourteen 
years  before,  old  Radetzky  had  won  a  glorious  victory  over  the 
Piedmontese.  The  battle  lasted  all  day  beneath  a  burning  sun. 
At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  Italian  army,  notwithstand- 
ing all  its  bravery,  was  defeated.  It  was  driven  back  across  the 


THE  PKUSSIANS   OCCUPY  SAXONY.  341 

Mincio,  and  did  not  re-form  until  the  Oglio  had  been  passed.  The 
Italians  lost  8250  men,  including  4350  prisoners;  the  Austrian 
loss  was  7850,  of  whom  2000  were  taken  prisoners.  After  this 
defeat  the  right  wing,  under  Cialdini,  could  not  carry  out  its  pro- 
posed operations  on  the  Po,  and  retired  toward  Bologna.  Arch- 
duke Albert  made  no  farther  use  of  his  victory.  He  could  not 
pursue  the  defeated  enemy,  for,  in  the  secret  treaty  with  France, 
Austria  had  pledged  herself  in  case  of  victory  not  to  cross  the 
Mincio,  and  to  leave  Lombardy  untouched.  Accordingly,  he 
waited  in  Verona  for  Victor  Emmanuel  to  recover  himself  and 
make  another  attack.  Practically,  it  was  a  fourteen  days'  truce 
which  now  ensued,  during  which  time  the  Prussian  army  in  Bo- 
hemia was  hastening  from  victory  to  victory,  and  conquering 
for  Italy  the  province  which  her  own  strength  did  not  suffice 
to  win. 

As  in  Hanover  and  Hesse-Cassel,  on  the  16th  of  June  the  Prus- 
sians entered  Saxony,  on  the  borders  of  which  they  concentrated 
enormous  masses  of  troops,  in  order  to  fight  out  the  war  with 
Austria  rapidly  and  thoroughly.  There  had  been  no  formal  dec- 
laration of  war  against  that  State ;  but  as  Saxony's  application  to 
the  Diet  for  speedy  assistance  against  Prussia's  violence  had  been 
granted  on  the  16th  of  June,  by  a  vote  of  ten  to  five,  and  the 
Austrian  presiding  delegate  had  announced  that  Austria  would 
oppose  Prussia  with  her  whole  military  strength,  it  was  believed 
in  Berlin  that  there  was  no  need  of  waiting  for  anything  farther. 
Three  great  armies  were  put  in  the  field.  On  the  right  wing 
was  the  army  of  the  Elbe,  consisting  of  40,000  men,  under  Gen- 
eral Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  who  had  commanded  at  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Alsen  Sound  on  the  29th  of  June,  1864 ;  in  the  cen- 
tre was  the  1st  army,  100,000,  under  Prince  Frederic  Charles; 
and  on  the  left  wing,  in  Silesia,  the  2d  army,  116,000  men,  un- 
der the  crown  prince  of  Prussia.  In  addition  to  these  forces 
there  was  a  reserve  of  24,000  landwehr  troops,  so  that  the  whole 
army  amounted  to  280,000  men,  with  800  cannon.  Of  these 
the  reserve  corps  was  left  behind  in  Saxony,  and  a  force  of 
10,000  men  in  Silesia,  so  that  there  remained  246,000  men 
(according  to  others,  255,000  or  260,000)  for  the  invasion  of 
Bohemia.  The  army  of  the  Elbe  and  the  1st  army  entered  Sax- 
ony on  the  16th  of  June.  Herwarth  occupied  Dresden  on  the 
18th,  and  Leipzig  on  the  19th;  while,  at  the  same  time,  Frederic 


342  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

Charles  took  possession  of  Bautzen  and  Zittau.  On  the  20th  all 
Saxony,  with  the  exception  of  the  fortress  of  Konigstein,  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Prussians. 

Contrary  to  all  expectation  Austria  made  no  attempt  to  an- 
ticipate her  opponent  in  the  occupation  of  a  territory  strategi- 
cally so  important.  The  Saxons,  numbering  23,000  men,  with 
sixty  guns,  abandoned  their  country,  and,  under  the  command  of 
the  crown-prince,  accompanied  their  king  to  Bohemia,  in  order 
there  to  form  a  junction  with  the  Austrian  army.  This  consist- 
ed of  230,000  men,  with  750  cannon  and  seven  rocket-batteries, 
so  that  the  combined  Austrian-Saxon  northern  army  numbered 
about  250,000.  The  Austrians  were  divided  into  seven  army 
corps,  commanded  by  the  Archdukes  Ernest  and  Leopold,  Counts 
Clam-Gallas,  Thun,  and  Festetics,  and  Lieutenant  Field-marshals 
von  Gablcnz  and  von  Ramming.  Master  of  Ordnance,  Chevalier 
von  Benedek,  who  had  distinguished  himself  by  his  conduct  on 
the  left  wing  at  the  battle  of  Solferino,  was  commander-in-chief. 
Army  and  people  wished  to  see  him  at  the  head  of  the  troops, 
and  so  the  emperor  had  intrusted  him  with  the  chief  command, 
putting  every  thing  into  his  hands.  But,  excellent  though  Bene- 
dek was  as  a  division  commander,  it  was  questionable  whether  he 
possessed  the  quickness  of  comprehension  needful  to  plan  and 
execute  bold  and  skilful  strategy,  and  it  was  also  questionable 
whether  his  corps  commanders  were  fit  for  their  positions,  and 
whether  they  would  yield  obedience  to  their  chief.  Benedek  did 
not  belong  to  the  high  Austrian  nobility,  and  he  was  a  Protestant, 
two  serious  defects  in  Austrian  eyes;  and  it  is  commonly  believed 
that  the  archdukes  and  counts  did  not  distinguish  themselves  by 
prompt  obedience  in  this  campaign.  Benedek  needed  to  exert 
his  utmost  strength  against  the  opponents  who  had  taken  the 
field  with  a  force  about  equal  to  his  own.  Although  the  Prus- 
sians had  no  recent  campaigns  behind  them,  with  the  exception 
of  that  in  Schleswig  and  one  against  the  Badish  rebels  in  1849, 
they  had,  nevertheless,  known  how  to  appropriate  the  very  best 
in  all  branches  of  the  service.  They  had  an  excellent  organizer 
in  General  von  Roon,  the  Minister  of  War,  while  in  von  Moltke 
they  possessed  an  incomparable  chief  of  staff  and  a  strategist  at 
once  bold  and  cautious.  Among  the  common  soldiers,  thanks  to 
the  system  of  general  compulsory  service,  the  grade  of  intelli- 
gence was  high,  and  among  the  officers  a  far  higher  average  of 


BENEDEK'S  RADICAL  ERROR.  343 

education  prevailed  than  in  any  other  army.  The  needle-gun, 
with  which  they  were  able  to  shoot  some  six  times  as  fast  as  the 
Austrians,  gave  them  an  enormous  advantage,  against  which  the 
impetuous  onset  of  the  latter,  adopted  into  their  system  from  the 
French  since  the  battle  of  Solferino,  proved  of  little  use,  for  be- 
fore a  battalion  could  come  to  close  quarters  its  ranks  were  terri- 
bly thinned  by  the  rapid  and  deadly  fire  of  the  Prussians.  More- 
over, the  Austrians  were  at  a  disadvantage  through  the  fact  that 
the  greater  part  of  their  infantry  had  served  only  one  year,  and 
had  a  very  feeble  sense  of  personal  honor,  while  the  lack  of  ac- 
quaintance with  military  science  and  the  weakness  of  morale  dis- 
played by  the  officers  was  astounding.  The  Seven  Years'  War  and 
the  two  Silesian  wars  offer  many  interesting  analogies  to  this  one 
both  in  conditions  and  events — the  substitution  of  the  iron  ram- 
rod for  the  wooden,  the  masterly  strategy  of  the  Prussians,  the 
occupation  of  Saxony,  the  union  of  the  Saxon  army  with  the 
Austrian,  the  repeated  inroads  into  Bohemia  through  the  passes 
of  the  Erzgebirge  and  the  Sudetes.  Naturally  those  who  were 
not  intimately  acquainted  with  the  internal  conditions  of  both 
parties  surrendered  themselves  to  expectations  of  the  most  extrav- 
agant character ;  and  so  it  was  that  south  Germany  reckoned  with 
confidence  on  the  victory  of  Austria,  while  North  Germany 
counted  with  equal  certainty  on  that  of  Prussia. 

Benedek,  whose  army  extended  in  a  bow-shaped  line  from  Cra- 
cow to  the  left  bank  of  the  Elbe,  thought  himself  too  weak  to 
assume  the  offensive.  He  felt  obliged  to  await  the  invasion  of 
Moravia  or  Bohemia  by  his  opponents.  When  the  designs  of 
the  Prussian  generals  became  apparent  he  transferred  his  head- 
quarters from  Olmutz  to  Josephstadt,  in  which  neighborhood 
most  of  his  army  was  at  once  concentrated.  Even  if  it  had  been 
necessary  to  maintain  the  defensive  at  the  outset,  there  was  now 
nothing  to  prevent  him  from  passing  over  at  once  to  an  energetic 
offensive,  meeting  the  divided  Prussian  armies  with  overwhelm- 
ing force,  rendering  their  union  impossible,  and  attacking  and 
defeating  them  in  detail  one  after  the  other.  Instead  of  this  he 
sent  Clam-Gallas,  with  only  6000  men,  including  the  Saxons, 
against  the  140,000  of  the  Elbe  and  1st  armies;  while  to  the 
Silesian  army,  as  it  emerged  from  the  mountain  passes,  he 
thought  it  necessary  to  oppose  an  Austrian  army  corps  for  each 
Prussian  one,  as  though  it  were  a  play  at  fence,  and  not  a  strug- 


344  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

gle  between  half  a  million  of  men.  Such  tactics  could  not  but 
result  in  disaster. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  June  23d,  in  the  best  of  spirits,  the 
Elbe  and  1st  armies  crossed  the  Bohemian  border,  one  on  the 
road  to  Kumburg,  the  other  to  Reichenberg.  The  latter  place 
was  occupied  on  the  24th,  and  the  Zittau-Reichenberg  railroad, 
so  far  as  it  had  been  made  impracticable,  was  quickly  repaired  by 
the  skilled  workmen  who  accompanied  the  army  for  that  special 
purpose.  June  26th  the  troops  of  Count  Clam-Gallas  were  de- 
feated by  Herwarth's  advanced  guard  at  Hiinewasser,  and  on  the 
same  night  by  Prince  Frederic  Charles's  advanced  guard  at  Liebe- 
nau  and  Podol.  This  compelled  Clam-Gallas  to  withdraw  all  his 
troops  from  the  right  bank  of  the  Iscr,  and  suffer  the  Elbe  army 
to  join  that  of  Prince  Frederic  Charles.  On  the  28th  both  armies, 
advancing  in  company,  forced  the  passage  of  the  Iser  after  severe 
fighting,  and  obliged  Clam-Gallas,  with  a  loss  of  about  1800  men, 
to  abandon  the  whole  line  of  that  river,  and  take  up  a  stronger 
position  fourteen  miles  away  in  the  hilly  country  at  Gitschin. 
On  the  29th  he  was  again  defeated  by  two  divisions  of  Prince 
Frederic  Charles's  army,  and  Gitschin,  which  was  occupied  by  the 
Saxons,  was  taken  by  assault  the  same  night.  This  one  day,  on 
which  14,000  Prussians  were  pitted  against  22,000  Austrians  and 
Saxons,  cost  the  former  1020  dead  and  wounded,  while  the  loss 
of  the  enemy  was  5000  men,  including  2000  prisoners.  Clam- 
Gallas,  with  his  disheartened  and  exhausted  troops,  fell  back  to 
Koniggratz.  Frederic  Charles  allowed  his  army  to  rest  at  Gits- 
chin, and  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  Silesian  army,  that  being  the 
appointed  rendezvous. 

Between  the  20th  and  23d  of  June,  in  order  to  mask  his  march 
through  the  passes  of  the  Riesengebirge,  the  crown  prince,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  2d  army,  sent  flying  columns  from  Neisse 
toward  the  border,  to  delude  the  enemy  into  the  belief  that  the 
whole  army  was  advancing  through  Austrian  Silesia  into  Mora- 
via. There  was  some  insignificant  cavalry  skirmishing,  and  the 
ruse  was  so  far  successful  that  the  sudden  appearance  of  this 
army  in  Bohemia  was  a  great  surprise  to  Benedek.  On  the 
morning  of  June  27th,  leaving  10,000  men  to  de-fend  Silesia,  the 
2d  army  crossed  the  border  in  three  columns.  The  1st  army 
corps,  under  General  Bonin,  was  to  set  out  from  Landshut,  march- 
ing by  way  of  Trantenau ;  the  Guard  corps,  under  Prince  August 


STEINMETZ  DEFEATS  THE   AUSTRIANS.  345 

of  ^Viirtemberg,  from  Brannau  by  way  of  Eypel ;  the  5th  army 
corps,  under  General  Steinmetz,  forming  the  left  wing,  from  Rei- 
nerg  by  way  of  Nachod  and  Skalitz;  while  the  6th,  under  Gen- 
eral Mutius,  was  to  follow  the  5th.  To  oppose  this  new  foe 
Benedek  had  the  four  army  corps  of  Gablenz,  Ramming,  Feste- 
tics,  and  Leopold.  Of  these  he  despatched  the  first  two  to  Tran- 
tenau  and  Nachod,  retaining  the  last  two  as  a  reserve.  Accord- 
ingly, Gablenz  had  to  encounter  Bonin  and  the  Guards,  while 
Ramming  was  to  measure  swords  with  Steinmetz,  supported  by 
Mutius. 

June  27th  Bonin,  with  the  1st  army  corps,  drove  the  Austrians 
out  of  Trantenau  and  pushed  them  back  to  Kapellenberg.  To- 
ward evening  Gablenz,  having  received  a  re-enforcement  of  two 
brigades,  resumed  the  fight,  attacking  the  Prussians,  who  were 
exhausted  by  the  march,  the  heat,  and  the  battle,  with  such  ve- 
hemence that  they  were  obliged  to  retreat  across  the  Aupa  to 
Schomberg,  whence  they  had  set  out  that  morning.  Their  loss 
was  1208  dead,  wounded,  and  missing,  but  no  cannon  ;  while  the 
Austrians  lost  5730  men,  half  of  whom  were  taken  prisoners. 
On  the  28th  the  Guard  corps,  whose  assistance  Bonin  had  refused 
as  unnecessary  on  the  previous  morning,  attacked  the  Anstrians 
at  Burgersdorf  and  Soor,  near  Trantenau,  with  such  success  that 
Gablenz  lost  about  4000  dead  and  wounded,  4500  prisoners,  and 
10  cannon,  and  had  to  retreat  to  Koniginhof,  his  soldiers  worn 
out  by  two  days  of  hard  fighting.  On  the  29th  Koniginhof  was 
taken  by  the  Guards,  and  the  bridge  over  the  Elbe  at  that  place 
occupied,  thus  removing  all  obstacles  to  a  junction  with  Prince 
Frederic  Charles. 

The  3d  army  corps,  under  Steinmetz,  had  the  most  difficult 
task.  June  27th,  as  it  was  advancing  along  the  narrow  road 
toward  Nachod  in  a  line  at  least  nine  miles  long,  it  encountered 
the  6th  Austrian  corps,  under  Ramming,  who  for  a  short  time 
at  the  outset  had  the  advantage ;  but,  not  exerting  himself  suf- 
ficiently to  prevent  the  enemy  from  concentrating  his  forces,  he 
was  ultimately  so  badly  beaten  that  on  the  following  day  his 
troops  were  not  fit  to  resume  the  battle,  and  had  to  be  relieved 
by  Archduke  Leopold.  Twenty-five  hundred  prisoners  and  six 
guns  were  captured,  the  total  loss  of  the  Austrians  being  about 
5000  men,  while  only  1200  Prussians  were  killed  and  wounded. 
June  28th  Steinmetz  gathered  new  laurels  at  Skalitz,  where  he 

15* 


346  POLITICAL   BISTORT   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

defeated  Archduke  Leopold,  taking  -2500  prisoners  and  five  gnns. 
The  next  day,  on  his  inarch  toward  Kouitrinhof,  he  met  and  de- 
feated the  4th  Austrian  corps,  under  Count  Festetics,  at  Sehwein- 
schadel  (Jarowirz),  carrying  the  pursuit  up  to  the  very  walls  of 
Josephstadt.  On  the  30th  at  Gradlitz  he  formed  a  junction  with 
the  other  divisions  of  the  crown  prince's  army.  Rendered  com- 
plete by  the  arrival  of  General  Mutius,  this  army  now  held  the 
line  of  the  Elbe  from  Arnau  to  Josephstadt.  Having  in  the  last 
few  days  captured  10,000  prisoners,  20  cannon,  five  colors,  and 
two  standards,  it  was  natural  that  they  should  look  forward  with 
confidence  to  a  decisive  battle. 

Within  a  few  days  Benedek  had  lost  about  35,000  men.  Of 
his  seven  array  corps  five  had  been  beaten,  only  one  of  them  hav- 
ing won  an  advantage  on  the  first  day.  He  now  concentrated  his 
army,  still  numbering  200,000,  but  weakened  and  discouraged  by 
this  series  of  isolated  encounters,  at  Koniggratz,  and  made  ready 
for  a  general  engagement.  He  himself  had  but  little  desire  to 
hazard  a  battle ;  but  his  report  that,  after  so  many  disasters,  the 
army  was  neither  in  the  proper  mood  nor  condition  for  a  decisive 
action,  had  been  answered  by  a  direct  command  from  the  emperor 
to  engage  the  enemy  at  once.  Battle  being  inevitable,  he  took 
np  his  position  between  the  Elbe  and  the  little  stream  of  Bistritz, 
with  a  front  six  or  seven  miles  in  length,  and  occupied  the  most 
favorable  heights  with  his  500  rifled  cannon.  This  position  was 
objectionable,  inasmuch  as  his  flanks  were  not  protected  except 
by  his  own  troops,  while  a  possible  retreat  across  the  Elbe  with 
such  numbers  was  no  trifling  undertaking.  As  for  his  soldiers, 
their  spirits  had  risen  a  little  at  the  prospect  of  wiping  out  recent 
blunders  by  victory. 

On  the  evening  of  July  2d,  as  soon  as  Prince  Frederic  Charles 
received  news  of  this  movement,  he  reported  it  to  Prussian  head- 
quarters at  Gitschin.  King  William,  who  had  left  Berlin  on  the 
29th  of  June,  had  just  arrived  there,  accompanied  by  Bismarck, 
Koon,  and  Moltke,  and  assumed  the  chief  command  over  all  the 
Prussian  armies.  He  received  the  news  shortly  before  midnight, 
and  at  Moltke's  advice  resolved  to  adopt  the  prince's  proposition 
and  attack  on  the  following  day  with  his  whole  force.  Adjutants 
at  once  bore  the  order  to  advance  to  Herwarth  and  the  crown 
prince.  The  former  received  the  order  at  1  o'clock,  and  the 
latter,  who  was  at  Koniginhof,  at  4  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 


THE  BATTLE  OF  SADOWA.  347 

both  set  out  for  Koniggratz  with  as  little  delay  as  possible.  But 
the  crown  prince's  troops  were  at  a  considerable  distance  from 
the  field  of  battle,  two  and  a  half  army  corps  being  more  than 
twelve  miles  away.  The  plan  was  for  Prince  Frederic  Charles, 
who  was  nearest  to  the  enemy,  to  occupy  him  in  front  until  Her- 
warth,  who  was  at  Smidar,  seven  or  eight  miles  distant  on  the 
right,  and  the  crown  prince's  army,  which  formed  the  left  wing, 
could  attack  the  enemy  on  both  flanks.  If  everything  worked  as 
it  had  been  planned  at  head-quarters,  it  was  hoped  not  merely  to 
defeat  but  to  annihilate  Benedek's  army. 

The  Prussians  numbered  200,000 ;  but  of  these  only  about 
150,000  actually  took  part  in  the  battle,  as  several  divisions  of 
the  crown  prince's  army  did  not  arrive  in  time.  At  8  o'clock,  at 
the  village  of  Dub,  the  king,  attended  by  the  Duke  of  Coburg, 
Roon,  Moltke,  and  Bismarck,  joined  the  advance-guard  of  Prince 
Frederic  Charles,  which  was  already  in  action,  and  assumed  com- 
mand in  person.  During  the  whole  forenoon  the  1st  army  had 
to  bear  alone  the  brunt  of  the  severe  fighting  at  Sadowa  and  the 
Bistritz  fords — three  army  corps  against  six  for  four  or  five  hours, 
some  divisions  suffering  terribly  from  the  Austrian  artillery  and 
chasseurs.  On  the  enemy's  left,  where  the  Saxons  obstinately 
defended  the  village  of  Ober-Prim  and  the  heights  of  Proclus, 
Herwarth  found  more  resistance  than  he  had  expected, -and  it 
was  not  until  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  that  he  was  sufficient- 
ly master  of  the  situation  to  unite  with  the  army  of  Prince  Fred- 
eric Charles.  On  the  enemy's  right  Fransecky's  division  in  the 
woods  before  the  heights  of  Chlum,  exposed  for  four  hours,  from 
9  to  1,  to  a  terrible  fire  of  grape-shot  and  to  the  impetuous 
charges  of  the  Austrians,  far  superior  in  point  of  number,  fought 
with  unconquerable  bravery,  and,  in  spite  of  the  loss  of  a  full 
quarter  of  their  infantry,  covered  the  left  wing  of  the  Prussian 
line  until  the  first  columns  of  the  crown  prince's  army  came  in 
sight,  bringing  the  much-needed  succor.  Those  had  been  mo- 
ments of  suspense,  as  the  Prussian  generals  anxiously  strained 
their  eyes  in  the  direction  from  which  the  crown  prince's  army 
was  expected  to  arrive.  If  that  army  delayed,  the  battle  was 
lost,  and  only  retreat  could  save  the  Prussian  centre  from  de- 
struction. It  was  a  repetition  of  Wellington  at  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  anxiously  awaiting  Bliicher's  arrival.  It  had  already 
been  proposed  to  draw  off  the  infantry,  when,  like  Bliicher,  at 


348  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

the  last  moment  the  crown  prince  appeared,  and  the  battle  was 
won. 

The  crown  prince's  army,  especially  the  artillery,  was  seriously 
retarded  in  its  march  by  the  hilly  nature  of  the  country,  and  the 
soft  condition  of  the  roads  owing  to  the  recent  rains,  so  that  it 
was  not  until  almost  10  o'clock  that  one  division  of  the  Guards 
reached  the  scene.  This  was  followed  by  the  6th  army  corps, 
then  by  the  1st,  and,  finally,  the  second  division  of  the  Guards 
arrived,  each  entering  into  action  as  it  came  up.  The  Austrian 
right  wing,  which  had  been  inflicting  terrible  damage  with  its  ar- 
tillery on  Prince  Frederic  Charles's  left,  was  obliged  to  turn  about 
and  begin  a  new  battle  with  the  Guards  and  the  6th  army  corps 
(Mutius).  In  their  first  onslaught  the  latter  took  the  villages  of 
Horeniowes  and  Ratsclritz.  The  space  between  Maslowed,  Cis1 
towes,  and  Chlurn,  where  Fransecky's  division  was  still  fighting, 
had  been  almost  stripped  of  defenders.  Into  this  gap  pressed 
General  Hiller  with  the  first  division  of  the  Guards,  and  in  face 
of  a  murderous  artillery  fire  succeeded  in  taking  the  heights  of 
Chlura,  the  key  to  the  whole  Austrian  position,  and  the  village  of 
Rozberitz.  This  turned  the  Austrian  position  on  the  heights  of 
Lipa,  whence  death  and  destruction  had  been  hurled  into  the 
Prussian  lines  the  whole  morning.  Shortly  before  3  o'clock  Bene- 
dek,  who  had  taken  up  his  station  at  that  point,  learned  what  had 
been  happening  in  his  rear  during  the  last  half-hour,  but  could 
scarcely  believe  it  possible  until  he  saw  it  with  his  own  eyes. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  it  had  been  his  mistake  and 
infatuation  to  disregard  the  crown  prince's  army,  and  attribute  no 
importance  to  its  movements.  In  the  disposition  of  his  forces  at 
Koniggratz  he  had  acted  exactly  as  if  no  such  army  existed  to 
threaten  him  with  destruction  by  an  attack  in  flank  and  rear. 
Now  that  he  realized  the  situation,  he  lost  no  time  in  hurling  his 
reserves  against  Killer's  division,  in  order  to  recover  the  lost  posi- 
tions at  any  price.  Rozberitz  was  retaken,  but  on  the  heights  of 
Chlum  Hiller  received  re-enforcements  of  cavalry  and  infantry, 
the  first  columns  of  the  second  division  of  the  Guard  corps  and 
the  1st  army  corps  (Bonin)  coming  to  his  assistance.  For  a  full 
hour  the  battle  raged  furiously  about  this  point.  The  gallant 
Hiller  himself  was  laid  low  by  a  bombshell.  At  half -past  4 
the  battalions  of  the  1st  army  corps,  which  had  just  reached  the 
heights  of  Chlum,  repulsed  the  last  attack  of  the  Austrians,  and 


LOSSES   OF  BOTH   COMBATANTS.  349 

dashed  forward  against  Rozberitz,  sweeping  everything  before 
them,  while  the  advance-guard  of  the  second  Guard  division  car- 
ried the  heights  of  Lipa.  The  most  important  positions  had  been 
won,  and  victory  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Prussians. 

Benedek  gave  the  order  to  retreat.  All  the  cavalry  of  Prince 
Frederic  Charles's  army  set  themselves  in  pursuit.  A  division 
of  Mutius's  corps  seized  the  reserve  cannon,  which  had  been  sta- 
tioned at  Swietj  to  cover  the  line  of  retreat,  and  bombarded  the 
retiring  Austrians  from  the  heights  at  that  place ;  then,  pushing 
forward  to  the  Koniggratz  road,  compelled  the  enemy  to  swerve 
off  toward  the  south-west.  The  Austrian  reserve  cavalry  took 
up  its  position  at  Streselitz,  south  of  Chlum,  for  the  purpose  of 
rendering  the  retreat  of  the  infantry  and  artillery  easier,  but  was 
unable  to  withstand  the  attack  of  the  Prussian  horse.  The  re- 
treat degenerated  more  and  more  into  wild  flight,  some  taking 
refuge  under  the  guns  of  Koniggratz,  the  rest  making  their  way 
to  Pardubitz.  The  Austrian  loss  was  enormous — about  42,000 
men — of  whom  4600  were  killed,  14,000  wounded,  20,000  capt- 
ured, and  4000  missing.  In  addition  to  this,  174  cannon  and 
11  colors  were  left  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  That  some  at 
least  of  Benedek's  soldiers  had  fought  well  was  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  Prussians  had  1840  dead  and  6688  wounded,  in 
addition  to  which  there  were  278  missing,  making  a  total  loss 
in  round  numbers  of  8800  men.  No  cannon  were  lost  on  the 
Prussian  side.  At  half-past  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  July 
3d  the  commandant  of  Josephstadt  telegraphed  an  Austrian  vic- 
tory to  Vienna;  on  the  4th  the  Austrian  papers  announced,  "Our 
northern  army  no  longer  exists." 

The  battle  of  Koniggratz  decided  the  campaign.  The  north- 
ern army,  which  had  met  with  nothing  but  disasters  in  the  last 
eight  days,  was  so  shattered  that  the  emperor  could  not  venture 
another  battle,  especially  against  an  enemy  who,  besides  his  other 
advantages,  had  confidence  of  victory,  and  after  his  recent  suc- 
cesses felt  equal  to  any  undertaking.  Gaps  were  filled  up,  and 
fresh  strength  added  to  the  Prussian  army  by  bringing  up  a  part 
of  Miilbe's  reserve  corps,  which  had  been  left  behind  in  Saxony. 
As  the  capture  of  an  Austrian  field  post  revealed  Benedek's  in- 
tention of  retiring  to  the  strongly  fortified  Olmiitz — in  the  con- 
viction that  the  Prussians  would  not  dare  to  march  against  Vi- 
enna if  they  were  threatened  in  flank  and  rear  by  a  numerous 


350  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

army — only  sending  Gablenz's  corps  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
cavalry  to  the  capital  by  way  of  Briinn,  King  William  determined 
to  detail  the  crown  prince's  army  to  keep  the  enemy  prisoner  in 
Olmiitz,  while  Prince  Frederic  Charles  moved  on  Vienna  by  way 
of  Briinn,  and  Herwarth  pursued  the  direct  road  through  Iglau. 
The  truce  which  Gablenz,  at  Benedek's  direction,  attempted  to 
negotiate  in  Prussian  head-quarters  on  the  4th  of  July  and  again 
on  the  10th  was  not  granted  for  very  evident  reasons.  The  fail- 
ure to  pursue  the  foe  energetically,  as  Gneisenau  had  done  after 
the  battle  of  Waterloo,  had  already  detracted  quite  enough  from 
the  military  and  political  advantages  of  the  great  victory  that 
had  been  won.  On  the  6th  of  July  the  whole  Prussian  army  set 
out  from  Pardubitz  southward,  leaving  only  a  corps  of  observa- 
tion before  the  fortresses  of  Koniggratz  and  Josephstadt.  On 
the  8th  General  Rosenberg -Gruszinsky  with  a  division  of  the 
gardelandwehr  occupied  Prague,  which  had  been  evacuated  by 
the  Austrians. 

In  Vienna  the  threatening  danger  was  fully  appreciated.  The 
specie  in  the  bank  was  at  once  transported  to  the  Hungarian  for- 
tress of  Komorn ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  Florisdorf  trenches, 
north  of  the  capital,  which  were  being  strengthened  and  put  in 
order  with  feverish  haste,  every  one  prepared  for  the  capture  of 
the  city.  The  emperor  could  think  of  no  more  skilful  means  to 
check  the  victorious  advance  of  the  enemy  than  the  cession  to 
Napoleon,  before  all  the  world,  of  the  province  of  Venetia,  which 
had  already  been  ceded  secretly,  and  the  use  of  his  intervention 
for  the  restoration  of  peace.  Accordingly,  on  the  5th  of  July 
the  cession  of  Venetia  to  France  was  made  public.  The  emperor 
reasoned  that  if  by  this  means  Venetia  became  a  French  prov- 
ince, Victor  Emmanuel  could  win  it  only  by  yielding  to  Napo- 
leon's wishes,  and  Austria  would  thus  have  its  whole  southern 
army,  the  conquerors  of  Custozza,  free  to  hurl  against  the  Prus- 
sians. At  the  same  time  he  secretly  hoped  that  Napoleon,  jeal- 
ous of  Prussia's  new  trophies,  would  command  an  instant  halt, 

and  dictate  an  imperative  either or,  leaving  no  other  choice 

than  the  acceptance  of  his  conditions,  or  a  war  on  the  Rhine  in 
addition  to  that  on  the  Danube.  As  Lombardy  had  been  sur- 
rendered in  1859,  so  Venetia  was  surrendered  in  1866,  in  order 
to  check  Prussia  and  maintain  Austria's  position  in  Germany. 
Napoleon  and  his  statesmen  were  "filled  with  patriotic  anxiety 


FRENCH  MISCALCULATION.  351 

by  the  improbable  and  unexpected  occurrence  of  the  victory  of 
Koniggratz,"  as  Rouher,  then  Minister  of  State,  said  in  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly  in  March  of  1867.  They  had  calmly  looked  on 
at  the  commencement  of  the  war  in  the  expectation  that  it  would 
be  of  the  most  stubborn  description,  and  that  both  Prussia  and 
Austria  would  come  out  of  it  so  weakened  that  Napoleon  might 
step  between  as  arbitrator  whenever  he  chose,  re-model  Europe 
according  to  his  plan  of  June  llth,  and,  by  way  of  compensation 
for  his  trouble,  secure  for  himself  the  coveted  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine.  Like  Austria  and  the  German  secondary  states,  he  had 
undervalued  the  capabilities  of  the  Prussian  army,  and  paid  too 
little  attention  to  the  certainty  and  precision  of  its  operations 
during  the  Danish  war.  This  only  made  his  consternation  at  the 
victory  of  Koniggriitz,  and  his  fear  of  the  consequences,  greater. 
His  plans  were  at  once  readjusted ;  for  it  was  plain  that  hence- 
forward not  Austria  but  Prussia  would  hold  the  place  of  influ- 
ence in  Germany,  and  that  the  increase  of  strength  and  territory 
in  the  north,  which  he  had  indicated  as  desirable,  had  already 
overstepped  the  wishes  and  supposed  interests  of  France.  It  was 
necessary  now  to  direct  his  efforts  toward  restraining  Prussia's 
victorious  career  as  much  as  possible,  and  depriving  her  so  far  as 
might  be  of  the  fruits  of  her  victory. 

This  result  could,  of  course,  have  been  most  readily  attained  by 
military  intervention  ;  but,  to  Napoleon's  intense  grief,  the  French 
army  had  been  reduced  to  such  a  wretched  plight  in  consequence 
of  the  Mexican  expedition,  that  intervention  was  at  that  time  an 
utter  impossibility.  Randon,  the  then  minister  of  war,  unwilling 
constantly  to  ask  for  new  appropriations  for  the  Mexican  expe- 
dition from  a  chamber  so  discontented  with  that  enterprise,  al- 
lowed not  only  the  army  but  also  all  the  reserve  stores,  arsenals, 
armories,  and  magazines  to  fall  into  such  a  state  of  utter  decay, 
that  on  the  3d  of  July,  1866,  France  was  unable  to  equip  and 
put  in  the  field  even  50,000  men.  Such  a  state  of  affairs  was 
not  adapted  to  armed  intervention,  and  consequently  no  other 
course  remained  than  to  play  the  more  modest  and  less  danger- 
ous role  of  officious  monitor  and  adviser.  By  the  offer  of  Vene- 
tia  he  endeavored  to  dissuade  Italy  from  the  further  prosecution 
of  the  war,  and  hoped,  in  any  event,  to  induce  -both  Italy  and 
Prussia  to  conclude  an  immediate  truce.  .  But  neither  of  the 
allies  accepted  his  propositions.  King  William  definitely  an- 


352  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   IlECEXT   TIMES. 

nounced  that  he  would  gladly  meet  Napoleon's  efforts  half-way, 
at  least  so  far  as  a  truce  was  concerned,  as  soon  as  Francis  Joseph 
was  ready  to  accept  his  main  conditions ;  but  in  the  mean  time 
he  would  not  allow  his  military  action  to  be  interfered  with. 
So  the  Austrian  project  was  in  the  main  frustrated,  Venetia  lost, 
and  nothing  gained  by  it  in  Germany.  The  80,000  men  which 
Francis  Joseph  transferred  from  Italy,  where  the  strictest  defen- 
sive was  to  be  observed,  to  the  Danube,  were  not  strong  enough, 
in  conjunction  with  the  fragments  of  the  shattered  northern 
army,  to  make  head  against  the  Prussians;  and,  furthermore, 
they  could  not  all  be  collected  in  the  neighborhood  of  Vienna 
before  the  22d  or  even  the  26th  of  July,  and  by  that  time  the 
capital  might  be  already,  taken.  July  13th  Archduke  Albert, 
who  had  been  recalled  from  Italy,  assumed  the  chief  command 
of  all  the  Austrian  armies,  Benedek  being  deprived  of  his  office, 
but  remaining  in  service  temporarily  as  subordinate  to  the  arch- 
duke. Generals  Clam-Gallas,  Henikstein  (chief  of  staff),  and  Kris- 
manic  (quartermaster-general),  had  been  removed  on  the  3d  of 
July,  before  the  beginning  of  the  battle.  Later  they  were  tried 
before  a  court-martial,  but  acquitted. 

King  William  remained  with  the  army  of  Prince  Frederic 
Charles,  which  was  to  march  on  Vienna  by  way  of  Briinn.  The 
latter  place  was  entered  on  the  13th  with  no  other  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  Austrians  than  an  insignificant  cavalry  engage- 
ment at  Saar  on  the  10th.  On  the  16th  Lundenbnrg,  on  the 
Thaya,  was  occupied,  which  made  the  Prussians  masters  of  the 
railroad  between  Olmiitz  and  Vienna.  On  the  18th  the  royal 
head-quarters  were  in  Nikolsburg,  forty-five  miles  from  Viennar, 
while  the  advanced  posts  had  been  pushed  forward  within  eigh- 
teen miles  of  that  city.  In  the  mean  time  General  Herwarth,  who, 
with  the  army  of  the  Elbe,  formed  the  right  wing,  marching  by 
way  of  Iglav  and  Znaym,  defeated  a  cavalry  brigade  at  Jetzelsdorf 
on  the  14th,  and  occupied  Hollebrunn  on  the  16th,  his  advanced 
posts  being  not  more  than  fourteen  miles  from  Vienna.  Arch-- 
duke Albert  held  the  presence  of  the  northern  army  to  be  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  threatened  capital. 
Shortly  after  his  arrival  at  Olmutz,  Benedek  had  despatched  the 
3d  army  corps  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Saxon  troops  to  Vi- 
enna by  rail,  hut  he  still  retained  in  his  intrenched  camp  five 
infantry  corps  and  one  cavalry  division.  His  plan  was  to  attack 


BENEDEK  RECALLED  TO  VIENNA.         353 

the  army  of  the  crown  prince  with  these  forces  and  prevent  his 
junction  with  the  two  other  armies;  but  on  the  12th  and  13th 
he  received  imperative  commands  to  set  out  for  Vienna  at  once 
with  all  his  troops.  As  the  direct  road  by  way  of  Briinn  and 
Nikolsburg  was  already  closed,  he  was  obliged  to  have  recourse 
to  the  Olmiitz-Presburg  railroad.  This  had  been  cut  at  Lunden- 
burg,  and  could  be  used  only  part  of  the  way,  the  remainder  of 
the  distance  being  accomplished  on  foot,  from  the  valley  of  the 
March  across  the  lesser  Carpathians  to  the  valley  of  the  Waag, 
and  thence  to  Presburg.  The  greater  part  of  his  troops  reached 
that  city  on  the  26th,  one  corps  only — the  2d,  commanded  by 
Thun — arriving  as  early  as  the  22d.  To  reconnoitre  Benedek's 
march  from  Olmiitz,  and  inflict  as  much  damage  as  possible,  the 
crown  prince  sent  out  Hartman's  cavalry  corps  and  one  of  Bo- 
nin's  divisions.  At  Tabitschau  they  drove  back  one  army  corps 
of  the  enemy,  making  over  six  hundred  prisoners,  and  capturing 
eighteen  guns.  The  light  horse  advanced  as  far  as  the  railroad 
station  at  Prerau,  but  after  a  brief  encounter  were  obliged  to  re- 
treat before  superior  numbers.  Leaving  Benin's  corps — which 
was  shortly  reduced  to  a  single  division  of  that  corps — to  watch 
the  fortress  of  Olmiitz,  the  crown  prince  marched  southward, 
and  joined  Prince  Frederic  Charles  on  the  19th  at  Nikolsburg 
and  Lundenburg,  forming  the  reserve  of  his  army. 

The  whole  Prussian  army,  increased  to  240,000  by  the  addi- 
tion of  reserves,  was  again  united.  Its  extreme  left  wing  was 
only  half  a  day's  march  from  Presburg;  its  extreme  right  was  in 
Krems,  where  the  Austrians  had  blown  up  the  bridge  over  the 
Danube.  Before  them  the  blue  river  mirrored  the  towers  of 
Presburg  and  Vienna,  and  by  night  the  foremost  troops  saw  the 
lighted  windows  in  the  Austrian  capital.  Notwithstanding  hard- 
ships and  cholera,  all  burnt  with  eagerness  for  the  attack,  antici- 
pating the  triumphal  entrance  that  would  follow.  July  20th  the  ad- 
vanced posts  were  only  six  and  three-quarter  miles  from  the  Floris- 
dorf  trenches.  One  quick  stroke,  and  Vienna  was  taken.  Not  more 
than  130,000  defenders  stood  before  the  city;  but, in  addition  to 
these,  110,000  men  of  the  northern  army  were  expected  at  Pres- 
burg between  the  22d  and  the  26th.  On  the  21st  Prince  Fred- 
eric Charles  sent  Fransecky  against  that  city  with  two  divisions 
of  cavalry  and  one  of  infantry.  On  the  22d  Fransecky  attacked 
Thun's  corps,  which  was  just  arriving,  and  Mondl's  brigade,  which 


354  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

was  stationed  at  Blumenau.  Ordering  Bose's  brigade  to  pass 
around  to  the  left  across  the  spurs  of  the  lesser  Carpathians,  and 
take  Mondl  in  the  rear,  he  maintained  the  fight  in  front,  chiefly 
at  artillery  distance.  About  11  o'clock  he  charged  the  enemy, 
and  forced  his  left  wing  to  yield  ground.  It  was  12  o'clock 
when  he  received  news  from  Bose  that  the  manoeuvre  had  been 
successfully  carried  out ;  that  he  had  scattered  several  battalions 
of  Thun's  corps,  and  was  already  at  the  Jagermiihle,  on  the  road 
between  Presburg  and  Blumenau.  The  annihilation  of  Mondl's 

O 

brigade  and  Thun's  fatigued  and  scattered  troops,  and  the  conse- 
quent capture  of  Presburg,  would  have  been  the  certain  results  of 
the  day,  but  at  that  very  moment  an  Austrian  officer  appeared 
under  a  flao-  of  truce  to  inform  Franseckv  that  a  five  days'  armis- 

O  •!  *l 

tice  had  been  concluded,  to  take  effect  at  mid-day  on  the  22d. 
All  hostilities  were  therefore  forthwith  suspended.  General  Bose 
had  the  satisfaction  of  bivouacking  for  twenty-four  hours  in  the 
position  which  he  had  won,  thus  making  Mondl's  troops  pass  in 
front  of  him  on  their  march  to  Presburg,  by  way  of  showing  how 
certain  a  Prussian  victory  would  have  been.  The  engagement  at 
Blumenau  closed  the  fighting  between  Prussia  and  Austria,  and 
diplomacy  began  its  battles. 

Napoleon  made  every  exertion  to  prevent  the  Prussians  from 
entering  Vienna,  as  that  might  tend  to  obscure  his  uncle's  fame. 
The  activity  of  his  diplomats  was  unremitting.  At  his  command 
Benedetti,  the  French  ambassador  in  Berlin,  arrived  at  Prussian 
head-quarters  on  the  14th  of  July,  while  at  the  same  time  the 
Duke  of  Gramont  was  busily  at  work  in  Vienna.  The  former 
was  to  dissuade  from  excessive  demands,  the  latter  persuade  to 
greater  concessions.  To  Bismarck  the  diplomatic  intervention  of 
France  was  so  unwelcome  that,  in  order  to  spare  Napoleon  farther 
trouble,  he  made  direct  overtures  to  the  Vienna  cabinet  through 
Giskra,  the  burgomaster  of  Briinn.  Austria  was  at  liberty  to  en- 
ter into  relations  with  south  Germany,  which  was  to  remain  mis- 
tress of  its  own  destiny,  but  only  on  condition  that  all  French  in- 
tervention or  mediation  should  be  excluded.  The  negotiator  was 
detained  in  Vienna  so  long  that  on  his  return  to  Nicholsburg 
French  intervention  was  already  a  fait  accompli.  On  the  14th 
of  July  Napoleon  laid  before  the  two  cabinets  six  propositions, 
which,  after  being  modified  by  Count  Bismarck  into  a  shape  far 
more  favorable  to  Prussia,  formed  the  basis  for  the  preliminaries 


PRELIMINARIES  OF   PEACE.  355 

of  peace  later  adopted.  It  was  to  the  advantage  of  Prussia  to 
protract  the  negotiations,  in  order  that  she  might  be  able  to 
throw  the  military  successes  of  the  next  few  days  into  the  scale. 
As  preliminary  conditions  to  any  negotiation  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia demanded  Austria's  withdrawal  from  the  German  Confedera- 
tion, free  scope  to  round  out  the  Prussian  boundaries  and  organ- 
ize a  new  confederation  in  north  Germany,  and  finally  the  an- 
nexation of  Schleswig-Holstein  ;  and  announced  that  until  Austria 
accepted  these  conditions  any  truce  or  ^negotiations  with  refer- 
ence to  peace  were  impossible.  The  king  was  more  concerned 
about  the  increase  of  territory,  Bismarck  about  the  formation  of 
a  new  confederation;  but  it  proved  quite  possible  to  harmonize 
the  two  points  of  view.  If  Napoleon  did  not  wish  to  become  in- 
volved in  war  with  Prussia,  or  perhaps  with  Germany,  there  was 
nothing  left  but  to  assent  to  the  Prussian  programme,  which  he 
did,  in  a  despatch  of  July  19th,  with  remarkable  modesty.  The 
only  cession  of  territory  exacted  from  Austria  was  Venetia,  which 
she  had  long  since  resolved  to  cede.  To  withdraw  from  Ger- 
many was  a  severe  blow  for  all  Austria,  but  especially  for  the 
Hapsburg  dynasty,  and  it  was  only  the  pressure  of  iron  necessity 
that  extracted  from  Francis  Joseph  his  consent.  July  20th,  the 
most  important  points  having  been  agreed  upon,  negotiations  for 
a  temporary  suspension  of  hostilities  commenced.  This  took  ef- 
fect, as  above  mentioned,  at  mid-day  of  the  22d,  and  was  to  last 
five  days.  During  that  time  negotiations  were  conducted  in  the 
Prussian  head-quarters  at  Nikolsburg  with  reference  to  a  formal 
truce  and  the  preliminaries  of  peace,  the  Austrian  Counts  Karolyi 
and  Degenfeld,  and  the  Italian  Count  Barral  meeting  the  Prussian 
plenipotentiaries  in  the  presence  of  the  aged  king.  The  Bava- 
rian minister,  von  der  Pfordten,  appeared,  uninvited,  to  negotiate 
in  the  name  of  the  south  German  states ;  but  as  he  had  no  cre- 
dentials from  Wiirtemburg,  Baden,  and  Hesse-Darmstadt,  which 
were  not  themselves  represented,  he  could  not  be  admitted.  On 
the  27th  of  July  a  formal  truce  and  the  preliminaries  of  peace 
were  signed.  To  gain  time  for  Italy's  consent,  the  existing  sus- 
pension of  hostilities  was  prolonged  to  the  2d  of  August,  at 
which  date  a  formal  truce  of  four  weeks  was  to  begin.  On  the 
28th  of  July  a  truce  for  three  weeks,  to  commence  on  the  2d  of 
August,  was  concluded  with  Bavaria  also,  her  request  for  an  im- 
mediate cessation  of  hostilities  on  the  Main  not  being  granted. 


356  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

With  reference  to  the  other  three  south  German  states,  a  prom- 
ise was  given  that  they  should  be  treated  the  same  as  Bavaria,  in 
case  they  made  express  application  to  that  effect. 

In  the  preliminaries  of  Nikolsburg,  Francis  Joseph  recognized 
the  dissolution  of  the  existing  Confederation,  and  gave  his  con- 
sent to  a  reorganization  of  Germany  with  Austria  left  out.  Sim- 
ilarly in  Art.  4  he  promised  to  recognize  the  more  closely  united 
confederation  which  the  King  of  Prussia  proposed  to  establish 
north  of  the  line  of  the  Main.  The  states  lying  south  of  that 
line  were  to  be  at  liberty  to  form  a  separate  union,  the  connec- 
tion of  which  with  the  North  German  Confederation  was  to  be 
defined  by  agreement  of  the  two  parties.  The  Austrian  emperor 
ceded  to  Prussia  his  rights  in  the  Elbe  duchies — by  Art.  5  the 
northern  districts  of  Schleswig  were  to  decide  by  a  free  vote 
whether  they  would  be  re-united  to  Denmark  or  not — paid  about 
$15,000,000  (20,000,000  thalers)  war  indemnity,  and  consented 
to  the  territorial  changes  which  Prussia  proposed  to  make  in 
north  Germany.  In  exchange  for  this  Prussia  left  Saxony  in 
full  possession  of  its  former  territory,  and  undertook  to  settle 
the  position  of  that  state  in  the  North  German  Confederation  by 
a  treaty  of  peace.  Prussia  also  engaged  to  procure  the  King  of 
Italy's  consent  to  the  truce  and  the  preliminaries  as  soon  as  Na- 
poleon surrendered  Venetia.  Until  a  definitive  peace  was  con- 
cluded the  Prussian  troops  were  to  occupy  almost  the  whole  of 
Bohemia  and  Moravia.  August  23d  the  preliminaries  agreed 
upon  at  Nikolsburg  were  finally  ratified  by  the  peace  of  Prague. 

Napoleon,  anxious  that  the  re-organization  of  Germany  should 
begin  with  a  schism,  did  not  wish  to  see  the  states  south  of  the 
Main — Bavaria,  Wiirtemberg,  Baden,  and  Hesse-Darmstadt — sub- 
ject to  Prussia,  and  so  the  words  "  and  which  shall  have  an  inter- 
national, independent  existence "  were  appended  to  Art.  4,  the 
article  treating  of  south  Germany.  It  was  not  in  the  interests  of 
Austria,  but  of  France,  that  Napoleon  wished  to  see  this  Main  line 
drawn,  and  an  independent  position  accorded  to  those  states.  He 
hoped  by  this  means  to  rescue  at  least  some  part  of  his  pro- 
gramme of  June  llth,  and  expected  that  south  Germany  would 
seek  a  protector  in  the  French  emperor,  as  it  had  done  in  1806, 
and  become  in  political  and  military  matters  the  ally  of  France 
against  the  new  and  dangerously  strengthened  Prussia.  But  this 
was  not  enough  to  satisfy  him.  His  ambassador,  Count  Bene- 


PEACE   OF  PRAGUE.  357 

detti,  had  been  excluded  from  the  conferences  with,  the  Austrian 
plenipotentiaries  in  Nicholsburg,  and  first  learned  from  Bismarck, 
on  the  26th  of  July,  that  the  preliminaries  had  been  agreed  upon. 
In  answer  to  his  question  as  to  what  compensation  France  was  to 
receive  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  he  was  informed  that  after 
such  a  brilliant  campaign  it  would  be  impossible  to  persuade  the 
king  to  surrender  Rhenish  territory.  Benedetti  reported  this  to 
the  emperor,  and  on  the  5th  of  August  received  from  him  from 
Vichy  the  draught  of  a  treaty  by  which  France  was  to  acquire 
Rhenish  Bavaria  and  Rhenish  Hesse,  including  the  fortress  of 
Mayence — the  boundaries  of  1814 — the  existing  relation  between 
Luxemburg  and  the  German  Confederation  was  to  be  dissolved, 
and  the  Prussian  right  of  garrison  in  the  fortress  of  Luxemburg 
renounced.  This  document  was  at  once  communicated  to  Bis- 
marck, who,  together  with  the  king,  had  reached  Berlin  on  the  4th, 
and  on  the  6th  Benedetti  had  a  personal  interview  with  him.  In 
this  interview  he  announced  that  in  case  these  demands  were  not 
granted  France  would  declare  war.  He  added,  furthermore,  that 
he  should  recommend  the  emperor  to  insist  on  these  conditions, 
since  the  failure  to  obtain  compensation  might  endanger  his  very 
throne.  Bismarck's  reply  was  simple  :  "  Good  ;  then  it  is  war." 
With  this  answer  Benedetti  took  his  departure  for  Paris.  But 
Napoleon  concluded  to  think  twice  before  casting  away  through 
a  declaration  of  war  the  line  of  the  Main,  which  it  had  been  so 
hard  to  win,  and  himself  assisting  in  the  unification  of  Germany. 
Accordingly  Bismarck  was  informed  that  the  demand  for  a  ces- 
sion of  territory  and  the  threat  of  war  had  been  wrung  from  the 
emperor  during  his  illness ;  and  by  way  of  proving  this  Drouyn, 
the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  was  dismissed.  The  idea  of  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine  was  given  up,  and  Napoleon  turned  his 
eyes  toward  Luxemburg  and  Belgium. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Italians  had  again  assumed  the  offensive. 
In  the  diplomatic  negotiations  of  July  5th  their  behavior  had 
been  unexceptionable,  but  in  military  matters  the  case  was  differ- 
ent, and  neither  at  sea  nor  on  land  did  they  achieve  any  success. 
They  were  very  proud  of  their  fleet,  which  had  been  considerably 
strengthened  in  the  last  few  years,  and  felt  certain  that  in  the 
event  of  a  naval  encounter  the  Austrians  must  be  annihilated. 
On  the  lYth  of  July  Admiral  Persano  sailed  out  of  the  harbor  of 
Ancona  with  twenty-three  ships,  ten  of  them  iron-clads,  and  2200 


358  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

landing  troops,  for  the  purpose  of  possessing  himself  of  the  isl- 
and of  Lissa,  which  was  of  great  importance  for  the  control  of 
those  waters.  The  bombardment  of  the  forts  began  on  the  19th, 
and  Persano  was  just  about  to  land  his  troops  on  the  20th,  when 
Rear-admiral  Tegetthoff  appeared  upon  the  scene  with  twenty-two 
ships,  only  seven  of  which  were  iron-clads.  In  a  sharp  fight  of 
four  hours'  duration  the  Austrians  gave  a  most  brilliant  proof  of 
their  superiority  in  point  of  manoeuvring.  The  large  Italian  iron- 
clad King  of  Italy  was  run  down  by  the  armored  ram  Archduke 
Max,  and  the  armored  gun-boat  Palestro  set  on  fire  and  blown 
up.  The  Austrian  Kaiser,  although  a  wooden  ship,  succeeded  by 
its  well-directed  fire  in  repulsing  all  the  attacks  of  the  Italian 
iron-clads.  Persano  was  compelled  to  return  to  Ancona.  He 
was  later  court-martialed  and  found  guilty,  although  on  his  trial 
he  attempted  to  lay  the  blame  upon  the  administration  of  the 
navy,  which  he  accused  of  fitting  out  the  fleet  poorly,  and  then 
forcing  him  into  battle  against  his  will. 

The  war  on  land  presented  no  great  difficulties  after  Austria 
had  drawn  off  80,000  men  to  the  Danube.  Victor  Emmanuel 
did  not  recognize  the  cession  of  Venetia  to  Napoleon;  and  the 
latter,  unable,  on  account  of  the  Prussian-Italian  alliance,  to  turn 
the  Austrian  gift  to  account  in  the  way  he  had  intended,  let  mat- 
ters take  their  own  course.  The  Austrians,  vacating  the  open 
country,  shut  themselves  up  in  the  Quadrilateral — which  Lamar- 
mora  needlessly  watched  with  a  force  of  six  or  seven  divisions 
— so  that  Cialdini's  march  with  eight  divisions  across  the  Po, 
Adige,  Brenta,  and  Tagliamento  was  nothing  more  than  a  mili- 
tary promenade.  The  only  deed  of  arms  was  the  capture  of  the 
important  barbacan  of  Borgoforte,  on  the  Po,  where  the  works 
were  so  battered  by  the  Italian  artillery  that  the  garrison  evacu- 
ated them  (July  17th),  and  retreated  to  Mantua.  Garibaldi,  with 
his  volunteers,  accomplished  less  in  the  Tyrol  than  had  been  ex- 
pected of  him.  He  made  his  way  into  the  valley  of  Judicaria, 
west  of  Lake  Garda,  but  could  do  nothing  against  the  practised 
Tyrolese  sharpshooters,  especially  as  he  was  suffering  from  a 
wound  received  in  an  engagement  on  the  3d  of  July.  The  cam- 
paign dragged  on  for  four  weeks  in  a  series  of  petty  skirmishes. 
It  seemed  about  to  take  a  more  favorable  turn  for  Garibaldi 
when  General  Medici,  whom  Cialdini  had  sent  with  one  division 
against  Treuto,  succeeded,  after  a  few  victorious  encounters,  in 


ANNEXATION  OF  VENETIA.  359 

making  his  way  to  within  a  few  miles  of  that  town ;  but  just 
then  the  suspension  of  hostilities  agreed  upon  in  Nicholsburg 
put  an  end  to  the  fighting  in  the  Tyrol,  as  it  had  already  done 
elsewhere.  It  was  published  in  Italy  on  the  25th  of  July ;  but 
as  Victor  Emmanuel,  claiming  for  Italy  the  Italian -speaking 
southern  Tyrol,  as  well  as  Venetia,  announced  that  he  would 
continue  to  occupy  the  part  of  the  former  which  he  had  al- 
ready taken,  the  war  seemed  in  danger  of  breaking  out  afresh. 
Austria  would  not  surrender  a  single  village  in  southern  Tyrol. 
Prussia's  treaty  with  Italy  mentioned  Venetia  only,  and  she  felt 
no  desire  to  assist  her  ally  to  this  additional  acquisition.  Napo- 
leon, on  his  part,  wished  to  keep  the  new  kingdom  within  mod- 
est limits.  Matters  looked  critical  when  Austria,  her  hands  once 
more  free  upon  the  Danube,  transferred  large  bodies  of  troops  to 
Italy,  collecting  a  strong  army  at  Isonzo,  and  massing  a  reserve 
force  at  Villach.  Victor  Emmanuel  ran  a  great  risk  in  case  he 
engaged  single-handed  in  a  war  with  Austria ;  and,  comprehend- 
ing how  great  that  risk  was,  he  at  length  yielded  to  the  coun- 
sels of  Napoleon  and  King  William,  and,  choosing  the  certain  in 
preference  to  the  uncertain,  withdrew  his  claims.  On  the  llth 
of  August  he  concluded  a  truce  for  four  weeks,  which  was  im- 
mediately followed  by  the  evacuation  of  all  southern  Tyrol.  A 
peace  between  Austria  and  Italy  was  signed  in  Vienna  on  the 
3d  of  October,  and  the  iron  crown  of  Lombardy  was  at  length 
handed  over  to  the  latter.  Italy  was  obliged  to  receive  Venetia 
from  the  hands  of  France,  and  it  was  not  to  be  surrendered  until 
the  wishes  of  the  people  had  been  expressed  by  a  plebiscite.  The 
Austrian  troops  began  to  evacuate  the  Quadrilateral  on  the  9th 
of  October.  On  the  16th  Venice  was  evacuated,  and  on  the  18th 
Napoleon,  through  General  Leboauf,  surrendered  the  city  to  a  com- 
mittee of  the  common  council,  and  the  Italian  troops  marched  in. 
The  vote  upon  the  union  of  Venetia  with  the  kingdom  of 
Italy  took  place  on  the  21st  and  22d  of  October,  and  resulted 
in  651,758  votes  in  favor  of  union,  and  69  against  it.  Novem- 
ber 4th  this  result  was  communicated  to  the  king  in  Turin  by  a 
Venetian  deputation.  In  his  reply  the  king  said :  "  To-day  the 
foreign  rule  has  come  to  an  end.  Italy  is  created,  but  not  yet 
completed.  The  Italians  must  defend  it  and  make  it  great."  The 
decree  of  annexation  was  signed  at  once,  and  on  the  7th  of  No- 
vember Victor  Emmanuel  made  his  entrance  into  Venice  amid 


360  POLITICAL   HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

the  greatest  rejoicings.  The  dream  of  the  old  Carbonari  of  a 
united  Italy  had  almost  reached  its  fulfilment.  In  spite  of  all  con- 
ventions isolated  Rome  could  not  much  longer  hold  out  against 
the  march  of  the  century,  with  its  tendency  to  unite  things  ho- 
mogeneous. It  was  to  the  victors  of  Sadowa  that  Italy  owed  the 
acquisition  of  a  province  without  a  single  victory,  after  her  army 
and  her  navy  had  suffered  complete  defeats  at  Custozza  and  at 
Lissa ;  and  the  history  of  war  affords  no  second  example  of  such 
success  in  disaster. 

The  war  had  already  come  to  an  end  in  Bohemia  and  Italy 
when  it  was  just  beginning  on  the  Main.  To  the  right,  at  Bam- 
berg,  was  stationed  the  Bavarian  army,  at  first  42,000  strong,  but 
later  raised  to  50,000,  under  Prince  Charles,  who,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-one,  found  himself  for  the  first  time  at  the  head  of  an 
army.  To  the  left,  at  Frankfort,  stood  the  8th  army  corps  of 
the  Confederation,  to  which  Wiirtembcrg  contributed  14,000 
men,  Baden  10,000 — under  Prince  William — Hesse-Darmstadt 
9000,  Hesse-Cassel  8000,  Nassau  4000,  and  Austria  12,000.  Of 
these  the  greater  part  of  the  contingent  from  Hesse-Cassel  re- 
mained in  or  by  the  fortress  of  Mayence,  so  that  the  force  actu- 
ally in  the  field  numbered  a  little  more  than  50,000  men.  Prince 
Alexander  of  Hesse  commanded  this  corps,  and  had  a  hard  task 
to  perform,  with  six  generals  under  him  who  were  mostly  unac- 
quainted with  him  or  one  another.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
aimless  marches,  and  the  occupation  for  a  couple  of  days  of  Gies- 
sen  and  the  Prussian  town  of  Wetzlar,  this  division  remained  at 
Frankfort,  in  order  to  protect  the  Diet  from  attack.  In  accord- 
ance with  a  decision  of  that  body  of  the  25th  of  June,  a  bat- 
talion of  Wiirtembergers  had  already  occupied  Hohenzollern  in 
the  name  of  the  Confederation,  as  indemnity  for  the  territory 
which  had  been  occupied  by  Prussia. 

Opposed  to  these  two  armies  stood  General  Vogel  von  Falck- 
enstein,  with  three  divisions  of  Goben,  Beyer,  and  Manteuffel, 
numbering  about  45,000  in  all,  inclusive  of  a  contingent  of  3000 
from  Saxe-Coburg  and  Lippe-Detmold.  Although  this  army  was 
no  stronger  than  either  one  of  the  south  German  armies,  its  en- 
ergetic leader  determined,  like  his  colleagues  in  Bohemia,  to  as- 
sume the  offensive.  His  immediate  plan  was  to  prevent  the 
union  of  the  two  hostile  armies,  and  drive  them  back  across  the 
Main  one  after  the  other.  After  the  capitulation  of  the  Han- 


THE  SOUTH   GERMAN   ARMIES  DRIVEN   BACK.  361 

overians,  he  concentrated  his  forces  at  Eisenach  on  the  2d  of 
July,  and  set  out  for  Frankfort  by  way  of  Fulda  and  Hanau.  In 
order  to  bring  assistance  to  the  Hanoverians,  the  Bavarians  had 
advanced  as  far  as  Coburg  and  Meiningen ;  but  after  the  capitula- 
tion of  the  former  they  turned  westward,  and  attempted  to  unite 
with  the  8th  array  corps.  This  brought  them  into  collision  with 
the  Prussian  troops,  and  in  a  series  of  engagements  beginning  on 
the  4th  of  July  they  were  driven  back  to  the  Saale,  the  8th  army 
corps,  which  was  only  eight  or  ten  miles  away,  making  no  effort 
to  come  to  their  assistance,  while  the  conduct  of  the  Bavarians 
themselves  was  not  altogether  creditable.  Falckenstein  crossed 
the  Bavarian  boundary  at  Briickenau  on  the  9th,  and  after  more 
fighting  forced  the  passage  of  the  Saale  on  the  10th.  Defeated 
at  all  points,  the  Bavarians  abandoned  the  line  of  that  river  to 
the  Prussians,  and  crossed  the  Main  at  Schweinfurth.  Falcken- 
stein now  turned  westward.  Sending  Beyer's  division  northward 
to  the  Gelnhausen  pass,  he  marched  down  the  Saale,  and  set  out 
on  the  13th  with  the  other  two  divisions  across  the  Spessart  to 
seize  Aschaffenburg  and  take  his  adversary  on  the  flank.  If  this 
succeeded  the  line  of  the  Main  was  lost,  and  Frankfort  must  be 
abandoned.  Recognizing  the  danger,  Prince  Alexander  sent  the 
Hesse-Darmstadt  troops  from  Frankfort  to  Aschaffenburg  by  rail 
on  the  12th,  with  orders  to  venture  no  engagement  until  re-en- 
forcements should  arrive.  But  the  Hessian  general,  Perglas,  not 
wishing  to  lose  the  favorable  opportunity  of  falling  upon  the 
Prussians  as  they  emerged  from  the  Spessart,  attacked  them  on 
the  13th,  was  defeated  by  Goben  at  Laufach  and  Frohnhofen, 
and  driven  back  on  Aschaffenburg.  The  promised  re-enforce- 
ments, consisting  of  Austrian  and  Hessian  troops  under  General 
Neipperg,  arrived  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day.  Goben  at- 
tacked them  on  the  14th,  took  the  city  after  some  insignificant 
street-fighting,  and  captured  the  bridge  over  the  Main.  Fifteen 
hundred  prisoners,  chiefly  Austrians,  fell  into  his  hands.  Prince 
Alexander  now  evacuated  Hanau  and  Frankfort,  and  on  the  14th 
of  July  led  his  whole  army  across  the  Main,  with  the  intention 
of  marching  to  Wiirzburg  by  way  of  Mittenberg,  and  there  form- 
ing a  junction  with  Prince  Charles. 

The  Diet  and  its  military  commission  applied  about  $90,000 
(180,000  fl.)  to  the  erection  of  intrenchments  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Frankfort,  displayed  the  German  colors,  planting  a  red, 

16 


362  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

black,  and  gold  flag  on  their  palace,  summoned  landwehr  and  vol- 
unteers into  the  field,  and  made  every  effort  in  the  hour  of  dan- 
ger to  call  armies  out  of  the  ground.  But  it  was  too  late,  and, 
like  the  "rump  parliament"  of  1849,  with  a  foreboding  of  its  ap- 
proaching end,  the  Diet  left  Frankfort  on  the  14th,  and  migrated 
to  Augsburg,  there  to  take  up  its  quarters  in  the  Three  Moors, 
an  inn  famous  for  its  excellent  wines. 

On  the  16th  Falckenstein  inarched  into  Hanau  with  Goben's 
division,  entering  Frankfort  the  same  evening,  and  taking  posses- 
sion of  that  city,  upper  Hesse,  and  Nassau — which  latter  had  al- 
ready been  occupied  by  troops  of  the  Prussian  landivehr  under 
Prince  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen — in  the  name  of  his  king.  He 
was  able  to  report :  "  The  countries  north  of  the  Main  now  lie  at 
your  royal  majesty's  feet."  On  account  of  its  too  great  sym- 
pathy with  Austria,  a  contribution  of  6,000,000  gulden  (about 
$3,000,000)  was  levied  on  the  city  of  Frankfort.  On  the  19th 
a  second  contribution  of  19,000,000  was  demanded  by  Manteuf- 
fel,  but  never  exacted.  July  17th  Falckenstein  received  an  order, 
dated  the  12th,  directing  him  to  surrender  the  command  of  the 
army  of  the  Main  to  Manteuffel,  and  appointing  him  governor 
of  Bohemia.  Apparently  the  intention  was  to  give  him  the  com- 
mand of  a  new  army, which  was  to  invade  Bavaria  from  the  east; 
but  this  plan  was  abandoned,  and  minor  operations  only  were  un- 
dertaken on  that  side  under  the  conduct  of  the  Grand-duke  of 
Mecklenburg -Schwerin.  This  latter,  setting  out  from  Leipzig 
with  a  reserve  corps  of  about  21,000  men  on  the  20th,  reached 
the  Bavarian  town  of  Hof  on  the  23d.  As  the  Bavarians  could 
put  only  four  poorly  equipped  reserve  battalions  in  the  field 
against  him,  his  progress,  like  that  of  Cialdini  in  Italy,  Avas  a 
mere  military  promenade.  He  entered  Baireuth  on  the  29th, 
and  after  one  insignificant  skirmish  reached  Nuremburg  on 
the  31st. 

Manteuffel  allowed  his  soldiers  to  rest  five  days  in  Frankfort. 
The  Oldenburg-Hanseatic  brigade — from  Oldenburg,  Hamburg, 
Lubeck,  and  Bremen — a  Schwarzburg  battalion — from  Waldeck 
and  Sondershausen — and  some  newly-formed  Prussian  battalions, 
raised  his  forces  to  66,000.  Leaving  6000  of  these  in  and  near 
Frankfort,  with  60,000  he  again  assumed  the  offensive.  The  en- 
suing campaign  was  a  series  of  petty  victories  for  the  Prussians. 
On  the  20th  General  Goben  occupied  Darmstadt,  and  set  out 


THE   PRUSSIANS   VICTORIOUS  IN   SOUTH   GERMANY.      363 

across  the  Odenwald  for  the  Tauber,  while  General  Flies,  who 
commanded  Manteuffel's  former  division,  marched  from  Aschaf- 
fenburg  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Main  to  Mittenberg,  Beyer 
following  him  as  reserve.  The  enemy  fell  back  across  the  Tau- 
bcr.  Manteuffel  followed,  and  on  the  24th  forced  the  passage 
of  that  river  at  Wertheim,  Werbach,  and  Bischofsheim.  The  de- 
feated 8th  army  corps  directed  its  march  toward  Wurzburg,  halt- 
ing on  the  heights  of  Gerchsheim,  where,  after  five  weeks  of  vain 
manoeuvring,  it  finally  formed  a  junction  with  the  Bavarians,  but 
too  late  to  be  of  much  use.  The  generalship  of  the  south  Ger- 
mans had  been  weak  from  the  outset ;  there  was  a  complete  lack 
of  punctual  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  separate  divisions ; 
and  the  presence  of  three  princes  had  certainly  not  been  advanta- 
geous. On  the  25th  Manteuffel  began  an  attack  on  the  combined 
armies.  On  the  following  day,  after  an  obstinate  and  bloody 
battle,  he  drove  back  the  Bavarians  at  Uettingen  and  Rossbrunn. 
Thereupon,  leaving  a  detachment  in  the  fortress  of  Marienberg, 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Main,  the  south  German  army  crossed  the 
river  at  Wurzburg,  occupying  that  city,  and  taking  up  a  position 
at  Rottendorff  and  Kitzingen.  July  27th  the  army  of  the  Main 
appeared  before  Wurzburg,  and  began  the  bombardment  of  the 
fortress.  Negotiations  for  its  surrender  had  already  been  opened 
when  news  arrived  of  the  conclusion  of  a  truce. 

The  position  of  the  south  German  states  was  desperate.  From 
Bohemia  General  Miilbe  was  advancing  on  Amberg  with  a  Prus- 
sian division,  while  from  Saxony  Anhalt  and  Brunswick  troops 
were  marching  in  to  re-enforce  the  reserve  corps,  which,  as  well 
as  the  army  of  the  Main,  stood  in  the  very  heart  of  Bavaria.  The 
7th  and  8th  army  corps,  which  were  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Main,  were  cut  off,  and  only  a  brilliant  victory  could  open  them 
a  way  home.  The  capitals  lay  open  to  the  foe,  and  jewels,  treas- 
ure-chests, and  valuable  papers  had  already  been  sent  across  Lake 
Constance,  while  many  a  hot  head  which  had  inspired  too  sharp 
a  pen  found  a  change  of  air  on  the  lake  or  among  the  Alps  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  sake  of  health.  After  the  preliminaries 
of  Nikolsburg,  farther  resistance  was  quite  impossible.  All  clam- 
ored for  peace  and  the  recall  of  the  troops.  July  27th  Prince 
Charles  received  a  telegram  from  von  der  Pfordten  with  reference 
to  a  suspension  of  hostilities  until  the  commencement  of  the 
truce.  Negotiations  were  at  once  entered  into  with  Manteuffel ; 


364  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

but  as  he  was  without  instructions,  they  could  lead  to  no  definite 
result.  In  point  of  fact,  no  suspension  of  hostilities  before  the 
2d  of  August  had  been  arranged,  but  a  convention  had  been  con- 
cluded between  Count  Bismarck  and  von  der  Pfordten  providing 
for  a  three  weeks'  truce  between  Prussia  and  Bavaria — and,  in 
case  they  asked  for  it,  the  other  three  south  German  states — to 
begin  on  the  2d  of  August,  during  which  negotiations  for  a  peace 
were  to  be  opened  in  Berlin.  However,  Manteuffel  consented  to 
a  provisional  suspension  of  hostilities  along  the  whole  line  of  the 
Main,  and  on  the  1st  of  August  concluded  with  Prince  Charles  a 
truce  which  left  the  Bavarians  in  possession  of  Marienberg,  while 
the  Prussians  occupied  Wurzburg.  Similar  truces  were  concluded 
with  Wurtemberg,  Baden,  and  Hesse-Darmstadt,  each  state  being 
obliged  to  negotiate  separately.  Baden,  where  a  complete  change 
of  system  had  taken  place,  Edelsheim  having  been  dismissed  and 
Mathy  appointed  minister  of  state,  had  already  recalled  its  troops 
on  the  29th  of  July.  Until  the  conclusion  of  peace,  the  whole  of 
Hesse-Darmstadt  and  the  northern  parts  of  the  other  three  states 
were  to  be  occupied  by  the  Prussians  at  the  cost  of  those  states. 
To  be  freed  from  this  expense  as  soon  as  possible,  the  south  Ger- 
man governments  hastened  to  conclude  a  definitive  peace.  They 
were  obliged  to  accept  the  provisions  of  the  Nicholsburg  treaty, 
and  to  pay  in  addition  special  penalties  for  their  hostile  attitude. 
The  Zollverein  continued  in  existence,  but  with  the  proviso  that 
it  might  be  dissolved  on  six  months'  notice,  which  gave  Prussians 
a  means  of  exerting  powerful  pressure  on  the  south  German 
states.  Wurtemberg  and  Baden,  which  concluded  peace  in  Ber- 
lin on  the  13th  and  17th  of  August  respectively,  lost  no  territory, 
but  the  former  had  to  pay  eight  and  the  latter  six  million  gulden 
as  war  indemnity.  Hesse-Darmstadt,  which  concluded  peace  on 
the  3d  of  September,  was  fined  3,000,000  gulden  ;  Homburg,  Mei- 
senheim,  and  some  parts  of  upper  Hesse — the  remainder  of  upper 
Hesse  escaped  annexation  only  by  becoming  a  member  of  the 
North  German  Confederation — were  ceded  to  Prussia,  and  the 
right  of  garrison  in  Mayence,  formerly  a  federal  fortress,  was  con- 
fined to  that  state.  At  first  it  was  intended  to  inflict  a  severe 
punishment  on  Bavaria,  against  which  the  Olmiitz  convention 
between  it  and  Austria  would  have  proved  of  no  avail.  In  the 
face  of  that  convention  Bavaria  found  herself  completely  deserted 
by  Austria  in  the  negotiations  at  Nicholsburg,  and  then  accused 


APPEAL   TO  NAPOLEON   FOR  MEDIATION.  365 

by  the  latter  of  having  left  her  in  the  lurch.  Count  Bismarck 
spoke  of  20,000,000  thalers,  and  the  cession  of  territory  in  the 
northern  Palatinate  and  Franconia  containing  at  least  500,000 
souls,  Bavaria  to  receive  partial  compensation  in  Wiirtemberg 
and  Baden ;  and  he  furthermore  reminded  von  der  Pfordten  that 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century  Ansbach  and  Baireuth  had  be- 
longed to  Prussia.  These  propositions  alarmed  the  Bavarian 
minister  so  much  that  he  and  the  other  south  German  cabinets, 
with  the  exception  of  Baden,  applied  to  Napoleon  for  his  good 
offices. 

Such  an  appeal  for  mediation  was  very  welcome  to  the  latter, 
and  Benedetti  was  at  once  instructed  to  make  representations  in 
Berlin  on  behalf  of  the  three  southern  states.  Thereupon  Bis- 
marck acquainted  von  der  Pfordten  with  the  astonishing  fact  that 
his  French  champion  had  claimed  the  whole  Bavarian  Palatinate 
as  his  reward  for  the  war  which  he  had  not  waged.  To  wean  Ba- 
varia from  the  dependence  upon  France  to  which,  unhappily,  she 
had  been  for  centuries  accustomed,  and  attach  her  to  Prussia  by 
bonds  of  gratitude,  Bismarck  receded  from  his  original  demands, 
and  on  the  22d  of  August  Bavaria  ceded  to  Prussia  two  little 
districts  in  the  Spessart  and  Rhongebirge,  Orb  and  Gersfeld,  with 
a  population  of  33,900,  and  paid  an  indemnity  of  20,000,000  tha- 
lers. A  farther  reason  why  the  conditions  of  peace  for  the  south- 
ern states  were  more  favorable  than  their  hostility  and  Prussia's 
overwhelming  victory  gave  cause  to  expect,  lay  in  the  offensive 
and  defensive  alliances  which  they  proposed  in  connection  with 
the  peace  negotiations.  Such  alliances  were  contracted  with  Ba- 
varia, Wiirtemberg,  and  Baden  at  the  same  time  that  peace  was 
concluded,  it  being  provided  in  each  case  that  the  contracting 
parties  should  mutually  guarantee  the  integrity  of  one  another's 
territory,  and  that  in  case  of  war  each  should  place  its  whole  mil- 
itary force  at  the  disposition  of  the  other  for  that  purpose,  the 
chief  command  being  intrusted  to  the  King  of  Prussia.  These 
treaties,  provisionally  kept  secret,  were  first  published  on  the  19th 
of  March,  1867,  when  the  Luxemburg  question  threatened  to  as- 
sume a  dangerous  form.  An  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  was 
concluded  with  Hesse-Darmstadt  on  the  llth  of  April,  1867,  a 
military  convention  having  been  entered  into  on  the  7th  of  that 
month,  by  which  all  the  Hessian  troops,  reorganized  after  the 
Prussian  pattern,  were  to  form  a  special  division  in  the  llth 


366  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

army  corps  of  the  Prussian  array,  and  both  in  peace  and  war  be 
subject  to  the  command  of  the  Prussian  king.  Peace  with  Sax- 
ony was  signed  on  the  21st  of  October.  This  state  in  particular 
Prussia  had  intended  to  annex,  in  order  to  complete  the  work  of 
1815,  and  push  her  frontier  forward  to  the  strong  line  of  the 
Erzgebirge ;  but  Austria,  which  had  found  in  Saxony  a  trusty  ally 
during  the  whole  campaign,  held  herself  bound  to  insist  as  firmly 
upon  the  integrity  of  that  state  as  upon  her  own,  and  expressed 
herself  to  that  effect  in  the  negotiations  for  the  Nicholsburg 
treaty.  Napoleon,  always  ready  to  interfere,  if  by  so  doing  he 
might  prevent  Prussia  from  getting  too  much,  and  mindful, 
moreover,  of  the  service  Saxony  had  rendered  his  uncle  in  1813, 
also  spoke  strongly  in  her  behalf.  At  first  he  meditated  propos- 
ing to  Prussia  the  annexation  of  Saxony,  and  the  indemnification 
of  King  John  from  the  Roman  Catholic  provinces  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine,  by  which  means  he  hoped  to  secure  a  more 
convenient  neighbor  for  his  Luxemburg -Belgian  designs.  He 
afterward  abandoned  this  idea,  and  insisted  instead  on  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Saxon  kingdom.  Accordingly  the  project  of  an- 
nexation was  abandoned ;  but  Saxony  was  obliged  to  pay  a  war 
indemnity  of  10,000,000  thalers,  join  the  North  German  Confed- 
eration, place  her  troops  under  the  command  of  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia, and  convey  her  postal  and  telegraph  system  to  the  Prussian 
crown.  By  this  means  Prussia  obtained  essentially  what  she 
wanted.  Baron  von  Beust,  the  former  director  of  the  Saxon 
policy,  had  been  dismissed  on  the  13th  of  August,  Bismarck  re- 
fusing to  negotiate  with  him. 

The  Diet  at  the  Three  Moors,  in  Augsburg,  shrank  to  an  ab- 
surdly small  number,  after  the  defeats  in  Bohemia  and  on  the 
Main.  One  state  after  another  recalled  its  delegates,  until  there 
remained,  on  the  24th  of  August,  only  four  of  the  nine  delegates 
who,  by  their  vote  on  the  14th  of  June,  had  brought  on  the  war 
with  Prussia.  By  the  Nikolsburg  treaty,  and  the  accompany- 
ing events,  the  Confederation  had  in  point  of  fact  already  been 
dissolved.  The  only  question  now  was  how  to  give  it  a  decent 
burial.  Baron  von  Kiibeck,  the  presiding  delegate,  came  on  from 
Vienna  for  that  purpose,  and  delivered  the  funeral  oration  in 
presence  of  the  delegates  from  Bavaria,  Saxony,  Hanover,  Wiir- 
temberg,  the  two  Hesses,  Nassau,  and  Lichtenstein.  June  8th, 
1815,  the  German  Confederation  had  been  established  by  the 


THE  PRUSSIAN  ANNEXATIONS.  367 

diplomats  assembled  at  the  Vienna  Congress;  November  5th, 
1816,  the  Diet  had  been  opened  in  Frankfort  by  Count  Buol- 
Schauenstein ;  and  August  24th,  1866,  at  the  Three  Moors,  in 
Augsburg,  through  the  mouth  of  the  Austrian  delegate,  the  Con- 
federation was  declared  dissolved.  It  had  very  little  in  the  way 
of  great  measures  to  show  as  the  result  of  its  fifty  years  of  exist- 
ence, and  no  small  part  of  the  blame  for  this  resultlessness  must 
be  attributed  to  the  presiding  power,  Austria,  which  was  unwill- 
ing to  abandon  the  Metternichian  conception,  that  the  Confedera- 
tion was  to  be  utilized  merely  for  its  own  dynastic  and  political 
purposes.  In  its  place  appeared  the  North  German  Confedera- 
tion, under  the  lead  of  Prussia. 

The  formal  dissolution  of  the  old  confederation  was  preceded, 
in  point  of  time,  by  certain  annexations.  The  Prussian  Landtag 
was  opened  on  the  5th  of  August.  The  speech  from  the  throne 
announced  the  formation  of  a  new  confederation,  and  the  conven- 
ing of  a  representative  assembly  of  the  people  in  the  states  be- 
longing to  that  confederation.  The  king  also  asked  indemnity 
for  administering  the  finances  and  levying  taxes  without  the  con- 
sent of  parliament,  in  order  that  the  existing  conflict  might  be 
set  at  rest  for  all  time.  August  17th  Count  Bismarck  read  in 
the  Prussian  House  of  Representatives  a  royal  message  announc- 
ing the  annexation  of  Hanover,  Hesse-Cassel,  Nassau,  and  Frank- 
fort to  the  Prussian  monarchy;  and  by  a  patent  of  January  12th, 
1867,  Schleswig-Holstein,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  district 
ceded  to  Oldenburg,  was  also  annexed.  The  newly-annexed  ter- 
ritory, together  with  Lauenburg  and  the  districts  ceded  by  Bava- 
ria and  Hesse  -  Darmstadt,  gave  Prussia  an  increase  of  28,034 
square  miles,  containing  a  population  of  4,815,700,  making  her 
total  area  137,066  square  miles,  with  a  population  of  23,590,000 
souls.  But,  in  addition  to  this  acquisition  of  territory — which 
was  purely  German,  and  for  the  most  part  Protestant — she  gained 
the  farther  great  advantage  that  her  possessions,  no  longer  di- 
vided into  two  parts  by  a  wedge  of  hostile  states,  now  formed 
one  united,  well-rounded  whole.  The  Prussian  Landtag  approved 
of  the  annexations,  and  also,  at  the  motion  of  the  government, 
voted  donations  to  Count  Bismarck  and  Generals  Roon,  Moltke, 
Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  Steinmetz,  and  Vogel  von  Falckenstein. 

Prussia  received  a  farther  increase  of  power  through  its  north 
German  allies,  who  intrusted  the  conduct  of  their  whole  military 


368  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

establishments  to  the  King  of  Prussia.  All  the  princes  and  free 
states  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Main  united  with  Prussia  in  the 
North  German  Confederation,  giving  that  state  a  practical  increase 
of  six  or  seven  million  subjects,  and  raising  the  total  number  at 
her  disposal  to  about  30,000,000.  August  4th  the  Prussian  gov- 
ernment invited  all  the  north  German  states  to  conclude  a  treaty 
of  confederation,  and  communicated  a  plan  of  organization  based 
upon  the  Prussian  propositions  laid  before  the  Diet  on  the  10th 
of  June.  This  plan  was  approved  of  by  all  the  states  excepting 
Meiningen  and  Reuss  (elder  line).  December  15th  their  plenipo- 
tentiaries met  in  Berlin  to  discuss  the  constitution  proposed  by 
the  Prussian  government.  February  9th,  1867,  they  reached  a 
conclusion,  which  was  next  subjected  to  the  farther  consideration 
of  the  north  German  Reichstag.  This  was  elected  on  the  12th 
of  February,  on  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage  and  secret  ballot, 
and  was  opened  by  the  King  of  Prussia  in  the  palace  at  Berlin 
on  the  24th  with  a  speech  full  of  German  patriotism  and  self- 
assertion,  which  attracted  much  attention  in  all  Europe  as  the 
proclamation  of  a  great  Germany.  After  a  discussion  of  not 
quite  two  months  the  proposed  constitution,  with  a  few  changes, 
was  adopted  by  the  Reichstag.  It  conferred  upon  the  represent- 
atives of  the  people  powers  of  the  greatest  importance  in  the 
control  of  the  finances  and  the  framing  of  legislation,  while  it 
made  a  firm  and  harmonious  administration  of  the  military  and 
naval  establishments,  commercial  relations,  and  the  like,  possible 
on  the  part  of  the  central  government.  April  17th  Count  Bis- 
marck announced  the  acceptance  of  the  constitution  of  the  North 
German  Confederation  by  the  Reichstag  and  the  respective  gov- 
ernments, and  the  king  dissolved  the  assembly.  An  old  dream 
of  former  Prussian  monarchs  was  at  last  fulfilled.  In  great  part, 
at  least,  the  union  of  Germany,  which  Frederic  the  Great  sought 
to  effect  by  his  confederation  of  princes  in  1785,  which  was  the 
aim  of  the  north  German  Reichsbund  that  Frederic  William  III. 
attempted  to  organize  in  1806,  in  opposition  to  Napoleon's  Con- 
federation of  the  Rhine — which  Frederic  William  IV.  hoped  to 
bring  about  in  1850  by  the  formation  of  the  Union,  and  which 
they  all  failed  to  accomplish— had  been  at  length  successfully 
achieved  by  King  William  L 


ATTEMPTED  TREATY  WITH  PRUSSIA.  369 


§23. 

THE  LUXEMBURG  NEGOTIATIONS. FRENCH  PREPARATIONS  FOB 

WAR. THE  NORTH  GERMAN  CONFEDERATION  AND  THE  SOUTH 

GERMAN  STATES. 

THE  enormous  successes  which  had  raised  Prussia  at  one  stroke 
from  her  former  position  of  comparative  insignificance  into  the 
first  rank  of  great  powers,  if  not  to  the  very  first  position  among 
those  powers,  excited  the  astonishment  of  the  whole  world. 
While  some  countries,  and  above  all  England  and  the  United 
States,  were  loud  in  their  expressions  of  pleasure  and  admiration, 
others,  like  France,  Holland,  Denmark,  and  the  States  of  the 
Church,  could  not  conceal  their  envy  and  vexation.  "The  world 
is  coming  to  an  end !"  was  Cardinal  Antonelli's  exclamation  on 
hearing  of  the  battle  of  Sadowa.  Napoleon,  whose  policy  in  the 
last  few  years  had  encountered  such  serious  rebuffs  in  Mexico  and 
Italy,  was  uneasy  in  the  knowledge  that  the  disunion  which  had 
so  long  entailed  weakness  upon  Germany  was  now  almost  healed. 
A  powerful  rival  had  sprung  up  in  the  North  German  Confedera- 
tion, with  its  strongly  organized  presiding  power.  The  period  of 
undivided  French  supremacy  was  at  an  end.  Napoleon's  attempt 
to  annex  a  slice  of  Germany,  as  he  had  annexed  Savoy  and  Nice, 
failed  utterly.  Defeated  Austria  could  not  give  him  the  prom- 
ised compensation,  and  victorious  Prussia  roundly  refused  all  his 
demands.  But  his  anxiety  to  satisfy  his  jealous  Frenchmen  with 
a  portion  of  the  booty  from  the  re-distribution  of  his  neighbors' 
territory  was  such,  especially  as  the  opposition  Press  quoted  almost 
daily  the  words  Thiers  had  spoken  in  the  Chamber — "  France  has 
sunk  to  the  third  rank  " — that  he  once  more  opened  negotiations 
with  Bismarck,  while  at  the  same  time  treating  with  the  King 
of  Holland.  Benedetti  was  instructed  to  propose  to  Count  Bis- 
marck an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  between  France  and 
Prussia,  by  which  the  latter  was  to  support  the  emperor  in  his 
acquisition  by  purchase  of  Luxemburg,  and  assist  him  with  her 
whole  land  and  naval  force  in  case  circumstances  compelled  him 

10* 


370  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

to  inarch  his  soldiers  into  Belgium  for  the  conquest  of  that  state. 
In  return  for  this  assistance  in  the  acquisition  of  Luxemburg  and 
Belgium,  with  a  population  of  about  5,000,000,  Napoleon  prom- 
ised to  recognize  the  Prussian  annexations  of  1866,  and  offer  no 
opposition  to  the  absorption  of  the  south  German  states  in  the 
North  German  Confederation.  This  proposition,  which  was  re- 
peated in  1870,  was  treated  by  Bismarck  in  a  "  dilatory  manner," 
decision  put  off,  and  no  promise  ever  given. 

King  William  of  Holland  proved  more  amenable.  In  his  fear 
that  Prussia  might  compel  him  to  enter  the  North  German  Con- 
federation, and  spurred  on  by  the  Prussophobists  by  whom  he 
was  surrounded — especially  by  the  queen,  who  ascribed  to  Prus- 
sia the  design  of  uniting  all  Teutonic  peoples  into  one  confeder- 
ation, without  scrupling  at  any  sort  of  violence — he  inquired  of 
the  emperor  whether  he  might  rely  on  French  assistance  in  case 
Prussia  should  attempt  to  force  him  into  an  alliance.  Napoleon 
was  delighted  at  this  application,  and  through  his  ambassador 
at  the  Hague  asked  the  king  (February  28th,  1867)  whether  he 
were  inclined  to  cede  the  grand-dnchy  of  Luxemburg  to  France 
for  a  reasonable  compensation  in  money.  The  king,  who  was 
very  much  in  debt,  expressed  his  willingness,  and  on  the  22d  of 
March  the  treaty  of  cession  was  drawn  up,  it  being  provided  that 
the  ratification  on  the  part  of  France  should  take  place  not  later 
than  the  5th  of  April,  and  that  the  negotiations  with  Prussia, 
which  had  the  right  of  garrison  in  the  fortress  of  Luxemburg, 
should  be  conducted  exclusively  by  Napoleon.  It  was  further- 
more agreed  that  complete  secrecy  should  be  observed ;  but  on 
the  26th  of  March  the  king,  who  feared  Prussia  fully  as  much  as 
he  hated  her,  communicated  the  negotiations  to  the  Prussian  am- 
bassador, and  asked  whether  his  government  would  consent  to 
the  transfer  of  Dutch  sovereignty  in  Luxemburg  to  France.  He 
was  directed  to  reply  that  the  Prussian  government  would  never 
give  its  consent  to  the  cession  or  sale  of  Luxemburg,  and  on  the 
1st  of  April  the  north  German  Reichstag  took  most  decided 
ground  against  the  surrender  of  a  German  province.  If  Luxem- 
burg, with  its  strong  fortress,  in  which  Prussia  maintained  a  gar- 
rison by  virtue  of  the  treaties  of  1815,  1816,  and  1817,  were  in 
French  possession,  the  independence  of  Belgium  and  the  safety 
of  the  Rhine  provinces  would  be  most  seriously  endangered,  and, 
in  addition  to  that,  Prussia  would  occupy  a  far  less  favorable  posi- 


SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  LUXEMBURG  QUESTION.          37 1 

tion  from  a  military  point  of  view  in  case  war  should  break  out 
between  France  and  Germany.  Accordingly  Prussia  called  in  the 
powers  which  had  signed  the  treaty  of  1839  dividing  Luxemburg 
between  Belgium  and  Holland.  As  soon  as  Napoleon  perceived 
that  Luxemburg  was  not  to  be  thus  easily  secured  he  issued  a  cir- 
cular despatch  offering  to  renounce  his  designs,  provided  Prussia 
would  relinquish  her  right  of  garrison.  This  right  had  lost  its 
justification,  it  was  claimed,  since  the  events  of  1866  had  dis- 
solved the  German  Confederation,  and  thereby  severed  Luxemburg 
from  Germany.  Serious  objections  might  have  been  made  to 
this  assertion  from  the  side  of  international  law  as  well  as  from 
that  of  nationality.  In  Berlin  opinions  were  divided.  One  party, 
with  Moltke  at  its  head,  would  hear  nothing  of  concessions,  but 
wished  to  take  advantage  of  the  unprepared  condition  of  the  in- 
triguing emperor,  and  leave  him  no  other  choice  than  to  abandon 
his  claims  altogether,  or  engage  in  a  dangerous  war  with  the  well- 
prepared  Prussian  armies.  The  other  party,  following  Bismarck's 
lead,  not  willing  to  stake  all  on  one  throw,  and  expose  the  acqui- 
sitions of  1866  to  a  new  war  before  they  had  become  well  con- 
solidated, preferred  a  peaceful  solution,  so  far  as  that  was  com- 
patible with  Prussian  honor.  The  latter  view  was  the  one  which 
met  with  the  king's  approval.  At  Russia's  proposition,  the  am- 
bassadors of  those  powers  which  had  signed  the  treaty  of  1839, 
with  the  addition  of  the  Italian  ambassador,  met  in  London  and 
drew  up  a  new  treaty  (May  llth).  This  treaty  provided  that 
Luxemburg  should  remain  in  the  possession  of  the  house  of 
Orange-Nassau  and  constitute  a  neutral  state,  its  neutrality  to  be 
guaranteed  by  the  signatory  powers.  The  Prussian  troops  were 
to  evacuate  the  fortress,  which  was  to  be  razed  to  the  ground  by 
the  King  of  Holland.  Limburg  was  to  be  separated  from  Germany 
and  constitute  an  integral  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Holland,  but 
Luxemburg  retained  its  connection  with  the  German  Zollverein. 

Napoleon  would  certainly  not  have  consented  to  recede  from 
his  position  if  he  had  had  a  large  and  well  prepared  army. 
"Herr  von  Bismarck  has  made  me  his  dupe!  An  Emperor  of 
the  French  can  be  no  one's  dupe !"  was  his  exclamation  of  indig- 
nation at  the  course  events  had  taken.  Accordingly  his  exer- 
tions to  create  a  strong  army  in  the  shortest  possible  time  were 
redoubled.  The  new  minister  of  Avar,  Marshal  Niel,  was  the 
right  man  to  execute  such  a  project.  A  bill  for  the  reorganiza- 


372  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT    TIMES. 

tion  of  the  army  was  laid  before  the  Chambers,  a  new  breech- 
loading  arm,  the  chassepot,  introduced  in  imitation  of  the  Prus- 
sian needle-gun ;  mitrailleuses  constructed,  horses  purchased,  and 
the  arsenals  and  magazines  filled  with  ammunition  and  equip- 
ments. The  official  Press  teemed  with  rodomontade  and  bravado 
of  a  sort  calculated  to  excite  a  hostile  and  warlike  spirit  toward 
Prussia.  The  French  government  could  not  refrain  from  annoy- 
ing interference  at  every  opportunity.  In  consequence  of  the  5th 
article  of  the  Peace  of  Prague,  Prussia  had  opened  negotiations 
with  Denmark  regarding  the  northern  districts  of  Schleswig,  first 
announcing,  however,  that,  as  a  preliminary  to  any  farther  steps, 
Denmark  must  give  the  requisite  guarantees  for  the  protection 
of  German  subjects  inhabiting  the  territory  about  to  be  ceded. 
A  despatch  from  the  French  cabinet,  Li  July  of  1867,  took  up 
the  Danish  question,  justly  averring  that  such  guarantees  could 
not  be  given  without  affording  Prussia  opportunity  for  constant 
interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Denmark.  The  answer  was 
returned  that  Prussia  most  earnestly  deprecated  French  participa- 
tion or  interference  in  the  negotiations  with  reference  to  the  exe- 
cution of  Art.  5  of  the  Peace  of  Prague.  Napoleon  was  obliged 
to  pocket  this  rebuff  also,  and  content  himself  with  the  glory  of 
the  Paris  Exposition,  which  was  visited  by  almost  all  the  sover- 
eigns of  Europe.  The  attempt  of  the  Pole,  Berezowski,  to  shoot 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  on  the  6th  of 
June,  brought  a  disturbing  element  into  the  festivities.  The  ex- 
travagant sympathy  of  the  Parisian  populace  for  the  would-be 
regicide  did  not  tend  toward  inclining  Emperor  Alexander  to 
look  with  favor  on  the  suggestion  that  he  should  give  up  his  in- 
timate relations  with  Prussia,  and  enter  into  a  closer  alliance 
with  France.  A  noticeable  event,  which  was  regarded  as  the 
prelude  to  a  French-Austrian  alliance,  was  the  meeting  in  Salz- 
burg in  August  of  1867  between  Napoleon  and  Eugenie  and  the 
Hapsburg  imperial  pair.  This  was  followed  in  the  immediately 
ensuing  years  by  negotiations  between  the  Austrian  minister,  von 
Beust,  and  the  French  ambassador,  the  Duke  of  Gramont,  on  the 
question  of  a  war  with  Prussia,  the  former  earnestly  advising  the 
French  emperor  to  make  a  non-German  question  the  occasion  of 
quarrel.  The  ostensible  reason  for  the  Salzburg  meeting  was 
Napoleon's  wish,  from  a  feeling  of  responsibility  for  Maximilian's 
fate,  to  pay  a  visit  of  condolence  to  his  brother. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AUSTRIAN  EMPIRE.  373 

Before  the  date  of  this  visit  the  house  of  Hapsburg  had  at  last 
been  induced  to  avert  farther  catastrophe  by  accommodating  it- 
self to  the  spirit  of  the  times,  for  so  much  had  become  clear,  that 
if  the  system  of  concordat  government  and  suspension  of  the 
constitution  were  to  last  much  longer  in  Austria,  the  so-called 
statesmen  of  that  country  would  have  but  little  left  to  govern. 
Solferino  bad  not  brought  them  to  their  senses,  but  Sadowa  had 
proved  enough  to  awaken  the  very  deepest  sleepers  from  their 
dreams.  The  sores  of  the  empire  had  been  exposed  to  the  whole 
world.  Most  of  the  thinking  men  of  Austria  were  clamoring,  to 
use  the  last  words  of  the  great  poet,  for  "  more  light."  This  was 
utterly  impossible  under  the  ecclesiastico-political  absolutism  of 
the  existing  government,  and  consequently  a  change  became  nec- 
essary. In  October  of  1866  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  called  the 
former  Saxon  minister,  Baron  von  Beust,  the  oracle  of  the  Bam- 
berg  petty  state  policy,  and  the  antipode  of  Bismarck,  into  the 
foreign  ministry  in  place  of  Count  Mensdorff.  February  7th, 
1867,  the  Czechish  Count  Belcredi,  minister  of  state — whose  hob- 
by was  "  historico- political  individuality,"  and  who  would  fain 
have  transformed  the  empire  into  a  confederation  of  several  in- 
dependent kingdoms — was  dismissed,  and  Beust  became  minister- 
president.  On  the  following  day  a  definitive  settlement  with 
Hungary  was  concluded  in  Vienna  through  Francis  Deak,  the 
constitution  of  1848  restored,  and  Count  Julius  Andrassy  com- 
missioned with  the  formation  of  an  Hungarian  ministry.  This 
ministry,  which  was  chosen  from  the  men  of  Deak's  party,  took 
the  oath  to  the  emperor  in  the  palace  at  Buda  on  the  loth  of 
March,  1867,  and  on  the  8th  of  June  Francis  Joseph  was  crown- 
ed King  of  Hungary.  The  dualism  of  the  empire  was  thence- 
forward an  acknowledged  fact.  Transylvania — and  in  the  year 
1868  Croatia  also — was  united  to  Hungary.  The  reform  in  Hun- 
gary was  followed  by  the  establishment  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment in  the  German  and  Slavonic  provinces  (Cisleithania)  as  well. 
The  Reichsrath  was  convened,  and  the  settlement  with  Hungary 
communicated  to  it  as  an  accomplished  fact.  The  constitution 
of  1861  was  revised,  and  adopted  in  its  revised  form  on  the  21st 
of  December,  1867.  This  conferred  upon  the  people  and  their 
representatives  rights  and  privileges  of  the  greatest  importance — 
equality  of  all  citizens  before  the  law,  freedom  of  the  Press,  right 
of  association  and  meeting,  complete  liberty  of  faith  and  con- 


374  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

science,  the  unrestricted  right  to  impose  taxes  and  levy  recruits, 
etc.  At  the  same  time  a  responsible  ministry  was  appointed  for 
the  western  half  of  the  empire — the  so-called  "  ministry  of  doc- 
tors"— with  Prince  Carlos  Auersperg  at  its  head.  As  the  Hun- 
garian ministry  had  to  deal  with  the  Reichsrath,  so  the  Cisleithan 
was  responsible  to  the  Reichstag,  consisting  of  a  house  of  lords 
and  a  house  of  representatives.  A  separate  ministry  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  consideration  of  matters  concerning  the  two 
halves  in  common — foreign  affairs,  finances,  and  war — in  which 
Chancellor  von  Beust  took  the  foreign  portfolio,  Beke  adminis- 
tered finances,  and  Lieutenant  Field-marshal  Kuhn  was  minister 
of  war.  These  three  ministers  were  to  discuss  the  common  in- 
terests of  the  empire  with  two  delegations  of  sixty  members 
each,  chosen  from  the  Reichsrath  and  Reichstag  respectively, 
which  were  to  meet  alternately  at  Vienna  and  Pesth.  It  was  a 
rather  complicated  state  machine  which  had  been  set  up,  inas- 
much as  there  were  three  ministries  and  three  parliaments,  not 
to  speak  of  the  seventeen  minor  parliaments  of  the  various  prov- 
inces of  Cisleithania,  but  there  seemed  to  be  no  other  way  of 
maintaining  the  simultaneous  unity  and  dualism  of  the  empire. 

Peace  was  not  established,  however,  by  the  mere  adoption  of  a 
constitution.  The  concordat  of  August  18th,  1855,  which  was 
still  in  force,  was  an  insupportable  grievance  both  in  church  and 
school,  exasperating  all  non-Catholics  by  its  intolerant  interfer- 
ence in  the  most  sacred  family  rights.  As  long  as  this  was  in 
force  the  constitution  did  not  have  the  least  value.  Indirectly  it 
was  already  done  away  with  by  the  provisions  of  the  new  consti- 
tution, inasmuch  as  it  was  incompatible  with  freedom  of  faith 
and  conscience ;  but  a  direct  repudiation  was  necessary,  and  both 
the  government  and  the  representatives  of  the  people  must  have 
the  courage  to  carry  out  those  provisions  to  their  logical  conse- 
quences, and  openly  proclaim  their  breach  with  the  concordat, 
before  any  practical  results  could  be  expected.  In  the  year  1867 
the  lower  house  made  a  move  in  this  direction,  although  its 
members  were  not  altogether  agreed  as  to  the  mode  of  effecting 
the  desired  result.  Some  demanded  the  abolition  of  the  con- 
cordat outright,  others  were  willing  to  content  themselves  for 
the  time  being  with  three  confessional  laws  modifying  its  most 
obnoxious  provisions.  The  latter  were  in  the  majority,  and  the 
ministry  accordingly  brought  forward  the  proposed  three  laws. 


THE  THREE   CONFESSIONAL  LAWS.  375 

The  marriage  law  restored  civil  marriage  to  the  statute-book,  in 
so  far  as  it  introduced  permissive  civil  marriage,  depriving  the 
clergy  of  all  jurisdiction  in  the  premises  and  conferring  it  upon 
the  courts.  The  school  law  took  the  control  of  education,  with 
the  exception  of  religious  education,  away  from  the  church  and 
gave  it  to  the  state.  The  interconfessional  law  regulated  the  re- 
ligious obligations  of  children  in  case  of  mixed  marriages — by 
the  concordat  the  children  of  one  Protestant  and  one  Roman* 
Catholic  parent  must  be  educated  in  the  faith  of  the  latter,  by 
the  new  law  male  children  followed  the  father  and  female  the 
mother — change  of  confession,  burials,  and  the  like. 

These  three  measures  passed  the  lower  house,  and,  after  meet- 
ing with  violent  opposition  in  the  upper  house,  received  the  un- 
willing signature  of  the  emperor.  In  the  mean  time  the  latter 
had  been  vainly  negotiating  with  the  Curia  for  a  revision  of  the 
obnoxious  concordat.  Pius  IX.,  yielding  himself  to  the  counsels 
of  the  Jesuits,  persisted  in  his  non  posnumus.  June  22d,  1868, 
in  a  meeting  of  the  secret  consistory,  he  announced  in  his  allocu- 
tion that  by  virtue  of  his  apostolic  authority  he  rejected  and 
denounced  the  new  laws,  and  declared  them  absolutely  null  and 
void.  In  consequence  of  this  most  of  the  bishops  in  their  pas- 
toral letters  and  instructions  directed  the  clergy  and  all  good  Cath- 
olics to  disregard  the  new  laws  and  hold  fast  to  the  concordat. 
For  the  first  time  it  became  clear  to  many  persons  what  it  was 
to  have  an  aggressively  arrogant  and  domineering  ecclesiastical 
state  superimposed  upon  the  body  politic.  The  government,  al- 
though supported  in  the  most  unhesitating  manner  by  popular 
representatives  and  assemblies,  displayed  toward  this  open  con- 
tumacy and  instigation  to  disobedience  a  patience  and  forbear- 
ance akin  to  weakness,  such  as  it  certainly  would  not  have  mani- 
fested toward  other  refractory  subjects,  and  which  gave  occasion 
to  well-founded  suspicions  of  the  good-will  of  high  personages  in 
reference  to  the  execution  of  these  laws. 

The  attempt  w"as  also  made  to  improve  the  condition  of  Aus- 
trian finances,  which  had  been  for  years  proverbially  bad.  The 
load  of  national  debt  pressed  all  the  harder  on  the  German  and 
Slavonic  provinces  because,  in  the  settlement  that  had  been  made 
with  Hungary,  the  latter  had  refused  to  assume  more  than  30  per 
cent,  of  the  common  burden,  leaving  70  per  cent,  for  Cisleithania. 
Bankruptcy  appeared  inevitable,  and  was  openly  proposed  in  some 


376  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

quarters  with  cynical  directness  as  the  most  convenient  way  out 
of  the  difficulty.  Instead  of  this,  a  coupon  tax  was  passed  at 
the  instance  of  the  government  (June  8th).  Notwithstanding  the 
desperate  condition  of  the  finances,  the  government  brought  for- 
ward a  new  army  bill,  calling  for  a  yearly  budget  of  80,000,000 
gulden  for  ten  years,  and  fixing  the  strength  of  the  army  on  a 
war  footing  at  800,000  men — about  $400  a  man.  The  bill  passed 
the  three  parliaments  without  any  important  modification ;  and 
Beust,  who  had  distinguished  himself  by  his  zealous  advocacy  of 
the  measure,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  count,  making  him,  out- 
wardly at  least,  the  equal  of  his  Prussian  rival.  In  view  of  the 
prevalent  desire  among  the  nobility  to  avenge  Sadowa,  taken  to- 
gether with  Beust's  coquetting  with  France,  and  his  restless,  pom- 
pous love  of  being  concerned  in  mighty  deeds,  the  800,000  men 
which  were  intended  to  give  force  and  emphasis  to  Austria's 
voice  in  the  councils  of  Europe  might  well  have  been  regarded 
as  a  threat  to  Germany.  But,  leaving  out  of  view  the  fact  that, 
for  the  present  at  least,  this  force  existed  only  upon  paper,  all 
parties  in  Hungary  indicated  their  determination  not  to  grant  the 
Vienna  government  a  single  kreutzer  or  a  single  soldier  for  the 
purpose  of  making  war  on  that  state.  The  Hungarians  fully  ap- 
preciated the  fact  that  their  settlement  with  Austria  was  wholly 
due  to  the  defeat  at  Sadowa,  and  that,  in  case  the  house  of  Haps- 
burg  should  again  win  a  position  of  power  in  Germany,  the  con- 
stitution would  be  liable  to  renewed  suspensions.  Hungary  could 
not  stand  alone,  and  so  the  Hungarians  found  it  to  their  interest 
to  maintain  in  its  present  form  the  Austrian-Hungarian  monarchy 
(which  was  now  the  official  title);  but  they  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  any  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg 
to  regain  its  old  position  by  interfering  between  north  and  south 
Germany,  and  hindering  the  accession  of  the  southern  states  to 
the  North  German  Confederation.  Their  attitude  put  it  out  of 
the  power  of  the  Vienna  court  to  oppose  aggressively  the  forma- 
tion of  a  new  Germany. 

This  new  Germany  did  not  advance  toward  completion  so 
speedily  as  many  had  been  led  to  expect  from  the  rapid  prog- 
ress of  the  first  few  months.  By  halting  at  the  Main  in  1866, 
Prussia  had  left  the  work  of  unification  incomplete.  For  certain 
reasons  this  was  not  so  much  to  be  regretted ;  for,  in  view  of 
the  opposing  elements  in  the  south,  Bismarck  could  scarcely  have 


GENERAL   POSITION   OF  SOUTH   GERMANY.  377 

hoped  for  the  adoption  of  a  constitution  conferring  sufficient 
power  on  the  central  administration.  It  was  far  better  for  Prus- 
sia to  begin  with  the  formation  of  a  North  German  Confedera- 
tion, and  attract  to  herself  at  the  outset  only  homogeneous  ele- 
ments which  she  could  readily  assimilate.  The  decision  of  the 
question  whether  and  when  they  would  by  their  accession  make 
the  North  German  Confederation  German  was  left  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  four  southern  states,  which,  since  the  dissolution  of 
the  old  confederation,  occupied  a  far  more  independent  position 
than  before,  and,  on  the  whole,  too  independent  for  their  own 
advantage.  Bismarck  laid  down  this  policy  in  the  most  unmis- 
takable manner  in  his  famous  despatch  of  September  7th,  1867  : 
"  The  North  German  Confederation,  either  now  or  in  the  future, 
will  meet  half-way  any  desire  on  the  part  of  the  south  German 
governments  to  strengthen  and  expand  the  national  relations  be- 
tween north  and  south  Germany ;  but  we  shall  always  leave  to 
the  decision  of  our  south  German  allies  the  determination  of  the 
bounds  within  which  these  mutual  advances  shall  be  confined." 
This  forced  upon  the  southern  states  the  question  what  position 
they  would  take  up  with  reference  to  the  rest  of  Germany.  Leav- 
ing out  of  consideration  the  fact  that  Austria  was  passing  through 
an  exceedingly  dangerous  process  of  reorganization,  a  closer  con- 
nection with  that  state — which  had  at  first  been  speculated  upon 
in  some  ultramontane  circles — was  rendered  impossible  by  Art.  4 
of  the  Peace  of  Prague,  which  provided  that  the  reorganization 
of  Germany  should  be  effected  without  any  participation  on  the 
part  of  the  Austrian  empire.  It  was  possible  for  these  states  to 
attach  themselves  to  the  North  German  Confederation,  or  to  form 
a  confederation  among  themselves,  according  to  the  suggestion  of 
the  Peace  of  Prague,  the  national  connection  of  which  with  the 
North  German  Confederation  should  be  left  to  the  farther  agree- 
ment of  the  two  parties.  There  was  also  a  third  possibility :  each 
individual  state  might  preserve  as  independent  a  position  as  pos- 
sible, assuming  a  sort  of  European  status,  and  entering  into  closer 
relations  with  the  other  states  and  with  the  North  German  Con- 
federation only  so  far  as  military  and  commercial  interests  ren- 
dered it  necessary. 

Baden  was  the  only  one  of  these  states  in  which  both  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  representatives  of  the  people  were  inclined  to 
unite  with  the  North  German  Confederation ;  but  when  Mathy, 


378  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

the  minister  of  state,  addressed  a  letter  to  Bismarck  with  this 
end  in  view  (November  18th,  1867),  he  received  an  unfavorable 
reply.  The  hatred  of  the  democratical  and  ultramontane  ele- 
ments, which  had  their  head-quarters  in  Wiirtemberg  and  Bavaria 
respectively,  rendered  the  accession  of  those  two  states  in  the 
immediate  future  highly  improbable,  except  under  pressure  of  ex- 
treme necessity ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  upper  Hesse 
was  now  a  member  of  the  North  German  Confederation,  the  an- 
tipathy of  the  Hessian  court  was  so  intense  that  there  seemed  for 
the  present  but  little  chance  of  bringing  into  the  Confederation 
the  remainder  of  that  country.  The  formation  of  a  South  Ger- 
man Confederation  appeared  even  more  unlikely.  Such  a  con- 
federation, embracing  not  more  than  eight  or  nine  millions,  and 
set  in  the  midst  between  three  great  powers,  would  be  unable  to 
stand  on  its  own  feet  and  pursue  an  independent  policy.  It 
would  be  sure  to  become  the  sport  of  foreign  intrigue,  now  beg- 
ging favors  in  Paris  or  Vienna,  now  asking  succor  from  Berlin, 
and  disappearing  with  the  first  storm  that  swept  the  face  of  cen- 
tral Europe.  That  which  most  of  all  brought  a  southern  con- 
federation into  discredit  with  the  people  was  the  over-great  inter- 
est which  Napoleon  took  in  its  formation.  This  called  to  mind 
the  disgraceful  story  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  and  in 
doing  so  pronounced  sentence  on  the  proposed  southern  confed- 
eration. Furthermore,  the  cabinets  of  three  of  those  states  had 
not  the  least  desire  for  such  fraternization,  inasmuch  as  a  con- 
federation would  have  involved  their  subordination  to  the  most 
powerful  state  among  them,  namely,  Bavaria.  If  they  must  sub- 
mit to  the  supremacy  of  some  state,  they  much  preferred,  as  Baron 
von  Varnbiiler  openly  announced  in  the  Wurtemberg  house  of 
representatives,  that  that  state  should  be  powerful  Prussia  rather 
than  Bavaria,  which  was  more  nearly  their  own  equal. 

Only  the  third  possibility  remained,  namely,  that  each  of  the 
south  German  states  should  maintain  an  independent  existence, 
connecting  itself  with  the  North  German  Confederation  only  as 
far  as  security  and  convenience  positively  required ;  and  this  was, 
accordingly,  the  actual  condition  of  affairs  after  the  conclusion  of 
peace  with  Prussia.  The  first  tie  attaching  the  southern  states  to 
the  confederation  in  the  north  was  the  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance  by  which  in  case  of  war  they  placed  their  troops  under 
the  command  of  the  Kin<j  of  Prussia.  To  this  bond  of  union  was 


CUSTOMS'   TREATIES.  379 

soon  added  another  of  equal  importance.  By  a  declaration  of 
August  24th,  1866,  Prussia  had  reserved  to  herself  the  right  of 
debarring  from  the  privileges  of  the  Zollverein,  on  six  months' 
notice,  those  states  which  had  opposed  her  in  the  late  war.  The 
existing  position  could  be  only  a  passing  one.  On  the  3d  and  4th 
of  June,  1867,  a  conference  took  place  in  Berlin  between  Count 
Bismarck  and  the  ministers  of  foreign  affairs  in  the  various  south 
German  states.  In  this  conference  Bismarck  proposed  that 
thenceforward  the  whole  customs'  legislation,  the  regulation  of 
the  excise  duty  on  native  sugar,  salt,  and  tobacco,  and  all  meas- 
ures necessary  for  the  security  of  the  common  customs'  frontier 
should  be  determined  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  North  German 
Bundesrath  and  Reichsrath,  in  which  the  representatives  of  south 
Germany  were  to  have  seats  for  that  purpose.  In  this  new  or- 
ganization Prussia  was  to  take  the  position  of  presiding  power, 
exercising  the  right  of  veto  only  for  the  maintenance  of  existing 
institutions,  in  all  other  cases  submitting,  like  any  other  govern- 
ment, to  the  majority  vote  of  the  two  legislative  bodies.  This 
treaty  was  to  remain  in  force  until  the  end  of  December,  1877. 
By  this  arrangement  the  senseless  power  of  veto  by  which  for- 
merly each  individual  member  of  the  Zollverein,  like  the  nobles 
in  the  old  Polish  parliament,  could  by  its  protest  invalidate  the 
decision  of  the  majority,  was  taken  away,  and  the  right  of  the 
majority  secured.  The  south  German  ministers  assented  to  this 
plan  of  a  customs'  parliament ;  and  after  it  had  been  submitted 
to  specialists  commissioned  for  that  purpose,  the  new  customs' 
treaty  was  concluded  in  Berlin  on  the  8th  of  July. 

The  next  question  was  whether  the  two  treaties,  the  customs' 
treaty  and  the  treaty  of  alliance,  would  be  accepted  by  the  south 
German  chambers.  In  Baden  and  Hesse  (in  the  latter  state  the 
customs'  treaty  alone  was  under  consideration)  the  matter  was 
not  attended  with  the  slightest  difficulty,  but  in  Bavaria  it  seemed 
likely  that  the  upper  house  would  not  consent  to  the  former, 
while  in  Wiirtemberg  the  latter  was  in  danger  of  being  rejected 
by  the  house  of  representatives.  Prussia  thereupon  announced 
that  at  the  end  of  six  months  Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg  would  be 
excluded  from  the  Zollverein,  in  case  the  one  did  not  accept  the 
customs'  treaty  and  the  other  the  treaty  of  alliance.  This  meant 
bitter  earnest,  and  at  once  a  number  of  town  councils  and  in- 
dustrial associations  declared  in  favor  of  accepting  the  Prussian 


380  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

propositions.  The  lower  house  of  the  Bavarian  parliament 
showed  itself  favorably  disposed,  and  the  obnoxious  treaty  was 
accepted  by  a  large  majority.  The  upper  house  did  not  give  its 
consent  until  Baron  von  Thiingen,  the  leader  of  those  who  op- 
posed the  treaty,  had  convinced  himself  by  an  interview  with 
Count  Bismarck  that  the,  threat  which  had  been  made  would 
prove  no  idle  one.  Similarly  in  Wiirtemberg  the  treaty  of  alli- 
ance was  adopted  after  a  hot  discussion;  and  on  the  31st  of  Oc- 
tober, 1867,  under  the  influence  of  the  Bavarian  negotiations, 
the  customs'  treaty  was  also  accepted  by  the  lower  house. 

But  the  mere  acceptance  of  these  treaties  was  not  everything ; 
the  treaty  of  alliance  involved  consequences.  If  south  Germany 
wished  to  be  protected  by  Prussia's  military  power,  it  must  con- 
tribute its  share  toward  the  increase  of  that  power.  If  the  south- 
ern troops  were  to  fight  by  the  side  of  the  northern,  under  the 
command  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  they  must  be  organized  in  the 
same  way.  According  to  the  judgment  of  their  own  officers,  the 
organization  under  which  they  had  fought  in  1866  could  not  be 
allowed  to  continue  in  existence  without  involving  a  most  shame- 
ful sacrifice  of  military  honor.  More  must  be  exacted  from  the 
officers,  the  soldiers  must  be  subjected  to  far  stricter  drill,  and, 
above  all,  universal  compulsory  service  must  be  introduced.  Feb- 
ruary 5th,  1867,  the  ministers  of  war  of  the  four  south  German 
states  had  made  the  attempt  in  the  Stuttgart  conferences  to  agree 
upon  a  homogeneous  organization  of  their  respective  armies.  The 
sentiment  was  very  particularistic,  each  state  showing  a  marked 
preference  for  its  own  "  justifiable  race  peculiarities."  They  were 
soon  convinced,  however,  that  no  advance  could  be  made  in  this 
way,  and  that  the  only  way  to  render  themselves  satisfactory  al- 
lies of  Prussia  was  to  introduce  the  well-proved  Prussian  system. 
So  far  as  its  essential  features  are  concerned — universal  compulsory 
service  and  abolition  of  the  substitute  system  formerly  in  exist- 
ence, one  year's  service  as  a  volunteer  or  three  years'  service  in  the 
active  army,  at  state  expense,  four  years  in  the  reserve,  four  to  five 
years  in  the  landwe.hr — this  system  was  introduced  in  south  Ger- 
many, but  not  without  a  sharp  fight  on  the  part  of  the  Prussian- 
haters  in  the  various  parliaments.  The  resistance  was  most  ob- 
stinate in  Wiirtemberg,  where  a  compulsory  service  of  more  than 
two  years  could  not  be  carried  through.  Baden,  on  the  other 
hand,  adopted  the  Prussian  system  so  completely  that  its  division 


THE  CUSTOMS'  PARLIAMENT.  381 

could  have  been  incorporated  at  any  moment  in  the  north  Ger- 
man army  as  a  homogeneous  member.  Both  of  these  states 
adopted  the  Prussian  needle-gun,  which  had  already  been  intro- 
duced in  Hesse,  in  consequence  of  the  military  convention  with 
Prussia,  but  Bavaria  still  retained  the  Werder  arm. 

No  less  important  were  the  elections  for  the  customs'  parlia- 
ment. In  Baden  the  government  and  the  popular  representa- 
tives, in  the  other  three  states  the  national  party,  were  in  favor 
of  extending  the  somewhat  too  restricted  competence  of  that 
body,  or  even  transforming  it  into  a  full  parliament.  In  other 
circles  opinions  were  divided  between  a  destructive  hostility, 
which  was  urged  in  the  Press  and  in  public  meetings,  and  the 
conservative  hostility  of  strict  adherence  to  the  letter  of  the 
treaties.  The  elections  took  place  in  February  and  March  of 
1868.  In  addition  to  the  297  members  of  the  north  German 
Reichstag,  the  customs'  parliament  was  to  contain  eighty-five  rep- 
resentatives from  the  south  German  states — forty-eight  from  Ba- 
varia, seventeen  from  Wurtemberg,  fourteen  from  Baden,  and  six 
from  southern  Hesse.  There  was  a  similar  proportion  in  the  up- 
per house  of  the  customs'  parliament,  which  was  composed  of 
the  plenipotentiaries  of  twenty-five  governments,  with  fifty-eight 
votes.  Of  these  Prussia,  the  presiding  power,  had  seventeen, 
Bavaria  six,  Saxony  and  Wurtemberg  four  each,  and  Baden  and 
Hesse  three  each.  The  elections  were  attended  with  more  excite- 
ment and  bitterness  of  feeling  than  had  been  displayed  since 
1848,  and  another  disgraceful  leaf  of  fraternal  animosity  was 
added  to  the  history  of  Germany.  The  particularists  won  the 
day,  carrying  the  majority  of  the  elections  in  Bavaria,  and  every 
single  one  in  Wurtemberg.  This  determined  the  programme  of 
the  parliament.  The  competence  of  that  body  was  to  be  main- 
tained in  matters  of  the  tariff,  but  all  discussion  of  political  ques- 
tions was  to  be  energetically  repressed.  The  parliament  was 
opened  by  the  King  of  Prussia  on  the  27th  of  April,  1868,  and 
from  its  first  session  until  its  close,  on  the  23d  of  May,  this  pro- 
gramme was  punctually  adhered  to  by  the  south  German  frac- 
tion. This  fraction  consisted  principally  of  Bavarian  ultramon- 
tanes  and  WTiirtemberg  democrats ;  but,  out  of  hatred  toward  the 
national  liberals,  the  Prussian  feudalists  and  the  members  of  the 
Fortschritt  party  voted  with  the  south  Germans,  thus  enabling 
them  to  have  their  own  way.  May  18th,  however,  a  reference 


382  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

of  Probst,  a  Wiirtemberg  delegate,  to  the  threatening  French  av- 
alanche gave  Count  Bismarck  the  opportunity  for  a  brief  pres- 
entation of  the  relation  toward  each  other  of  north  and  south 
Germany,  and  drew  forth  his  proud  words :  "  An  appeal  to  fear 
never  finds  an  echo  in  German  hearts."  On  the  22d  of  May  ap- 
peared a  "  statement  to  their  voters,"  signed  by  thirty-one  mem- 
bers, in  which  they  called  upon  the  south  German  states  to  unite 
their  strength,  inasmuch  as  such  union  would  have  the  effect  of 
mediating  between  the  great  powers  and  thus  subserving  the 
cause  of  European  peace,  while  at  the  same  time  furthering  their 
own  material  interests,  and  rendering  it  possible  for  them  to  fulfil 
their  treaty  obligations  toward  north  Germany  without  being  ex- 
posed to  the  danger  of  absorption  in  Prussia.  This  proposed  a 
great  role  for  the  impossible  south  German  confederation — for 
that  was  what  it  meant — and  the  worse  that  role  was  played  the 
better  it  was  likely  to  be  for  Germany. 

The  more  manifest  it  became  that  important  difficulties  stood 
in  the  way  of  any  national  connection  between  north  and  south, 
the  more  rapidly  the  antalgamation  of  Prussia's  newly-annexed 
provinces  progressed,  and  the  more  effectual  became  the  fusion 
of  the  twenty-two  members  of  the  North  German  Confederation. 
Thanks  to  the  energy  of  the  Reichstag,  the  north  far  outstripped 
the  south  in  its  commercial  and  industrial  development.  Even 
Frankfort,  the  spoiled  and  petted  darling  of  the  old  confedera- 
tion, gradually  accommodated  itself  to  its  new  position;  and 
there  was  scarcely  a  place  where  King  William  met  with  a 
warmer  welcome  than  in  the  Guelph  city,  Hanover.  Since  the 
expensive  pilgrimage  to  the  silver  wedding  of  the  royal  pair  at 
Hietzing,  near  Vienna  (February  18th,  1868),  the  devotion  of  the 
Hanoverians  toward  their  exiled  king  had  considerably  cooled. 
King  George  did  all  in  his  power  to  bring  himself  into  complete 
discredit  with  friend  and  foe,  and  in  February  of  1868  was  guilty 
of  the  combined  treason  and  folly  of  sending  the  Guelph  legion, 
aries  —  about  800  men  —  from  Switzerland  to  France,  in  ordei 
that,  on  the  expected  outbreak  of  war  with  Prussia,  they  might 
make  common  cause  with  the  French  in  invading  Germany  and 
destroying  the  work  of  1866.  The  Elector  of  Hesse,  who  had 
taken  up  his  residence  in  Prague,  likewise  counted  on  a  European 
war,  and  sent  to  all  the  different  European  courts  a  memorial, 
protesting  against  the  violence  which  had  been  employed  against 


REICHSTAG  AND  CUSTOMS'  PARLIAMENT  IN  1869-'70.     383 

/lira.  As  both  princes  had  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Prussian 
crown,  renouncing  their  right  to  their  respective  thrones,  and  ac- 
cepting a  financial  arrangement,  the  cabinet,  not  proposing  to 
contribute  toward  hostile  agitation,  sequestrated  the  property  of 
botli,  Parliament  approving.  All  national  Germany  applauded 
Bismarck  when  he  spoke  in  the  house  of  representatives  of  the 
"reptiles"  which  must  be  followed  into  their  holes,  of  the  dis- 
possessed princes  "  who  do  not  concern  themselves  about  the 
smoking  ruins  of  their  father-land,  provided  only  they  stand  on 
top,  and  ending  with  the  words :  '  We  must  put  an  end  to  this 
criminal  game,  by  which  the  holiest  interests  of  the  nation  and 
the  peace  and  honor  of  our  country  are  endangered — this  crimi- 
nal, pitiable  game,  in  which  the  peace  of  Europe  is  nothing  in 
comparison  with  a  petty  dynastic  interest.  This  is  our  duty 
toward  ourselves,  toward  Germany,  and  toward  Europe.' " 

The  north  German  Reichstag  naturally  sought  to  enlarge  the 
limits  assigned  it  by  the  constitution,  and  include  new  matter  in 
the  circle  of  its  competency.  It  was  with  this  view  that,  in  the 
session  of  1869,  Lasker  and  Miquel  introduced  a  bill  bringing  all 
the  concerns  of  a  citizen  within  the  province  of  its  legislative 
authority.  The  bill  passed  the  lower  house,  but  was  rejected  by 
the  Bundesrath.  In  the  same  session  a  bill  to  establish  a  central 
court  of  trade  in  Leipzig  passed  both  houses.  The  most  note- 
worthy measures  of  the  session  of  1870  were  the  adoption  of  a 
new  code  of  criminal  law,  and  the  appropriation  of  20,000,000 
toward  the  85,000,000  francs  which  was  the  total  sum  necessary 
for  the  construction  of  the  St.  Gothard  road.  The  customs'  par- 
liaments of  these  two  years  were  not  productive  of  results  in  any 
way  corresponding  to  the  national  expectations.  This  was  mainly 
the  fault  of  the  south  German  fraction,  whose  principle  of  action 
was  "  to  spoil  Bismarck's  work  of  unification  "  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, and  who  kept  most  jealous  watch  lest  the  province  of  the 
customs'  parliament  should  be  extended,  and  that  of  the  separate 
parliaments  contracted.  Although  this  fraction  no  longer  found 
the  same  support  among  the  Prussian  conservatives  as  in  1868, 
nevertheless  the  activity  of  the  customs'  parliament  remained 
confined  to  the  consideration  of  commercial  treaties  and  tariff 
reform. 

In  south  Germany  the  opposition  to  union  with  the  North 
German  Confederation  still  continued.  The  ultramontanes  and 


384  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

democrats,  who  joined  hands  in  this  work,  were  unremitting  in 
their  endeavors  to  sow  broadcast  among  the  people  the  blindest 
and  most  unreasoning  hatred  toward  Prussia,  stigmatizing  the 
treaties  of  alliance  as  a  misfortune,  and  glorifying  south  Germany 
as  the  stronghold  of  German  liberty.  The  publication  of  the 
Arcolay  pamphlet  was  very  opportune  for  them.  This  endeav- 
ored to  show  that  the  loss  of  Austria  had  left  in  the  system  of 
German  defence  a  gulf  that  could  not  be  filled,  and  that  Prussia 
was  not  in  a  position  to  protect  south  Germany  in  case  of  a  war 
with  her  powerful  French  neighbor;  hence  the  southern  states 
were  advised  to  maintain  a  strict  neutrality.  These  unfounded 
and  unpatriotic  assertions  called  forth  a  number  of  answers,  show- 
ing the  deficiencies  of  the  military  organization  in  Wurtemberg 
and  Bavaria,  and  that  safety  required  the  closest  union  with  the 
North  German  Confederation.  The  malcontents  derived  much 
assistance  from  the  particularistic  attitude  of  the  governments  in 
those  states.  This  attitude  was  especially  observable  in  the  de- 
liberations of  the  commission  on  fortifications,  Bavaria  and  Wur- 
temberg displaying  the  greatest  concern  lest  the  south  German 
commission  should  be  expanded  into  a  national  one,  under  the 
presidency  of  Prussia,  for  the  purpose  of  administering  the  col- 
lective German  fortresses. 

The  opposition  in  Hesse  was  not  so  serious  as  in  Bavaria  and 
Wurtemberg,  inasmuch  as  part  of  the  country  had  already  been 
annexed  to  the  North  German  Confederation,  a  military  conven- 
tion concluded  with  Prussia,  and  the  fortress  of  Mayence  given 
up  to  that  power.  But,  as  far  as  it  was  possible  to  fight  against 
Prussian  influence,  Baron  von  Dalwigk,  the  Hessian  minister  of 
state,  certainly  did  so,  among  other  things  placing  the  whole  Ro- 
man Catholic  school  system  in  the  hands  of  a  hot-headed  prelate, 
Bishop  Ketteler  of  Mayence. 

Baden  was  an  honorable  exception  among  the  four  south  Ger- 
man states.  Prince  and  parliament  united  in  the  effort  to  carry, 
as  soon  as  political  relations  permitted,  the  idea  of  nationality  to 
its  ultimate  consequences,  and  with  drums  beating  pass  over  to 
the  northern  camp.  After  the  death  of  Mathy,  in  February  of 
1868,  Jolly,  the  former  minister  of  the  interior,  became  minister 
of  state ;  and  a  few  days  later  the  Prussian  military  plenipoten- 
tiary in  Carlsrnhe,  General  von  Beyer,  was  appointed  minister  of 
war,  and  at  the  same  time  lieutenant-general  and  aide-de-camp 


DEMOCRATIC  OPPOSITION  IN  WURTEMBERG.  385 

of  the  grand-duke.  The  cadet  school  was  closed,  the  Badish  ca- 
dets entering  Prussian  institutions;  and  in  May  of  1869  a  treaty 
was  concluded  with  the  North  German  Confederation  permitting 
a  sort  of  military  emigration,  so  that  subjects  of  both  contracting 
parties  might  serve  their  time  indifferently  in  the  territory  of 
either.  A  temporary  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  national 
liberals,  which  found  vent  in  the  Offenburg  meeting  of  Novem- 
ber 8th,  1868,  was  in  part  allayed  by  the  explanations  of  the 
ministry,  and  in  part  the  action  of  their  political  adversaries  of 
both  wings  forced  them  into  harmony  with  the  government 
again.  In  the  hope  of  turning  the  conflict  in  the  liberal  ranks 
to  their  own  advantage,  the  ultramontanes  and  their  allies,  the 
Grossdeutsche,  brought  about  a  popular  petition  to  the  grand- 
duke,  praying  for  the  dissolution  of  parliament,  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  system  of  direct  votes  and  secret  ballot.  This  had  the 
opposite  effect  from  that  intended.  Peace  was  quickly  restored 
among  the  liberals ;  all  the  principal  cities  presented  counter-ad- 
dresses to  the  grand-duke,  and  the  national  party  was  stronger 
than  ever. 

The  political  condition  in  Wiirtemberg  was  in  striking  con- 
trast with  that  in  Baden.  The  elections  of  July  8th,  1868,  gave 
the  democrats  and  Grossdeutsche  the  majority  in  the  house  of 
representatives.  Democrats  and  clericals  united  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  there  were  some  who  went  so  far  in  their  opposition 
as  to  say,  "  Better  France  than  Prussia !"  They  were  resolved 
to  bend  Barnbiiler's  ministry  to  their  wishes  or  to  overthrow  it. 
The  ministerial  policy  was  to  evade  parliament  as  long  as  possi- 
ble, and  accordingly,  after  a  brief  session  in  December  of  1868 — 
chiefly  distinguished  by  a  debate  on  the  address,  lasting  for  three 
days  and  accomplishing  nothing — parliament  was  prorogued,  and 
not  re-opened  until  the  8th  of  March,  1870.  The  democracy 
made  use  of  this  long  interval  to  cover  the  whole  land  with  a 
net-work  of  popular  associations,  organize  meetings,  and  secure 
signatures  to  an  address  to  the  house  of  representatives,  demand- 
ing the  repeal  of  the  recently  adopted  law  with  reference  to  mili- 
tary service,  and  "the  introduction  of  a  really  universal  obligato- 
ry system,  with  military  preparation  of  the  youth,  and  a  shorter 
period  of  active  service."  By  means  of  unexampled  terrorism — 
which  the  government,  strangely  enough,  allowed  to  pass  unno- 
ticed— the  Wiirtemberg  democrats  were  able  to  collect  150,000 

17 


386  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

signatures.  War  on  the  military  system  of  government  and  po- 
litical organization  represented  by  Prussia  was  openly  advocated 
in  speeches  and  writings,  and,  in  contrast  to  this,  praise  was  be- 
stowed upon  "  the  free  citizens,  who  were  resolved  to  stand  united 
and  firm  against  Prussian  seductions  and  violence." 

After  such  preparations  forty-five  democratic  and  Grossdeutsche 
members  of  the  chamber  of  1870  introduced  a  bill  diminishing 

O 

the  time  of  active  military  service,  in  order  to  avoid  the  econom- 
ical and  financial  disadvantages  resulting  from  the  law  then  in 
force.  After  the  first  reading  the  bill  was  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee on  finance,  but  before  that  committee  could  report  other 
events  of  considerable  importance  had  effected  a  change  in  the 
situation.  The  ministers  all  resigned,  and  on  the  24th  of  March 
a  new  ministry  was  formed  of  such  a  character  that  any  agree- 
ment between  the  Grossdeutsche,  ultramontanes,  and  democrats  on 
the  one  side  and  the  government  on  the  other  became  an  utter 
impossibility.  This  change  of  ministry,  however,  did  not  imply 
any  abandonment  of  the  former  particularistic  attitude  of  the 
Wiirtemberg  government.  At  the  same  time  with  the  entrance 
upon  office  of  the  new  ministry  the  chamber  was  indefinitely 
prorogued.  The  exasperation  among  the  members  of  the  various 
anti-national  parties  was  very  great,  and  they  at  once  made  their 
preparations  for  a  new  campaign,  calculating  on  the  necessity  of 
a  speedy  session  of  the  chambers  to  vote  the  requisite  appropria- 
tions. It  seemed  inevitable  that  in  that  event  the  new  ministry 
must  make  place  for  members  of  the  anti-national  parties. 

Affairs  in  Bavaria  took  a  somewhat  similar  course,  excepting 
that  there  it  was  not  the  democrats,  but  the  clericals,  who  played 
the  important  part.  A  liberal  school  law  had  failed  to  pass  in 
1868,  owing  to  the  ill-will  of  the  upper  house.  The  clericals 
were  full  of  hatred  against  the  Hohenlohe  ministry,  party,  because 
it  sought  ways  and  means  to  bring  about  a  closer  connection  with 
the  North  German  Confederation,  but  still  more  because,  in  a  cir- 
cular of  April  9th,  1869,  it  had  called  the  attention  of  the  various 
European  powers  to  the  danger  threatened  by  a  Vatican  council, 
inviting  at  the  same  time  common  action  with  a  view  to  curbing 
the  Romish  lust  of  conquest.  The  new  elections  took  place  on 
the  20th  of  May,  while  the  impression  of  this  circular  was  still 
fresh.  The  Roman  Catholic  clergy  exerted  all  the  means  in  their 
power  to  secure  a  victory  for  the  clericals,  Bishop  Senestrey  even 


ULTRAMONTANE   TRIUMPH   IN   BAVARIA.  387 

going  so  far  as  to  threaten  the  overthrow  of  the  throne.  The 
elections  resulted  in  the  choice  of  seventy-five  liberals  and  seven- 
ty-nine clericals,  but  contested  elections  reduced  the  actual  num- 
bers to  seventy-one  on  each  side,  and  when  the  chamber  met  in 
September  it  proved  impossible  to  elect  a  president.  Seven  times 
the  vote  was  taken,  and  each  time  with  the  same  result — seventy- 
one  for  either  candidate — so  that  finally,  on  the  6th  of  October, 
a  dissolution  took  place,  and  writs  were  issued  for  a  new  election. 
This  time  eighty  clericals  were  returned,  and  only  seventy-four 
liberals.  Thereupon  the  ministers  tendered  their  resignations, 
of  which  the  king  accepted  only  two.  January  17th,  1870,  the 
new  parliament  was  opened,  and  both  houses  took  advantage  of 
the  debate  on  the  address — which  occupied  twelve  entire  sittings 
in  the  lower  chamber — to  give  the  most  malignant  expression  to 
their  distrust  of  Prince  Hohenlohe,  the  clericals,  or,  as  they  called 
themselves,  the  Patriots,  being  guilty  of  the  most  incredible  im- 
proprieties. After  the  addresses  had  been  adopted  in  both  houses 
Prince  Hohenlohe  once  more  tendered  his  resignation,  for  after 
such  proceedings  it  had  become  impossible  for  him  to  act  in  har- 
mony with  Parliament.  This  time  the  king  accepted  it,  and  on 
the  7th  of  March,  Count  Bray,  the  Bavarian  ambassador  in  Vien- 
na, was  appointed  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  The  programme 
which  he  laid  before  the  chamber  proposed  the  maintenance  of 
the  treaties,  but  at  the  same  time  insisted  on  the  preservation  of 
Bavarian  independence  and  freedom  of  self-determination.  This 
meant  the  perpetuation  of  the  status  quo,  and  the  continued  sep- 
aration of  the  south  from  the  north.  With  the  latter  the  Patri- 
ots were  in  full  accord,  but  the^ormer  did  not  satisfy  their  wisli- 
"es.  As  they  could  not  renounce  the  treaty  of  alliance  altogether, 
they  attempted,  like  the  anti-nationalists  in  Wurtemberg,  to  ren- 
der it  worthless,  by  effecting  so  "far  as  possible  the  diminution 
and  deterioration  of  the  Bavarian  army.  The  immediate  aim  of 
their  measures  was  a  considerable  reduction  of  the  time  of  active 
service,  and  of  the  number  of  the  troops,  as  well  as  the  almost 
complete  abolition  of  the  cavalry  arm ;  their  ultimate  purpose  was 
to  remodel  the  whole  system,  substituting,  in  the  place  of  the  ex- 
isting army,  militia  bands,  or,  rather,  armed  peasants'  clubs,  which 
would  render  less  obedience  to  generals  and  officers  than  to  bish- 
ops and  chaplains.  The  general  debate  on  the  military  budget 
was  ended  on  the  fateful  15th  of  July,  and  the  way  was  clear  for 


388  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

the  introduction  of  the  new  measures  of  the  clericals  and  the  gov- 
ernment; but  by  that  time  the  political  barometer  promised  so 
severe  a  storm  that  the  session  was  abruptly  terminated  by  an 
adjournment  on  the  18th. 

The  relations  of  Prussia  to  France,  though  outwardly  courteous, 
were  in  reality  as  bad  as  well  could  be.  In  Berlin  it  was  believed 
that  war  was  inevitable,  and  in  Paris  all  possible  means  were 
taken  to  confirm  that  belief.  The  vain  and  ostentatious  French 
nation  could  not  pardon  Prussia  for  having  cast  its  military  glory 
into  the  shade  by  her  victories  in  1866.  The  trophies  of  Sebas- 
topol  and  Solferino  were  consigned  to  oblivion  by  the  late  Prus- 
sian triumphs,  and  so  it  was  that  "  Revenge  for  Sadowa  1"  be- 
came a  patriotic  cry,  as  though  the  French  and  not  the  Austrians 
had  been  beaten  there.  Prussia  watched  her  neighbor's  mad  mo- 
tions gun  in  hand,  doing  nothing  to  increase  the  excitement,  but 
not  permitting  the  slightest  interference  in  German  affairs,  and 
all  the  time  quietly  perfecting  her  preparations  for  war.  Utter- 
ances of  persons  in  high  position  evincing  a  consciousness  of 
strength  were  regarded  in  Paris  as  intolerable  arrogance ;  as,  for 
example,  Moltke's  words  in  the  Reichstag  on  the  15th  of  June, 
1868,  when  he  gave  expression  to  the  belief  that  a  united  Ger- 
many would  be  strong  enough  to  hold  in  check  the  warlike  incli- 
nations of  its  neighbors.  Of  a  similar  nature  was  the  king's  an- 
swer to  a  deputation  in  Kiel  in  September  of  the  same  year,  when 
he  allayed  their  apprehensions  regarding  the  dangers  of  war  by 
referring  to  "  the  here  assembled  representatives  of  the  army  and 
navy,  that  strength  of  our  country  which  has  given  evidence  that 
it  will  not  hesitate  to  accept  and  carry  through  a  war  that  is 
forced  upon  us."  In  the  winter  of  1868-'69  Moltke  presented' 
to  the  king  from  the  staff  a  plan  of  campaign  against  France  so 
carefully  worked  out  even  in  the  most  minute  details,  that  mobi- 
lization might  have  taken  place  on  the  very  day  on  which  it  was 
presented.  In  this  document  the  various  possibilities  as  to  the 
movements  of  the  French  army  were  taken  into  consideration — 
the  participation  of  the  south  German  states  was  not  reckoned 
on  with  certainty — the  region  between  Metz  and  Strasburg  being 
regarded  as  the  most  likely  place  of  meeting  for  the  French 
forces.  In  that  case  the  German  army  was  to  assemble  in  the 
Bavarian  Palatinate,  assume  the  offensive  against  Metz  and  Stras- 
burg simultaneously,  and  by  marching  into  France  anticipate  the 


FRENCH  PLAN  OF  CAMPAIGN.  389 

invasion  of  German  territory.  The  possibility  of  such  anticipa- 
tion of  the  plans  of  the  French  generals  was  exhibited  by  detailed 
calculations  of  marches  and  movements  by  rail. 

Niel,  the  French  minister  of  war,  who  since  1867  had  been 
working  with  unremitting  energy  at  the  re-organization  of  the 
army,  had  also  prepared  a  plan  of  campaign.  According  to  this 
plan  the  left  wing  was  to  enter  Holland,  dragging  both  that  coun- 
try and  Belgium  into  the  war;  the  right  wing  was  to  cross  the 
upper  Rhine  and,  with  the  help  of  the  south  German  particular- 
ists,  utilize  the  strength  of  that  region  in  the  formation  of  a  new 
Confederation  of  the  Rhine ;  while  the  centre  was  to  take  the 
road  toward  Hesse  and  Hanover,  and  summon  the  population  to 
arms  in  behalf  of  their  deposed  princes.  By  such  a  division  of 
the  German  forces  Niel  hoped  to  be  able  to  dispose  of  Prussia 
without  much  difficulty.  On  the  assistance  of  the  south  German 
states  he  relied  with  far  greater  certainty  than  Moltke  did.  (The 
democrats  and  clericals  of  the  south  had  done  nothing  to  forbid 
such  confidence  on  the  part  of  France,  or  even  to  weaken  it.  On 
the  17th  of  July,  1870,  the  editor  of  the  Bavarian  paper  Father- 
land telegraphed  to  Paris :  "  The  patriotic  party  in  the  chamber 
is  resolved  not  to  vote  a  single  kreutzer  for  the  mobilization  which 
has  been  ordered  at  Prussia's  behest ;"  and  in  his  paper  he  went 
so  far  as  to  call  upon  Bavaria  to  side  with  France,  even  daring  to 
assert  that  the  Bavarian  soldiers  had  long  been  eager  to  march 
against  Prussia.)  Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  serious  mis- 
calculations and  the  numerous  improbabilities  upon  which  the 
French  plan  was  based,  the  death  of  Niel,  August  13th,  1869,  was 
of  itself  fatal  to  its  execution.  General  Lebo3uf,  his  successor, 
was  not  the  man  to  carry  out  the  reorganization  with  energy 
and  intelligence,  and,  as  is  well  known,  finally  professed  himself 
more  than  ready  at  a  time  when  the  arrangements  for  mobiliza- 
tion were  in  a  hopelessly  bad  condition. 

In  the  mean  time  the  internal  affairs  of  France  had  been  as- 
suming a  more  serious  character.  The  personal  rule,  which  had 
been  cheerfully  endured  as  long  as  one  victorious  campaign  fol- 
lowed the  other  and  the  emperor  was  looked  upon  as  the  dictator 
of  Europe,  had  suffered  a  serious  loss  of  credit  through  the  recent 
miscarriages  of  the  Napoleonic  policy,  especially  the  retreat  from 
Mexico  and  the  unfavorable  solution  of  the  Luxemburg  question. 
These  humiliations  were  regarded  as  altogether  due  to  a  system 


390  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

of  personal  government  no  longer  able  to  cope  with  circum- 
stances, and  not  merely  the  opposition,  but  even  the  moderate 
members  of  the  chambers,  demanded  the  substitution  of  a  par- 
liamentary system.  In  the  Press  and  public  meetings,  both  of 
which  had  acquired  their  freedom  by  the  laws  of  1868,  a  revolu- 
tionary tone  was  adopted,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  emperor,  the 
extermination  of  the  still  more  detestable  clergy,  and  a  radical 
and  complete  revolution  in  all  social  matters,  freely  talked  about. 
The  middle  classes,  on  the  other  hand,  perceiving  the  abyss  which 
yawned  before  them,  lost  all  inclination  for  revolutionary  proj- 
ects. Nevertheless  the  emperor  could  not  depend  upon  them, 
for  their  ideal  was  a  government  which  should  be  well  adminis- 
tered as  well  as  strong,  and  Napoleon's  administration  of  the 
finances,  the  fraudulent  extravagance  of  which  was  laid  bare  in 
the  session  of  1869,  hardly  gave  much  hope  of  that.  Ministerial 
responsibility,  abandonment  of  the  system  of  official  candidates. 
free  elections,  effective  participation  of  the  legislative  branch  iu 
the  government,  a  well-regulated  administration  of  the  finances, 
complete  control  of  governmental  expenditures,  and  a  peaceful 
policy — these  were  the  rallying  cries  with  which  liberalism  a.ssai!- 
ed  the  personal  regime.  Minister  Lavalette's  announcement  that 
France  would  remain  at  peace  with  Prussia  so  long  as  the  latter 
respected  the  line  of  the  Main,  and  did  not  encroach  upon  the  in- 
dependence of  the  south  German  states,  met  with  universal  ap- 
proval in  the  chamber.  The  differences  with  Belgium,  which 
would  not  permit  the  sale  of  Belgian  railroads  to  the  French 
Eastern  railroad  company,  were  settled  by  the  Parisian  conven- 
tion of  July  10th,  1869.  This  matter  really  concerned  the  rail- 
road company  much  less  than  it  did  the  French  government, 
which  stood  behind  it,  for  by  the  possession  of  the  railroads  the 
emperor  had  hoped  to  acquire  a  firm  footing  in  Belgium,  and 
then  gradually,  by  means  of  customs'  treaties  and  treaties  of  alli- 
ance, pave  the  way  to  the  coveted  annexation. 

The  new  elections  for  the  legislature  took  place  on  the  23d 
and  24th  of  May,  with  the  result  that  altogether  4,664,000  votes 
were  cast  for  the  official  and  3,310,000  for  the  independent  or 
opposition  candidates,  199  friends  of  the  government  being  re- 
turned and  93  foes,  so  that  the  latter  had  one-third  of  the  whole 
number.  In  Paris,  Lyons,  Marseilles,  and  the  other  large  cities, 
the  fiercest  opponents  of  the  empire,  so-called  Irreconcilable?, 


THE  ELECTIONS   OF   1869.  391 

were  elected.  If  the  elections  of  1857,  1863,  and  1869  be  com- 
pared, it  will  be  seen  that  there  had  been  a  large  and  steady  in- 
crease of  the  opposition.  In  1857  they  had  succeeded  in  elect- 
ing only  five  of  their  candidates,  while  in  1869  ninety-three  mem- 
bers of  the  opposition  had  seats  in  the  chamber.  The  emperor 
still  had  a  majority  in  the  legislature,  but  the  minority  was  numer- 
ous and  dangerous,  and  the  majority  not  altogether  reliable.  The 
immediate  result  of  the  elections  was  the  removal  of  Rouher,  the 
so-called  "  vice-emperor,"  who  was  appointed  president  of  the 
senate,  while  Foi^ade,  the  former  minister  of  the  interior,  as- 
sumed the  guidance  of  a  ministry  made  up  from  Rouher's  party. 
This  change  was  followed  by  the  introduction  in  the  senate  of  a 
bill  proposing  some  changes  in  the  constitution,  and  on  the  6th 
of  September  a  senatorial  decree  appeared  increasing  the  author- 
ity of  both  senate  and  house  of  representatives,  and  granting  in 
principle  the  responsibility  of  ministers.  In  August  the  emperor 
was  taken  with  a  serious  illness,  which  roused  for  a  time  the  fears 
of  his  friends  and  the  hopes  of  his  foes.  After  his  recovery 
the  Empress  Eugenic  undertook  a  voyage  to  the  East,  in  order 
to  be  present  at  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  on  the  17th  of 
November. 

The  speech  from  the  throne,  with  which  the  emperor  opened 
the  new  parliament  on  the  29th  of  November,  spoke  of  the  free- 
dom combined  with  order  which  France  desired,  and  announced 
some  political  reforms.  The  investigations  in  the  matter  of  con- 
tested seats  gave  occasion  for  the  most  violent  attacks  on  the 
system  of  official  candidates,  and  the  consequent  influencing  of 
elections.  After  this  business  was  ended  the  ministry,  finding 
its  position  no  longer  tenable,  gave  in  its  resignation.  December 
27th  the  emperor  commissioned  Ollivier,  a  member  of  the  newly 
formed  middle  party  in  the  legislature,  with  the  formation  of  a 
"congenial  ministry,  which  should  be  a  true  expression  of  the 
sentiment  of  the  majority,  and  begged  his  assistance  in  the  task 
of  putting  the  constitutional  system  of  government  in  practice." 
This  first  parliamentary  ministry  of  the  second  empire  entered 
upon  its  duties  on  the  2d  of  January,  1870.  It  consisted  for  the 
most  part  of  new  men,  among  whom  Count  Daru,  minister  of 
foreign  affairs,  and  Buffet,  minister  of  finance,  are  most  worthy 
of  mention.  Of  the  former  cabinet  General  Leboeuf  still  retained 
his  post  as  minister  of  war.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new 


392  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

ministry  was  the  removal  of  Hausmann,  the  prefect  of  the  Seine, 
who  had  carried  out  with  such  relentlesr>  energy  the  emperor's  plans 
for  remodelling  the  capital,  thus  burdening  Paris  with  an  enor- 
mous debt.  The  unpunished  shooting  of  a  journalist,  Victor  Xoir, 
by  Prince  Peter  Bonaparte,  to  whom  he,  in  company  with  another 
friend  of  Rochefort's,  had  conveyed  a  challenge,  and  the  arrest  of 
Rochefort,  a  member  of  the  chamber,  who  in  his  paper,  the  Mar- 
seillaise, had  not  scrupled  to  call  the  emperor  and  his  family  a 
band  of  murderers,  caused  such  excitement  in  Paris  at  the  begin- 
ning of  1870,  that  barricades  were  erected  in  the  streets.  The 
rioters  were  not  numerous,  however,  and  the  police  remained  mas- 
ters of  the  situation. 

To  put  a  stop  to  the  endless  demands  for  changes  in  the  con- 
stitution, the  emperor  laid  before  the  senate  the  draught  of  a  new 
fundamental  law  of  the  empire,  by  which  a  share  in  the  framing 
of  constitutional  provisions,  which  had  up  to  that  time  been  di- 
vided between  the  emperor  and  the  senate,  was  made  over  to  the 
legislative  body.  The  proposed  constitution,  while  asserting  the 
responsibility  of  ministers  to  the  legislature,  also  made  the  Em- 
peror of  the  French  responsible  to  the  people,  and  gave  him  the 
right  of  appealing  to  the  country  at  any  time.  He  proposed  to 
make  use  of  the  latter  provision  at  once,  and  lay  the  new  consti- 
tution before  the  people  for  their  sanction  as  soon  as  it  had  been 
accepted  by  the  senate,  without  allowing  the  legislature  an  oppor- 
tunity to  discuss  it.  It  was  clear  that  such  a  popular  vote  would 
be  regarded  not  merely  as  a  judgment  on  the  special  question 
submitted,  but  also  as  an  expression  of  opinion  on  the  whole  pol- 
icy of  the  empire,  so  that  if  Xapoleon  received  a  large  majority 
at  this  plebiscite  the  question  between  monarchy  and  republic 
would  be  decided  in  his  favor  for  a  long  time  to  come.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  minority,  or  even  a  feeble  majority,  would  be  in  the 
same  degree  unfavorable.  But  of  such  a  result  there  was  little 
likelihood,  for  the  complete  state  machine  was  working  under  full 
steam  in  preparation  for  the  plebiscite.  The  question  whether  the 
emperor  should  in  all  cases  have  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  peo- 
ple caused  a  division  in  the  ministry.  Daru  and  Buffet,  in  con- 
cert with  the  opposition  in  the  chamber,  wished  to  limit  that 
right,  and,  not  succeeding  in  this,  they  tendered  their  resigna- 
tions on  the  14th  of  April.  The  senate  adopted  the  proposed 
constitution  by  a  unanimous  vote  on  the  20th  of  April,  and  the 


THE   WAR  PARTY   AND  THE  JESUITS.  393 

8th  of  May  was  appointed  for  the  plebiscite.  This  resulted  in  a 
brilliant  victory  for  the  Napoleonic  policy  :  7,210,296  voted  yes, 
and  1,530,610  no,  to  which  should  be  added  41,213  affirmative  to 
19,484  negative  votes  in  Algeria.  That  the  larger  cities  cast  more 
negative  than  affirmative  votes  was  not  surprising,  but  that  in  the 
army  46,000  and  in  the  navy  5000  voted  no  was  a  more  serious 
matter.  With  this  exception  the  emperor  again  felt  firm  ground 
beneath  him,  and  believed  once  more  in  the  future  of  his  dynasty. 
The  Bonapartists  pressed  forward  more  arrogantly  than  ever,  and 
the  government  felt  strong  enough  to  act  with  decision  in  foreign 
affairs.  Since  Daru's  withdrawal  Ollivier  had  administered  his 
department,  but  on  the  15th  of  May  the  foreign  portfolio  was 
intrusted  to  Prussia's  most  pronounced  enemy,  the  Duke  of  Gra- 
mont,  for  so  many  years  ambassador  in  Vienna.  A  few  months 
later  some  chauvinists  attempted  to  find  a  pretext  for  war  with 
Prussia  in  the  St.  Gothard  treaty,  which  had  been  entered  into  be- 
tween France,  the  North  German  Confederation,  Switzerland,  and 
Italy.  Unlimited  confidence  was  felt  in  the  wonderful  powers  of 
the  chassepot  and  mitrailleuse.  In  his  answer  to  an  interpellation 
on  the  20th  of  June  the  Duke  of  Gramont  let  it  be  plainly  un- 
derstood how  much  he  regretted  the  impossibility  of  making  this 
question  furnish  the  desired  pretext.  Nevertheless,  to  be  ready 
for  any  emergency,  on  the  29th  of  June  the  marine  prefect  of 
Cherbourg  was  asked  what  stores  were  in  readiness  at  that  place 
for  an  expedition  to  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic.  In  the  face 
of  this  Ollivier  declared  in  the  sitting  of  June  30th  that  the  gov- 
ernment had  never  followed  a  more  peaceful  policy,  and  that  the 
peace  of  Europe  had  never  been  in  so  little  danger  as  at  that  mo- 
ment. Four  days  later  Press  and  legislature  were  ringing  with 
the  discussion  of  the  Hohenzollern  candidacy. 

Napoleon  was  urged  along  the  slippery  path  he  was  now  pur- 
suing, not  alone  by  his  fame -seeking  generals,  but  also  by  the 
ambitious,  power-grasping  Order  of  Jesus.  The  Jesuits  could  not 
endure  the  thought  of  Protestant  Prussia  at  the  head  of  Germa- 
ny, and,  like  the  French  ministers,  held  it  necessary  to  prevent  at 
any  price  the  accession  of  south  Germany  to  the  North  German 
Confederation,  the  accomplishment  of  German  unity,  and  the  erec-  \ 
tion  of  a  powerful  German  empire  under  a  Hohenzollern  ruler. 
The  war  party  in  Paris  might  reckon  with  certainty  on  the  alli- 
ance of  the  Jesuits  in  Rome,  and  the  latter  had  an  eloquent  and 

17* 


394  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

influential  advocate  in  that  hot-blooded,  bigoted,  and  devout  Cas- 
tilian,  Empress  Eugenie.  In  Rome  the  Jesuits  were  just  about  to 
play  their  highest  card.  If  they  were  successful,  the  whole  Ro- 
man Catholic  world  lay  at  their  feet ;  Roman  Catholic  princes, 
ministers,  and  parliaments  became  their  creatures ;  and  the  begin- 
ning of  a  crusade  against  heretical  Germany,  with  faithful  France 
to  lead  the  van,  Beust-governed  Austria  to  form  the  reserve,  and 
the  Bavarian  "  Patriots  "  as  a  sort  of  home-guard,  would  depend 
upon  their  nod  alone.  The  plan  was  bold  and  comprehensive, 
the  resources  at  their  command  on  the  Seine  and  Tiber  enor- 
mous, but  their  game  failed  of  success.  The  Jesuits  played  their 
card,  but  it  chanced  that  the  cards  in  their  adversary's  hand  were 
full  as  high  as  theirs. 


§  24, 

AFFAIRS    IN    OTHER    COUNTRIES. THE    VATICAN    COUNCIL. 

To  enter  upon  our  section  from  an  Occidental  point  of  view 
— the  relations  existing  between  America  and  Europe  were  in 
general  friendly.  Russia  professed  her  willingness  to  cede  her 
North  American  possessions  to  the  United  States  on  payment  of 
$7,200,000.  This  fell  in  with  the  American  policy  of  excluding 
foreign  powers  from  the  Western  continent,  and  Congress  ap- 
proved of  the  purchase;  but  Denmark  was  not  so  fortunate  in 
her  attempt  to  dispose  of  the  islands  of  St.  Thomas  and  St.  Juan. 
The  relations  of  the  Union  to  the  new  Germany  were  of  the  most 
friendly  description.  The  reason  therefor  lay  partly  in  the  fact 
that  no  country  in  Europe  was  brought  into  so  close  and  recip- 
rocal a  connection  with  the  United  States  by  emigration  as  Ger- 
many, and  partly  it  was  attributable  to  the  decided  sympathy  and 
friendship  for  the  North  which  Germany  had  shown  during  the 
war,  and  the  readiness  with  which  the  German  people  had  taken 
up  the  Union  loans.  With  England  the  case  was  quite  differ- 
ent. The  quarrel  about  the  Alabama,  which  had  been  built  and 
equipped  in  England  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  authorities,  and 
had  captured  within  eight  weeks  twenty-two  Northern  merchant- 
men, dragged  along  until  1872.  On  the  14th  of  September  of 


DISESTABLISHMENT   OF  THE   IRISH   CHURCH.  395 

that  year  the  Geneva  court  of  arbitration,  to  the  decision  of  which 
both  countries  had  agreed  to  submit,  condemned  England  to  pay 
$15,500,000  gold  as  indemnity.  The  English,  on  their  side,  com- 
plained of  the  unchecked  raids  into  Canada  of  American  Fenians, 
who  aimed  at  the  separation  from  England  of  both  Canada  and 
Ireland.  To  do  the  Irish  justice,  in  one  direction  at  least,  and 
to  conciliate  them  in  some  degree,  Gladstone,  as  leader  of  the  Lib- 
eral party  in  the  Lower  House,  introduced  his  resolutions  looking 
to  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church.  It  seemed  a  crying 
injustice  that  the  Anglican  Church,  whose  members  in  the  sister 
isle  numbered  not  more  than  about  700,000,  should  be  the  state 
church  in  a  country  where  the  Roman  Catholic  population  amount- 
ed to  four  and  a  half  millions,  even  though  the  latter  no  longer 
had  to  pay  the  tithes  which  once  had  been  exacted.  To  put  an 
end  to  such  an  abnormal  state  of  affairs,  Mr.  Gladstone  gave  no- 
tice (March,  1 868)  of  a  series  of  resolutions  declaring  that,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  House  of  Commons,  it  was  necessary  that  the  Es- 
tablished Church  of  Ireland  should  cease  to  exist  as  an  establish- 
ment, and  praying  the  Queen  to  put  at  the  disposal  of  Parliament 
her  interest  in  the  temporalities  of  the  Irish  Church.  The  reso- 
lutions were  adopted  by  a  majority  of  sixty-five.  Parliament  was 
dissolved  in  July,  and  in  November  the  new  elections  took  place, 
the  main  issue  being  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church. 
This  was  the  first  general  election  with  the  more  extended  suf- 
frage and  the  new  constituencies  created  by  the  reform  bill  of 
1867.  This  reform  bill  was  a  Liberal  measure,  which  had  been 
used  as  a  float  by  the  Conservative  ministry  of  Lord  Derby  and 
Mr.  Disraeli.  "  It  enfranchised  in  boroughs  all  male  householders 
rated  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  all  lodgers  resident  for  one 
year,  and  paying  not  less  than  £10  a  year  rent;  and  in  counties 
persons  of  property  of  the  clear  annual  value  of  £5,  and  occupi- 
ers of  lands  or  tenements  paying  £12  a  year"  (M'Carthy).  All 
towns  with  a  population  less  than  10,000,  represented  by  two 
members  in  Parliament,  lost  one.  The  cities  of  Manchester,  Liv- 
erpool, Birmingham,  and  Leeds  each  gained  a  third  member. 
Where  three  members  were  to  be  elected  from  the  same  city  the 
principle  of  minority  representation  was  introduced,  each  voter 
voting  for  only  two  of  the  candidates.  The  University  of  Lon- 
don also  gained  a  seat  by  this  redistribution,  and  the  Scotch  bill 
of  1868  transferred  to  Scotland  some  of  the  seats  lost  by  English 


396  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

boroughs.  The  Liberals  came  out  of  the  first  contest  after  the 
passage  of  this  bill  with  a  majority  of  about  120  members  in  the 
house.  Thereupon  Disraeli  resigned,  and  on  the  3d  of  Decem- 
ber Mr.  Gladstone  was  commissioned  to  form  a  new  ministry.  In 
1869,  as  prime-minister,  he  carried  out  the  disestablishment  of 
the  Irish  Church,  protecting  the  life  interests  of  those  already 
holding  positions  in  that  church,  and  appropriating  the  fund  re- 
turning to  the  state,  after  all  personal  interests  and  all  individual 
rights  of  property  had  been  provided  for,  to  the  relief  of  "  un- 
avoidable calamity  and  suffering." 

Like  the  reform  bill,  the  Abyssinian  expedition  falls  under  the 
previous  ministry,  that  of  Derby  and  Disraeli.  It  was  directed 
against  Theodore,  the  negus  or  king  of  Abyssinia,  who  had  long 
held  Consul  Cameron  prisoner,  together  with  other  English  officials 
and  missionaries,  refusing  to  deliver  them  up,  notwithstanding  all 
representations  and  threats.  To  maintain  her  credit,  especially 
in  the  East,  England  determined  to  compel  the  release  of  the 
prisoners  by  force  of  arms.  The  outfit  of  the  troops  was  in  very 
advantageous  contrast  with  that  of  the  Crimean  expedition.  Sir 
Charles  Napier,  with  a  force  of  12,000  men,  arrived  in  the  harbor 
of  Zulla,  from  Bombay,  on  the  3d  of  January,  1868,  penetrated 
to  the  mountain  fortress  of  Magdala  in  spite  of  the  enormous  diffi- 
culties presented  by  the  nature  of  the  country;  and  on  the  10th  of 
April  defeated  an  assault  of  the  Abyssinian  soldiers  before  that 
place.  Thereupon  Theodore  restored  the  prisoners.  The  English, 
not  satisfied  with  this,  demanded  his  unconditional  surrender;  and, 
as  he  would  not  comply  with  their  demands,  the  fortress  was  storm- 
ed on  the  13th  of  April.  The  Abyssinian  monarch,  perceiving  that 
it  was  impossible  to  hold  the  place,  shot  himself,  to  avoid  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  foe,  and  his  corpse  was  found  by  the  storm- 
ing party  just  within  the  gate.  After  destroying  Magdala,  the 
English  withdrew  at  once,  re-embarking  at  Zulla  on  the  1st  of 
June.  Their  prompt  withdrawal  occasioned  considerable  surprise 
in  Europe,  and  especially  in  France,  where  it  called  forth  compar- 
isons with  the  Mexican  expedition  of  a  nature  not  very  flattering 
to  the  Napoleonic  policy. 

England  was  deeply  interested  in  the  development  of  Oriental 
affairs,  regarding  the  Levant,  for  maritime  reasons,  as  a  part  of 
her  political  domain.  As  usual,  there  was  no  lack  of  complica- 
tions in  that  quarter.  Prince  Michael  Obrenovitch  of  Servia 


THE  INSURRECTION  OF  THE  CANDIOTES.  397 

was  murdered  in  the  park  of  Topsliider,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Belgrade,  on  the  10th  of  June,  1868;  and  at  first  there  was  con- 
siderable apprehension  lest  this  might  bring  serious  consequences 
in  its  train.  The  footsteps  of  the  crime  led  up  to  the  very  door 
of  Prince  Alexander  Karageorgievitch,  who  had  been  expelled  in 
1858,  and  he  was  accordingly  condemned  in  his  absence  to  im- 
prisonment, with  hard  labor,  for  twenty  years.  The  Skuptshina 
(national  assembly)  was  immediately  summoned,  and  Milan  Obre- 
novitch  IV.,  a  cousin  of  the  murdered  man,  chosen  prince.  As 
he  was  but  thirteen  years  of  age,  the  Skuptshina  appointed  three 
of  its  own  members  regents  for  three  years,  and  harmony  was 
again  restored.  The  neighboring  Roumanian  principality  was 
also  for  a  considerable  time  the  cause  of  much  uneasiness.  Prince 
Charles  of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,  the  hospodar  of  that  state, 
endeavored  to  reorganize  the  badly-ordered  Roumanian  army  af- 
ter the  Prussian  pattern,  in  which  the  Prussian  government  as- 
sisted him  with  cannon  and  needle-guns,  as  well  as  officers  to  act 
as  instructors.  Austrian  apprehensiveness  saw  in  this  a  threat 
to  Austria  and  Turkey,  and  credited  Prussia  with  the  desire  to 
set  the  match  to  the  Oriental  powder  magazine.  The  dismissal 
of  Bratiano's  ministry,  November  28th,  1868,  at  Prussia's  insti- 
gation, brought  this  uncertainty  to  an  end. 

Of  a  more  serious  character,  however,  was  Greece's  struggle 
with  Turkey  for  the  possession  of  Crete.  This  island  had  stood 
faithfully  by  Greece  in  the  nine  years'  war  of  independence,  1821- 
'30  ;  but  the  wisdom  of  the  participants  in  the  London  conference 
of  1832,  principally  at  England's  motion,  instead  of  uniting  it  to 
Greece,  restored  it  to  the  Porte,  and  the  latter  committed  it  to 
the  care  of  the  Egyptian  khedive.  After  Mehemed  AH  proved 
refractory,  and  was  brought  back  to  his  allegiance  by  the  quad- 
ruple alliance  of  1840,  Candia  was  taken  from  him  and  placed 
directly  under  Turkish  control,  which  was  for  the  Candiotes  a 
veritable  leap  from  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire.  All  the  humane 
laws  which  had  been  published  at  England's  instigation  —  the 
Hattisherif  of  Gulhane  (November  3d,  1839),  and  the  Hat  Huma- 
yun  (February  18th,  1856),  and  which  promised  the  Christians 
equal  rights  with  the  Turks — were  of  no  avail  in  defending  the 
former  in  the  enjoyment  of  any  rights,  for  the  reason  that  they 
were  never  put  in  force.  Finally,  abuses  and  grievances  grew  so 
numerous  that  in  April  of  1866  the  Candiotes  applied  to  the  Porte 


398  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

with  a  formal  petition  for  redress.  The  petitioners  met  with  a 
rebuff,  whereupon  the  whole  island  rose,  and  on  the  2d  of  Sep- 
tember a  general  assembly  pronounced  the  termination  of  Turk- 
ish rule  in  Candia,  and  the  union  of  the  island  with  Greece. 
Turkish  troops  were  at  once  landed  there,  and  a  desperate  strug- 
gle began,  which  dragged  on  for  three  years.  As  often  as  it 
was  reported  that  the  rebellion  was  quelled,  the  Sphakiotes,  the 
brave  mountaineers  of  the  interior,  rose  anew.  In  March  of 
1867,  the  ambassadors  of  France,  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Italy,  for 
fear  that  the  insurrection  might  develop  into  an  Oriental  war  in- 
volving all  Europe,  advised  the  Porte  to  cede  Candia  to  Greece ; 
but  England,  in  her  alarm  lest  this  might  increase  the  Russian 
influence  in  the  East,  encouraged  the  Porte  not  to  yield.  The 
Candiotes  would  have  been  obliged  to  surrender  before  that,  if 
they  had  not  been  supported  by  men,  money,  and  arms  from 
Greece.  King  George  fully  comprehended  that  if  he  did  not 
wish  to  be  driven  from  the  throne,  like  his  predecessor,  he  must 
show  more  sympathy  than  Otho  had  done  for  the  national  senti- 
ment, which  regarded  Thessaly,  Epirus,  and  the  Archipelago  as  so 
many  recruiting  stations  on  the  road  to  Constantinople.  Mere 
threats  of  war  did  not  alarm  the  Grecian  government ;  and  when, 
in  November  of  1868,  the  Grecian  minister  of  foreign  affairs 
openly  announced  in  Parliament  that  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment with  reference  to  Candia  was  one  of  annexation,  while  new 
hordes  of  volunteers  for  Crete  passed  the  windows  of  the  Turk- 
ish embassy  in  Athens  with  colors  flying,  the  Porte  lost  all  pa- 
tience. December  10th  an  ultimatum  was  sent  to  Athens;  and 
as  this  was  rejected  the  Greek  ambassador  in  Constantinople  re- 
ceived his  passports.  Both  powers  armed  for  war.  Diplomacy 
scarcely  dared  to  breathe.  At  length  Count  Bismarck  proposed 
to  the  French  minister  of  foreign  affairs  that  he  should  convene  a 
special  conference  of  the  signers  of  the  Peace  of  Paris  of  1856. 
This  proposition  met  with  universal  approval,  and  on  the  9th  of 
January,  1869,  the  conference  began  its  sessions  in  Paris,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  French  minister,  Lavalette.  Turkey's  de- 
m.incs  that  Greece  should  put  a  stop  to  the  enlistment  of  bands 
of  volunteers  in  her  dominions,  disarm  the  corsairs  or  exclude 
them  from  her  ports,  and  allow  the  Candiote  families  which  had 
emigrated  to  Greece  to  return,  were  recognized  as  just,  and  a  spe- 
cial delegate  was  commissioned  to  secure  the  submission  of  the 


RUSSIAN   CONQUEST  AND   CONCENTRATION.  399 

Grecian  government.  This  was  rendered  possible  by  a  change  of 
ministry,  and  diplomatic  relations  between  Athens  and  the  Porte 
were  resumed.  Candia  was  obliged  to  submit,  and  will  remain  in 
submission  until  it  finds  a  favorable  opportunity  for  a  new  out- 
break. Such  an  opportunity  cannot  fail  to  present  itself  in  time, 
and  Greece  and  the  Greek  provinces,  still  groaning  under  Turkish 
misrule,  will  repeat  the  Italian  scenes  of  1859. 

This  result  did  not  accord  with  Russia's  wishes,  although  Alex- 
ander himself  recommended  King  George,  who  had  married  the 
daughter  of  Grand-duke  Constantine,  to  accept  the  decision  of 
the  conference.  Russian  interests  required  the  separation  of  the 
Christian  provinces  from  Turkey,  and  their  erection  into  half  or 
wholly  independent  states,  so  that  Russia  might  the  more  readily 
seize  the  remainder  of  the  Ottoman  empire.  So  long,  however, 
as  Russia's  army  was  not  reorganized  and  provided  with  breech- 
loaders, and  so  long  as  her  railroad  system  was  not  extended  over 
the  southern  provinces,  she  was  not  ready  voluntarily  to  abandon 
the  position  of  reserve  which  she  had  imposed  upon  herself  since 
the  Crimean  war.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  her  boundaries  in 
Asia  were  being  pushed  farther  forward  each  year.  For  the  time 
desisting  from  the  attempt  to  punish  the  Khivans  after  Perovski's 
loss  in  the  winter  of  1839-'40,  the  Russians  turned  their  attention 
to  the  region  of  the  Syr  Darya,  the  condition  of  the  khanate  of 
Khokand  being  such  as  to  invite  attack  and  facilitate  annexation. 
Gradually  advancing  along  the  river,  and  at  the  same  time  mov- 
ing down  from  the  region  of  Lake  Balkhash,  in  the  north-east, 
they  captured  Tashkent  in  1865,  and  in  1866  completed  the  an- 
nexation of  Khokand  by  the  occupation  of  Khojent,  upon  the  up- 
per Syr  Darya.  Bokhara  was  the  next  object  of  attack,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1868  Samarkand,  the  ancient  Marakanda  of  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  the  commercial  metropolis  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  fell  into  their  power,  and  Bokhara  itself  was  re- 
duced to  the  position  of  a  vassal  state.  In  the  Polish  and  Ger- 
man provinces  of  the  Russian  empire  the  government  sought 
with  inexorable  fanaticism  to  eradicate  all  foreign  elements  and 
reduce  everything  to  the  Russian  level.  The  Russian  language 
and  the  Greek  Catholic  ritual  were  to  be  everywhere  introduced 
in  the  "  Holy  "  Russian  empire,  and  other  languages  and  religious 
confessions  gradually  rooted  out.  Poland  ceased  to  exist  as  a 
kingdom,  and  after  1868  was  divided  up  into  provinces  and  re- 


400  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

duced  to  the  same  condition  as  any  other  part  of  the  Russian 
dominions.  There  and  in  Lithuania  the  Polish  language  was 
restricted  to  the  household  circle,  and  for  purposes  of  instruction, 
religious  services,  and  business  the  use  of  the  Russian  language 
was  enjoined.  In  the  German  Baltic  provinces,  also,  Russian  be- 
came the  business  language,  and  was  soon  to  become  the  lan- 
guage of  the  schools,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  rights  of 
the  natives  were  secured  by  the  most  definite  treaty  provisions. 
To  reduce  to  subjection  the  Polish  bishops  and  clergy,  who  ap- 
pealed from  the  commands  of  the  Czar  to  their  own  consciences 
and  the  orders  of  the  Pope,  all  direct  intercourse  with  Rome  was 
forbidden,  and  a  Roman  Catholic  synod  established  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, from  which  alone  they  were  to  receive  their  instructions. 
They  were  farther  forbidden  to  attend  the  Vatican  Council  in 
1869.  By  these  measures  the  already  existing  quarrel  between 
the  Russian  emperor  and  Pope  Pins  IX.  was  greatly  embittered. 

A  still  sharper  conflict  than  that  with  Russia  was  brought  upon 
the  Holy  See  by  Garibaldi's  renewal,  in  October  of  1867,  of  his 
cry  of  1862  :  "  Rome  or  death  !"  At  the  outset  he  had  the  min- 
ister-president, Ratazzi,  on  his  side.  Although  in  the  September 
convention  with  France  the  Italian  government  had  promised 
neither  itself  to  make  any  attack  on  the  Papal  dominions,  nor  to 
allow  such  an  attack  to  be  made  by  others,  nevertheless  Ratazzi 
fell  in  with  Garibaldi's  plans,  and  proposed  to  join  hands  with 
the  party  of  action  in  taking  Rome.  This  would  have  been  an 
irrevocable  fait  accompli  with  which  to  answer  Xapoleon's  angry 
remonstrances.  But  Ratazzi  was  not  Cavour,  and  when  it  came 
to  serious  measures  the  king  drew  back  and  could  not  be  per- 
suaded to  act.  Ratazzi  had  to  tender  his  resignation,  and  on  the 
27th  of  October  General  Menabrea  formed  a  new  ministry,  which 
issued  a  proclamation  condemning  the  volunteer  movement,  and 
calling  for  respect  of  treaty  provisions.  In  the  mean  time  Gari- 
baldi had  set  out  tQ  march  against  Rome.  The  call  of  the  na- 
tional committee  to  the  Roman  citizens  to  rise  met  with  but  feeble 
response.  Some  minor  undertakings  of  the  volunteers  miscarried. 
In  order  to  maintain  his  side  of  the  September  convention,  Xapo- 
leon  despatched  a  fleet  from  Toulon,  and  on  the  30th  of  October 
two  brigades  under  General  Failly  were  landed  in  Civitavecchia, 
the  foremost  battalions  proceeding  to  Rome  the  same  evening  for 
the  defence  of  the  Papal  government.  Messenger  after  messen- 


NAPOLEON'S  FALSE  POSITION.  401 

ger  arrived  from  Florence,  but  Garibaldi  could  not  be  persuaded 
to  lay  down  his  arms  and  desist  from  his  enterprise.  He  had 
about  8000  followers,  many  of  whom  were  scarcely  more  than 
boys.  With  this  force  he  met  the  enemy  at  Mentana  on  the  3d 
of  November.  There  were  3000  Papal  troops,  commanded  by 
General  Kanzler,  the  Pope's  minister  of  war,  and  a  reserve  of 
2000  men  from  Polhe's  French  brigade.  The  Papal  troops  had 
been  beaten  and  driven  back,  when  the  French  at  length  advanced 
to  the  front  and  began  to  shoot  down  the  Garibaldists  by  hun- 
dreds with  their  chassepots.  "The  chassepot  did  wonders,"  tele- 
graphed Failly  to  Paris.  One  thousand  of  Garibaldi's  followers 
lay  dead  or  wounded  on  the  field,  and  1400  were  taken  prisoners. 
The  Papal  loss  was  30  dead  and  103  wounded,  while  the  French 
only  lost  two  dead  and  36  wounded.  Garibaldi  retreated  to  Italian 
territory,  where  he  was  arrested  and  confined  in  Fort  Varignano, 
in  La  Spezzia;  but  on  the  26th  of  November  he  was  allowed  to 
return  to  Caprera. 

Rome  was  saved,  but  Napoleon  found  himself  in  a  position  of 
great  embarrassment,  for  the  new  Roman  expedition  was  rather 
an  anomalous  illustration  of  the  right  of  nationality  and  the  prin- 
ciple of  non-intervention,  which  he  had  proclaimed  as  the  great 
truths  of  the  age.  To  escape  from  his  embarrassment  he  endeav- 
ored to  convene  a  conference  of  European  powers  to  consider  the 
farther  destiny  of  Italy,  and  undertake  a  sort  of  guarantee  for  the 
maintenance  of  whatever  might  be  resolved  upon  ;  but  as  he  could 
propose  no  practical  basis  for  the  conference,  and  neither  Italy 
nor  the  Pope  would  agree  beforehand  to  recognize  its  decisions 
as  binding,  all  the  powers,  excepting  Austria,  Spain,  and  Hesse- 
Darmstadt,  refused  to  take  part.  The  idea  was  accordingly  aban- 
doned, and  Napoleon  was  obliged  to  take  upon  himself  the  con- 
sequences of  the  new  occupation  of  Rome.  The  French  troops, 
who  had  left  the  Eternal  City  only  two  years  before,  had  now 
returned  to  stay ;  consequently  Italy  saw  in  Napoleon  its  worst 
foe.  Even  in  France  the  occupation  was  severely  blamed ;  while 
as  for  the  clericals,  whom  it  was  intended  to  please,  they  would 
have  been  satisfied  only  in  case  the  States  of  the  Church  had  been 
re-established  in  their  full  extent  prior  to  1859,  and  such  a  long 
step  backward  the  spirit  of  the  age  would  not  tolerate. 

The  ruler  of  those  states,  the  aged  Pope  Pius  IX.,  had  cast 
himself  unreservedly  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  They  under- 


402  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

stood  now  to  acquire  complete  control  over  him.  He  was  by  no 
means  a  man  of  great  mental  calibre,  and  they  were  able  to  tickle 
his  vanity  by  offering  to  secure  him  a  dignity  which  neither  ec- 
clesiastical nor  worldly  prince  had  ever  possessed  before.  AVhat 
no  man  had  ever  achieved — to  compel  the  world  to  believe  in  his 
pretensions  to  divinity  and  bow  their  necks  in  slavish  submission 
before  him — this  Count  Giovanni  Mastai  was  to  accomplish  by 
means  of  the  Jesuits.  Preparatory  steps  had  been  taken  in  the 
year  1864.  The  Encyclica  and  Syllabus  of  the  8th  of  December 
of  that  year  cursed  our  whole  modern  culture  as  much  as  heart 
could  wish.  Freedom  of  belief  and  disbelief,  freedom  of  worship 
and  education,  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  Press,  independence 
of  the  temporal  power  from  the  spiritual,  equality  before  the  law 
of  priest  and  layman,  the  right  of  the  people  to  choose  its  own 
rulers  and  frame  its  own  laws,  the  free  attitude  of  science,  which 
would  fain  emancipate  itself  from  all  ecclesiastical  authority  and 
censorship  —  all  this  was  classed  in  the  category  of  error  and 
damned  as  heresy.  The  level  of  freedom  must  not  rise  at  any 
place  above  that  of  the  Jesuit  college  at  Rome.  There  and  there 
alone  must  an  omnipotent  power  decide  what  should  be  the  ulti- 
mate limits  of  thought  and  volition  in  each  separate  state  and 
in  each  individual  brain.  All  Europe  must  become  one  patri- 
archal Jesuit  state,  patterned  after  what  the  South  American 
Paraguay  had  once  been,  where  lived  none  but  woolly  lambs  and 
Jesuitic  shearers.  To  attain  this  universal  rule  the  Jesuits  caused 
the  Pope  to  summon  an  ecumenical  council  to  meet  at  Rome  on 
the  8th  of  December,  1869.  For  300  years  no  church  council 
had  been  assembled.  The  Council  of  Trent,  the  last  which  had 
been  called,  closed  in  1563,  leaving  an  unhappy  memory  behind, 
but  that  was  innocence  itself  in  comparison  with  the  council  of 
1869  and  '70.  It  was  not  enough  to  elevate  the  damnatory  judg- 
ment of  the  Syllabus  to  the  position  of  dogma,  and  thus  force  it 
as  an  article  of  faith  on  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  world ;  in  or- 
der utterly  and  forever  to  strike  down,  as  it  were  by  a  flash  of 
heavenly  fire,  all  opposition,  whether  of  bishops  rich  in  divine 
lore  or  practical  worldly  governments,  the  Pope  was  to  be 
snatched  from  this  erring,  sinful  world,  and,  throned  on  awful 
clouds,  be  decked  with  the  new  crown  of  infallibility.  In  all 
things  pertaining  to  his  pastoral  and  doctrinal  functions  —  and 
into  that  flexible  circle  almost,  if  not  quite,  everything  was  capa- 


COMPOSITION   AND    COMPLEXION   OF  THE   COUNCIL.      403 

ble  of  being  forced — the  Pope's  word  was  to  be  infallible.  It 
was  the  chief  business  of  the  council  to  elevate  this  doctrine  of 
papal  infallibility  into  a  dogma.  If  this  succeeded,  then  the 
Jesuits  would  be  the  unlimited  rulers  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
clergy.  The  dogma  of  infallibility  would  be  of  far  more  value 
to  the  men  who  ruled  the  Pope  than  to  the  Pope  they  ruled. 
His  infallible  claims  did  not  originate  in  his  own  brain,  but  in 
the  instigations  of  his  Jesuitic  mentors. 

Not  merely  the  educated  world  outside  the  pale  of  the  council, 
including  thousands  of  good  Roman  Catholics,  struggled  against 
the  passage  under  this  Caudian  yoke  of  infallibility,  unwilling  to 
ascribe  an  attribute  of  Deity  to  a  man  whose  intellectual  and 
moral  weakness  were  facts  patent  to  all ;  there  were  even  many 
bishops  who  did  the  same.  They  were  well  aware,  too,  that  the 
new  dogma  would  put  an  end  to  their  episcopal  power,  for  hence- 
forth they  would  be  distinguished  from  papal  lackers  merely  in 
name,  and  their  only  privilege  would  be  to  inculcate  among  the 
inferior  clergy  and  the  laity,  as  the  chief  and  highest  article  of 
faith,  that  which  they  themselves  could  not  believe.  But  such 
men  were  comparatively  isolated,  and,  in  an  assembly  which 
found  a  despotic  order  of  business  prescribed  for  it  to  follow, 
nothing  could  be  done  against  the  compact  mass  which  blindly 
followed  the  Jesuits.  The  formalities  customary  at  previous 
councils  were  set  aside  in  so  far  as  they  did  not  suit  the  purposes 
of  those  ecclesiastical  politicians,  the  one  aim  which  they  con- 
stantly held  before  them  being  to  reduce  the  opposition  to  the 
smallest  possible  dimensions,  and  drown  its  voice  in  the  cry  of 
the  mass  whenever  it  sought  to  make  itself  heard.  So  sure  were 
they  of  this  mass  that  they  were  able  to  predict  with,  mathemati- 
cal precision  the  result  of  the  vote.  Of  the  764  bishops  who 
took  part  in  the  council  the  Italian  bishops,  whose  obedience 
could  be  relied  upon,  constituted  more  than  one-third,  and  the 
bishops  of  the  States  of  the  Church  almost  one-fifth,  while  those 
of  France,  Germany,  and  Austro-Hungary,  where  the  opposition 
had  its  strength,  numbered  altogether  not  more  than  one  fifth. 
Farther,  there  were  300  bishops  who  had  to  be  maintained  at 
the  cost  of  the  Papal  See  on  account  of  their  poverty,  while  100 
bishops  in  partibus  infidelium,  having  titles  without  dioceses, 
were  entirely  dependent  for  their  farther  career  on  the  favor  of 
the  Pope.  The  300  papal  beneficiaries,  together  with  the  100 


404  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

titular  bishops,  voted  passively  for  everything  they  were  told  to, 
and  would  have  added  a  decree  of  immortality  to  that  of  infalli- 
bility, if  the  Jesuits  had  so  commanded.  So  soon  as  unanimity 
or  approximate  unanimity  ceased  to  be  required,  and  a  simple 
majority  became  sufficient  to  formulate  a  dogma,  the  victory  was 
really  won.  From  that  moment  the  debates  in  the  aula  of  St. 
Peter's  had  no  more  real  value  than  so  many  good  or  bad  decla- 
mations. 

The  opposing  bishops,  with  Cardinal  Rauscher,  Archbishop  of 
Vienna,  and  Bishop  Hefele,  of  Rottenburg,  at  their  head,  made 
one  last  attempt  on  the  1 5th  of  July  to  induce  the  Pope  to  make 
some  concessions.  A  delegation  waited  upon  him  with  that  ob- 
ject, and  Bishop  Ketteler,  of  Mayence,  even  threw  l.i  nself  upon 
his  knees  to  supplicate  the  Holy  Father.  But  all  in  vain;  Pius 
could  not  and  would  not  yield.  No  other  course  remained  open, 
and  so  the  protesting  bishops  repeated  their  protest  in  a  special 
petition  to  the  Pope,  and  left  the  Holy  City  before  the  final  vote 
was  taken.  The  final  ballot  was  held  in  the  presence  of  Pope 
Pius,  on  the  18th  of  July — the  day  before  the  official  declaration 
of  war  between  France  and  Prussia — with  the  result  that  the  in- 
fallibility of  the  Pope  was  declared  to  be  a  dogma  of  the  Church 
Catholic,  547  voting  placet,  and  two  —  Riccio,  of  Ajaccio,  and 
Fitzgerald,  of  Little  Rock,  Arkansas  —  voting  non  placet.  The 
council  was  thereupon  adjourned,  to  meet  on  the  llth  of  Novem- 
ber. In  the  mean  time  French  arms  were  to  carry  forward  the 
work  of  the  Jesuits  and  crush  Protestantism  with  the  cannon. 
The  Vatican  reckoned  with  certainty  on  a  French  victory,  in  ex- 
pectation of  which  it  still  had  a  pretty  string  of  dogmas  in  its 
infallible  pocket ;  and  in  any  case  it  was  determined  to  enforce 
the  decrees  already  passed  with  extreme  and  unrelenting  energy. 
It  troubled  itself  little  about  the  protest  of  the  bishops  who  had 
retreated  across  the  Alps,  for  it  knew  their  character  too  well. 
At  a  meeting  in  Fulda  a  number  of  these  opponents  of  the  doc- 
trine declared  in  favor  of  its  acceptance,  and  one  after  the  other 
they  passed  over  to  the  camp  of  the  Infallibilists,  in  their  turn 
exacting  from  their  subordinates  the  same  submission  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  Jesuits  which  they  themselves  had  so  readily  been 
brought  to  render  in  the  face  of  their  better  convictions.  Forced 
to  choose  whether  they  would  persist  in  their  opposition,  invoke 
the  protection  of  their  respective  governments  against  any  afr 


PAPAL   INFALLIBILITY   AND   THE  OLD   CATHOLICS.      4 OS 

tempt  on  the  part  of  the  Papal  Stool  to  discipline  them,  and 
press  the  matter  to  a  breach  with  the  Vatican  and  a  schism  in 
the  church,  or  whether  they  would  give  up  their  opposition — or, 
rather,  direct  it  against  the  governments  which  refused  to  recog- 
nize the  new  dogma — and  help  to  maintain  the  outward  unity  of 
the  church  at  the  sacrifice  of  conscience,  conviction,  and  honor, 
all  without  exception  chose  the  latter  course,  forfeiting  thereby 
the  respect  of  their  contemporaries  and  of  posterity.  Neverthe- 
less the  dreaded  schism  was  not  averted.  Although  the  bishops 
proved  so  docile  there  were  others  who  had  no  inclination  to  hu- 
mor a  horde  of  papal  beneficiaries,  throw  German  science  to  the 
winds,  set  a  seal  upon  their  possibilities  of  thought,  and  abandon 
the  truth  at  the  order  of  a  Jesuit  tribunal.  The  chief  seat  of  this 
opposition,  which  consisted  at  the  outset  principally  of  university 
professors  and  instructors,  was  located  at  first  in  Munich,  and  its 
head  was  Professor  von  Dollinger.  His  answer  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Munich,  March  28th,  1871,  attracted  universal  attention.  With 
great  eloquence  and  learning  he  maintained  his  thesis  that,  as 
Christian,  as  theologian,  as  historian,  and  as  citizen,  he  could  not 
accept  the  new  doctrine.  The  judgment  pronounced  by  him 
upon  the  cringing  bishops — "No  one  of  them  believes  it" — was 
repeated  in  all  circles.  From  this  opposition  was  developed  the 
Old  Catholic  body,  which  soon  managed  to  gain  a  firm  footing 
in  Bavaria,  Baden,  and  on  the  Rhine,  numbering  each  year  more 
members  and  more  congregations.  It  acquired  a  regular  organi- 
zation, held  synods,  and  chose  a  bishop  of  its  own  in  the  person 
of  Professor  Reinkens,  of  Breslau.  He  was  recognized  by  several 
German  states,  and  especially  by  Prussia,  from  which  he  received 
episcopal  endowment,  choosing  Bonn  as  his  residence. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Pope  had  lost  a  zealous  supporter  of 
bigotry  by  the  dethronement  and  exile  of  the  Spanish  queen, 
Isabella  followed  more  and  more  in  the  footsteps  of  her  father, 
Ferdinand.  In  the  system  of  government  which  she  pursued 
military  despotism  was  mated  with  clerical  absolutism,  and  nuns 
and  father-confessors  played  a  political  role,  even  holding  in  their 
hands  the  rudder  of  the  ship  of  state.  By  this  course  the  queen 
repelled  all  liberal  elements,  while  the  irregularities  of  her  con- 
duct deprived  her  of  all  claims  to  respect.  So  shameless  was  she 
in  her  amours  that  the  legitimacy  of  all  her  children  was  a  mat- 
ter of  universal  doubt.  No  wonder  that  ever  and  anon  insurrec- 


406  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

tions  broke  out,  which,  according  to  Spanish  custom,  were  plan- 
ned and  conducted  by  officers  of  the  army.  The  government 
resorted  to  executions  and  deportations  to  check  the  rebellious 
spirit.  The  minister-president,  Marshal  Narvaez,  who  bore  the 
title  Duke  of  Valencia,  was  always  ready  to  adopt  the  most  ex- 
treme measures  to  keep  the  protesting  elements  in  subjection. 
He  died  on  the  13th  of  April,  1868 ;  and  his  successor,  Gonzalez 
Bravo,  soon  contrived  to  alienate  the  whole  army.  A  great  mili- 
tary insurrection  was  planned  for  the  month  of  July.  Bravo  trans- 
ported the  most  influential  generals,  among  others  Serrano  and 
Dulce,  to  the  Canary  Isles,  and  even  expelled  from  the  country 
the  queen's  brother-in-law,  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  whose  name 
the  revolution  seemed  to  use  as  a  watchword.  Nevertheless  the 
excitement  continued  to  increase.  Isabella,  thinking  it  necessary 
to  enter  into  still  more  intimate  relations  with  her  friend  and  ally, 
as  she  called  Napoleon,  arranged  a  meeting  with  him — which  was 
to  take  place  on  the  18th  and  19th  of  September — in  the  two  bor- 
der towns  of  Biarritz  and  San  Sebastian.  Napoleon  was  accred- 
ited with  the  plan  of  withdrawing  his  troops  from  Rome  in  case 
the  long-threatened  war  with  Germany  should  break  out,  and  fill- 
ing their  place  with  Spaniards.  Isabella,  who  had  just  been  hon- 
ored by  the  Pope  with  the  gift  of  the  golden  rose  of  faith  and 
virtue,  was  not  averse  to  such  a  plan  ;  but  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  two  monarchs  had  already  reached  their  appointed 
places  and  the  French-Spanish  alliance  was  about  to  be  concluded, 
the  rebellion  broke  out  in  Cadiz.  Serrano  and  Prim  returned 
from  exile,  and  Rear-admiral  Topete  joined  them  with  the  whole 
fleet  The  few  troops  who  remained  faithful  were  defeated  by 
Serrano  at  Alcolea  on  the  28th  of  September;  Madrid  and  all  the 
larger  cities  declared  for  the  revolution,  and  the  universal  cry  was, 
"Down  with  the  Bourbons!  Down  with  the  Jesuits!"  The  rev- 
olution began  on  the  18th  of  September,  and  on  the  30th  Isabella 
was  obliged  to  leave  San  Sebastian  and  escape  to  France,  where 
she  at  once  took  up  her  abode  in  Paris.  The  conduct  of  the  gov- 
ernment was  intrusted  to  the  leaders  of  the  revolution,  Marshal 
Serrano  taking  the  post  of  minister- president,  Prim  becoming 
minister  of  war,  and  Topete  undertaking  the  navy.  The  Jesuits 
were  expelled,  a  number  of  convents  closed,  and  religious  liberty 
proclaimed.  In  Barcelona  and  Madrid  Protestant  services  were 
held.  The  newly-elected  Cortes  came  together  on  the  18th  of 


SEARCH  FOR  A  SPANISH  KING.  407 

February,  1869,  and  adopted  a  new  constitution.  A  majority  of 
the  members  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  a  constitutional 
monarchy,  and  named  Serrano  regent  until  a  suitable  candidate 
for  the  throne  could  be  found.  But  Spain's  political  prospects 
were  in  nowise  favorable.  There  was  a  strong  republican  party 
which  threatened  to  resist  by  force  of  arms  the  establishment  of  a 
new  monarchy.  The  island  of  Cuba,  "the  pearl  of  the  Antilles," 
was  in  full  rebellion,  with  a  view  to  a  complete  severance  of  its 
connection  with  Spain  and  the  erection  of  an  independent  repub- 
lic. In  addition  to  all  this  the  Carlists  were  again  beginning  to 
raise  their  head. 

It  was  Spanish  affairs  which  at  last  furnished  the  Tuileries  and 
the  Vatican  with  the  cause  for  quarrel  they  had  been  seeking,  and 
set  in  motion  the  plans  of  Napoleon  and  the  Jesuits.  Spain  now 
had  a  monarchical  constitution  without  a  monarch,  and  the  nu- 
merous republicans  made  every  effort,  by  speeches  in  the  Cortes 
and  insurrections  in  the  provinces,  to  render  a  monarchy  impossi- 
ble. They  were  assisted  by  circumstances,  since  no  one  seemed 
willing  to  accept  the  crown  of  a  country  which  was  politically 
crippled  by  faction  and  financially  ruined.  The  minister-presi- 
dent and  the  minister  of  war,  Count  Prim — the  latter  the  real 
ruler  of  the  country — made  every  effort  to  find  a  suitable  person, 
but  for  a  long  time  in  vain.  The  former  regent,  Espartero  ;  the 
Coburg  prince,  Don  Fernando,  father  of  the  King  of  Portugal ; 
King  Louis  of  Portugal  himself,  the  Duke  of  Aosta,  Victor  Em- 
manuel's son ;  Prince  Thomas  of  Genoa,  nephew  of  the  King  of 
Italy — all  in  turn  refused.  The  Duke  of  Montpensier,  who  had 
married  the  sister  of  the  ex-queen,  Isabella,  would  have  accepted, 
but  that  very  relationship  raised  up  many  opponents  among  the 
monarchists,  who  would  have  preferred  as  their  king  Prince  Al- 
phonso,  Isabella's  son,  if  they  were  to  have  any  Bourbon.  Isa- 
bella took  her  measures  with  a  view  to  the  selection  of  her  son 
for  the  vacant  throne.  At  the  advice  of  her  friend,  the  Empress 
Eugenie,  she  signed  a  formal  abdication  on  the  25th  of  June, 
1870,  making  over  all  her  political  rights  to  Alphonso.  But  for 
the  moment  the  Spanish  government  was  in  favor  of  some  other 
prince.  Among  those  who  had  refused  the  throne  in  1869  was 
Prince  Leopold  of  Hohenzollern-Siginaringen,  who,  as  a  Roman 
Catholic,  as  the  husband  of  a  Portuguese  princess,  as  a  kinsman 
of  Napoleon  and  a  blood  relation  of  the  Prussian  king,  seemed  a 


408  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

desirable  candidate.  In  the  year  1870  the  Spanish  government 
resolved  to  make  another  attempt  to  secure  him  as  their  sover- 
eign, and  in  June  of  that  year  a  deputation  was  sent  to  Signm- 
ringen  for  that  purpose.  This  time  the  prince  accepted.  The 
deputation  returned  to  Madrid,  a  council  of  ministers  was  held, 
and  on  the  2d  of  July  it  was  resolved  to  make  Prince  Leopold  of 
Hohenzollern  a  formal  tender  of  the  Spanish  throne,  and  proclaim 
his  candidature  publicly.  July  3d  the  telegraph  conveyed  this 
news  to  all  the  European  capitals. 


UNDERSTANDING  WITH  RUSSIA.  409 


FIFTH  PERIOD.     1870-1875. 

WAR  BETWEEN  GERMANY  AND  FRANCE.— THE  ESTABLISHMENT 
OF  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE.— STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  VATICAN. 


§25. 

THE    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR. 

THAT  Emperor  Alexander  of  Russia,  on  the  way  to  Ems,  be- 
came his  uncle's  guest  at  Berlin  for  a  few  days  in  May  of  1870, 
occasioned  no  remark,  since  the  intimate  personal  relations  of  the 
two  monarchs  were  well  known.  Neither  was  the  fact,  that  on 
the  2d  of  June  King  William  returned  his  nephew's  visit  at  Ems, 
of  itself  calculated  to  excite  comment,  since  courtesy  might  seem 
to  require  it ;  but  that  the  king  was  attended  by  his  chancellor, 
Count  Bismarck,  and  that  the  Russian  ambassador  in  Berlin, 
Oubril,  was  also  present,  were  facts  that  gave  the  visit  a  political 
character,  which  the  courts  of  Paris  and  Vienna  were  not  slow  to 
remark.  Count  Bismarck,  who  with  such  unerring  certainty  in- 
terpreted the  meaning  of  events  and  penetrated  the  plans  of 
statesmen,  well  knew  what  Prussia  had  to  expect  from  France  in 
consequence  of  the  Duke  of  Gramont's  appointment  as  minister 
of  foreign  affairs,  and  could  approximately  foresee  what  use  that 
blundering  and  awkward  diplomat  would  make  of  such  an  occur- 
rence as  the  candidacy  of  a  Hohenzollern  prince  for  the  Spanish 
crown.  As  a  statesman  at  once  audacious,  prudent,  and  far-see- 
ing, in  the  conferences  at  Ems  the  Prussian  chancellor  provided 
for  the  protection  of  Prussia's  rear,  in  case  of  war  with  France,  by 
stipulating  i,hat  in  the  event  of  victory  the  Peace  of  Paris  of  1856 
should  be  revised  in  Russia's  interest.  After  this  agreement  had 
been  concluded  the  king  and  his  chancellor  returned  to  Berlin. 
On  the  8th  of  June  Bismarck  left  the  capital  for  a  prolonged 
sojourn  at  Varzin ;  and  on  the  20th,  after  the  departure  of  the 

18 


410  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  EECENT  TIMES. 

Russian  emperor,  the  king,  unattended  by  any  of  his  ministers, 
repaired  to  Ems  to  take  the  baths. 

The  Madrid  telegram  of  July  3d  acquainted  Paris  with  the  fact 
that  Prince  Leopold  of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen  was  the  des- 
tined King  of  Spain ;  and  in  its  issue  of  the  4th  Gramont's  organ, 
the  Constitutionnel,  in  an  article  composed  or  inspired  by  him, 
while  acknowledging  the  right  of  Spain  to  regulate  its  destiny 
according  to  its  own  pleasure,  professed  itself  amazed  beyond  ex- 
pression that  France  should  be  expected  to  look  on  and  see  the 
sceptre  of  Charles  V.  wielded  by  a  Hohenzollern.  To  the  French 
government  Prince  Leopold's  candidacy  was  no  novelty.  Like 
the  cabinets  of  the  other  great  powers  the  French  ministers  had 
been  for  some  weeks  informed  of  the  negotiations  between  him 
and  the  Spanish  government,  and  they  merely  assumed  an  appear- 
ance of  ignorance  in  order  to  pose  before  the  country  as  innocent 
lambkins  taken  by  surprise  and  overreached  by  cunning,  and  give 
the  more  effective  vent  to  their  righteous  indignation  at  this  un- 
scrupulous game  of  intrigue.  It  is  plain  that  it  was  in  the  power 
of  the  French  government  to  settle  the  Hohenzollern  -  Spanish 
question  in  a  peaceful  or  a  warlike  manner  according  to  its  own 
choice.  If  it  chose  the  former  it  was  only  necessary  for  Gramont 
to  follow  the  regular  diplomatic  method — enter  into  negotiations 
with  Prussia,  and  request  the  co-operation  of  the  other  powers, 
and  success  was  assured ;  for  it  is  scarcely  credible  that  Bismarck, 
who  three  years  before  had  been  unwilling  to  engage  in  war 
where  war  would  have  been  so  popular  as  in  the  Luxemburg  affair, 
would,  in  a  matter  in  no  way  involving  German  interests — for, 
being  merely  personal  to  a  prince  who,  although  a  Hohenzollern, 
nevertheless  did  not  belong  to  the  Prussian  branch,  it  could  not 
well  be  exalted  to  the  dignity  of  a  national  question — disregard 
the  emphatic  disapprobation  and  the  real  or  feigned  anxiety  of 
the  French  government  and  force  the  issue  of  war.  But  Gramont, 
who,  without  a  spark  of  the  genius  of  his  would-be  prototype, 
imagined  himself  a  French  Bismarck,  did  not  wish  for  a  peaceful 
solution.  His  mind  was  full  of  the  advice  given  him  by  his  friend 
Beust,  to  select  as  the  pretext  for  war  a  purely  dynastic  question 
instead  of  a  national  one,  and  so  he  at  once  brought  the  whole 
affair  before  the  tribune  of  the  French  legislature,  indulging  at 
the  same  time  in  such  hostile  threats  that  war  became  unavoida- 
ble. Without  any  sort  of  tact  Prussia  and  the  Prussian  sovereign 


X 

ATTEMPT   TO  MAKE   PRUSSIA   RESPONSIBLE.  411 

were  treated  in  an  absolutely  insulting  manner.  The  conduct  of 
France  toward  Prussia  in  the  year  1870  rcsemblc-d,  both  in  gen- 
eral and  in  detail,  the  conduct  of  the  same  country  in  1805  and 
1806;  but  there  was  this  difference  in  the  way  in  which  this  treat- 
ment was  received,  that  whereas  King  Frederic  William  III.  en- 
dured a  long  series  of  insults  before  unsheathing  the  sword,  his 
son  took  up  the  gauntlet  the  moment  it  was  thrown  down.  The 
intention  of  the  French  government  was  to  inflict  on  him  the 
same  humiliation  which  had  been  inflicted  011  his  father.  "Sub- 
mission or  war !"  was  the  cry  in  the  Tuileries ;  and  if  Prussia  had 
submitted  to  the  first  insult,  another  would  soon  have  followed, 
and  then  still  others,  until,  like  his  father,  King  William  might 
have  been  compelled  at  last  to  go  to  war  under  circumstances  far 
less  favorable.  War  there  must  be,  for  the  object  of  De  Gra- 
mont's  policy  was  conquest.  His  plan  was  to  acquire  for  France 
Belgium  and  Luxemburg,  or  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  or  rather 
both,  for  the  conquest  of  the  one  would  have  been  followed  by 
that  of  the  other.  If  this  plan  succeeded,  then  the  subject  of  so 
much  speech  and  thought  would  be  at  length  accomplished,  and 
the  Rhine  would  flow  past  French  territory  from  Basle  to  the 
German  Ocean.  Prussia  had  rejected  all  the  proposed  treaties 
with  this  end  in  view,  so  now  the  attempt  must  be  made  to  se- 
cure the  coveted  increase  of  territory  by  war  instead  of  through 
alliance. 

Although  the  Spanish  ministers  and  ambassadors  gave  the 
most  definite  assurances  that  in  this  whole  transaction  they  had 
never  had  any  dealings  with  the  Prussian  government,  but  only 
with  Prince  Leopold ;  although  every  one  was  aware  that  that 
prince  occupied  a  thoroughly  independent  position,  and  that,  in 
such  a  matter  as  the  acceptance  of  the  Spanish  throne,  the  King 
of  Prussia  had  no  power  over  him  either  to  command  or  to  for- 
bid ;  although  Prussia  could  in  no  case  derive  any  tangible  ad- 
vantage from  the  occupation  of  the  Spanish  throne  by  a  German 
prince,  or  at  most  the  merely  negative  one  that  this  would  rele- 
gate to  the  realm  of  impossibilities  such  a  Spanish-French  alli- 
ance as  had  been  planned  by  Isabella  and  Napoleon  in  1868; 
nevertheless,  from  the  beginning  the  French  government  persist- 
ed in  pushing  the  person  of  the  Prussian  king  into  the  fore- 
ground, and  making  him  responsible  for  the  whole  transaction. 
They  acted  as  though  it  were  a  purely  Prussian  and  dynastic 


412  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

intrigue,  and  by  that  means  shut  out  all  possibility  of  a  peaceful 
settlement. 

Events  followed  one  another  with  unprecedented  rapidity. 
July  4th  Gramont  addressed  an  interrogation  to  State  Secretary 
Thile  through  the  French  charge  d'affaires  at  Berlin,  and  received 
the  reply  that  Prussia  had  nothing  to  do  with  Spanish  affairs. 
On  the  same  day  he  commissioned  the  Prussian  ambassador  at 
Paris,  Baron  von  Werther,  who  was  on  the  point  of  departure 
for  Ems,  to  tell  the  king  that  the  French  government  expected 
him  to  cause  Prince  Leopold  to  refuse  the  Spanish  crown,  and 
that  France  would  regard  his  failure  to  do  so  as  a  sufficient  casus 
belli.  On  the  6th  of  the  same  month,  in  the  French  parliament, 
without  waiting  for  an  answer  from  Ems,  he  answered  an  inter- 
pellation of  the  preceding  day  as  follows :  "  We  do  not  think 
that  respect  for  the  rights  of  a  neighboring  people  obliges  us  to 
permit  a  foreign  government,  by  setting  one  of  its  princes  on  the 
throne  of  Charles  V.,  to  destroy  the  European  balance  of  power, 
and  endanger  the  interest  and  honor  of  France.  Relying  upon 
the  wisdom  of  the  German  people  and  the  friendship  of  the 
Spanish,  we  hope  that  this  eventuality  may  be  avoided.  If  not, 
then  it  will  be  our  part,  strong  in  your  support  and  that  of  the 
nation,  to  fulfil  our  duty  without  hesitation  or  delay."  At  the 
same  time  preparations  for  war  were  made  both  by  sea  and  land, 
while  the  French  Press  assumed  such  a  tone  toward  Prussia  that 
an  ignorant  observer  might  have  fancied  a  second  Jena  had  al- 
ready taken  place. 

The  French  ambassador  in  Berlin,  Count  Benedetti,  was  at  that 
time  at  Wildbad,  in  the  Black  Forest.  July  7th  he  received  a 
telegram  directing  him  to  set  out  for  Ems  without  delay.  On 
the  9th  he  had  his  first  audience  with  the  king,  and  required  him 
in  the  name  of  his  government  to  command  Prince  Leopold  to 
withdraw  his  acceptance  of  the  Spanish  crown.  The  king  replied 
that  he  had  not  commanded  the  prince  to  accept  the  crown,  and 
could  not  command  him  to  withdraw  his  acceptance.  This  an- 
swer was  regarded  by  the  French  government  as  a  mere  subter- 
fuge, and  the  responsibility  of  the  king  still  insisted  upon.  July 
12th  a  telegram  from  the  castle  of  Sigmaringcn  was  published 
announcing  the  withdrawal  of  Prince  Leopold  from  the  candi- 
dacy for  the  Spanish  throne.  This  seemed  to  bring  the  conflict 
to  an  end  and  remove  every  plausible  excuse  for  a  quarrel.  Gra- 


GRAMONT  DEMANDS  FARTHER  CONCESSIONS.  413 

mont  himself  had  already  said  to  the  English  ambassador  that 
Prince  Leopold's  voluntary  withdrawal  would  afford  the  simplest 
and  most  satisfactory  solution  of  the  dispute ;  and  on  the  receipt 
of  the  Sigmaringen  telegram  Ollivier,  the  minister  of  justice,  had 
at  once  stated  in  parliamentary  circles  that  the  episode  was  fin- 
ished. But  that  would  have  prevented  the  war  by  which  lost 
prestige  was  to  be  regained ;  consequently  Gramont  went  one 
step  farther,  although  he  must  have  perceived  at  the  time  that  if 
France  were  not  satisfied  with  the  prince's  withdrawal,  and  ad- 
vanced still  farther  claims,  she  would  by  that  very  fact  take  the 
whole  responsibility  of  war  upon  herself,  and  subject  herself  to 
the  accusation  of  having  all  along  had  war  as  her  aim.  The 
question  had  ceased  to  be  purely  dynastic,  and  was  fast  becoming 
national,  threatening  to  set  half  Europe  in  flames. 

Gramont  proceeded  in  his  dictatorial  career  with  total  indiffer- 
ence to  any  such  considerations  as  the  above.  On  the  12th  of 
July  he  said  to  the  Prussian  ambassador,  who  had  just  returned 
from  Ems,  that  Prince  Leopold's  withdrawal  was  a  matter  of  sec- 
ondary importance ;  the  essential  point  was,  to  remove  the  mis- 
understanding which  had  arisen  in  consequence  of  his  candidacy, 
and  quiet  the  excitement  among  the  French  people.  For  this 
purpose  the  King  of  Prussia  must  address  to  the  emperor  a  letter 
intended  for  publication,  to  the  effect  that  when  the  king  empow- 
ered Prince  Leopold  to  accept  the  Spanish  throne  he  had  no  in- 
tention of  infringing  upon  the  interests  or  injuring  the  dignity 
of  the  French  nation,  and  that  he  now  consented  to  the  prince's 
resignation  in  the  wish  and  hope  that  all  occasion  for  disagree- 
ment between  the  two  governments  was  at  length  removed ! 
Baron  von  Werther  had  sufficient  tact  not  to  telegraph  such  a 
demand  directly  to  the  king,  as  Gramont  wished,  but  not  enough 
to  decline  the  commission  altogether  and  leave  Gramont  to  find 
some  other  means  of  communication.  He  despatched  an  official 
report  to  Count  Bismarck,  but  received,  instead  of  an  official 
answer,  an  immediate  leave  of  absence.  After  his  conversation 
with  the  Prussian  ambassador  Gramont  telegraphed^Benedetti  to 
demand  the  king's  express  approval  of  Prince  Leopold's  refusal 
to  be  a  candidate,  and  the  assurance  that  he  would  never  sanction 
a  repetition  of  his  candidacy.  Bcnedetti  acquitted  himself  of  his 
commission  with  great  lack  of  tact  on  the  public  promenade  at 
Ems  on  the  morning  of  the  13th.  The  king  replied  that  his  ap- 


414  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

proval  of  the  prince's  withdrawal  could  proceed  from  him  merely 
in  his  capacity  as  a  private  individual  and  not  as  King  of  Prussia, 
and  that  in  the  interest  of  his  country  he  must  most  decidedly 
refuse  to  bind  his  future  action  in  that  or  any  other  matter.  A 
few  hours  later  Benedetti  requested  a  new  audience  on  the  same 
subject,  and  was  informed  that  the  ting  had  already  pronounced 
his  ultimatum ;  if  the  ambassador  were  not  content,  he  must  ap- 
ply to  the  Prussian  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  The  occurrences 
at  Ems  were  communicated  to  the  Prussian  ambassadors  at  for- 
eign courts  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  and  an  extra,  of  the 
Norddeulsche  Allgemeine  Zeituny,  Bismarck's  organ,  brought  the 
matter  to  the  knowledge  of  the  German  people. 

The  firm  and  manly  attitude  of  the  king  was  very  unfavorable 
for  the  plans  of  the  French  war  party.  The  news  from  Benedetti 
produced  great  excitement  and  bewilderment  in  Paris.  One  par- 
ty thought  that  the  conflict  was  peacefully  settled ;  the  other  par- 
ty, who  had  already  gone  too  far,  did  not  wish  to  retrace  their 
steps,  preferring  to  plunge  the  dynasty  and  the  country  into  a 
rash  and  venturesome  war,  rather  than  allow  it  to  be  said  that 
they  had  again  put  forward  demands  on  Prussia,  and  been  again 
refused  —  in  fine,  that  they  and  not  the  King  of  Prussia  had 
been  humiliated.  Napoleon  wavered  between  the  two.  It  ap- 
peared to  him  a  very  serious  matter  to  go  to  war  with  the 
compact  power  of  the  North  German  Confederation,  perhaps 
even  with  all  Germany,  for  so  slight  a  cause.  For  a  long  time 
he  could  come  to  no  conclusion,  but  listened  to  both  sides,  and 
brooded  in  silence,  as  was  his  wont.  There  was  a  short  time 
when  peace  seemed  as  good  as  concluded.  But  in  the  night  of 
the  14th,  when  the  decisive  cabinet  council  was  held  in  St.  Cloud, 
Gramont  and  Lebceuf,  who  were  eager  for  war,  together  with  the 
Empress  Eugenie,  who  acted  under  the  inspiration  and  instruction 
of  the  Jesuits,  brought  strong  pressure  to  bear  upon  the  undecided 
emperor,  urging  him  to  submit  no  longer  to  these  perpetual  re- 
buffs and  humiliations  from  Prussia,  but,  by  a  declaration  of  war,  to 
consolidate  hjg  throne,  founded  solely  on  the  respect  of  the  French 
people,  and  in  league  with  the  great  Roman  Catholic  nations  re- 
duce heretical  Germany  to  submission.  It  was  with  manifest  re- 
luctance that  the  emperor,  against  his  better  judgment,  finally 
yielded  to  their  representations.  Thereupon  the  empress  tri- 
umphantly exclaimed,  "  This  is  my  war!  With  God's  help  we 


WAR  DECLARED.  415 

will  subdue  the  Protestant  Prussians!"  In  the  senate  and  the 
lower  house,  on  the  following  day,  official  documents  were  read 
by  Graraont  and  Ollivier  respectively  —  the  latter,  although  no 
enemy  to  Prussia,  and  disinclined  toward  war,  was  carried  along 
by  his  colleagues — in  which  the  circumstances  of  the  case  and 
the  occurrences  at  Ems  were  completely  misrepresented.  Count 
Bcnedetti  had  been  insulted  and  shown  the  door,  according  to 
this  account,  while  a  telegram  of  a  nature  derogatory  to  the  dig- 
nity of  France  had  been  sent  to  foreign  states.  It  was  further- 
more stated  that  Prussia  had  begun  to  make  her  preparations  for 
war  on  the  night  of  the  13th,  and  accordingly  the  government 
had  called  out  the  reserves,  and  would  proceed  to  adopt  farther 
measures.  At  the  same  time  a  vote  of  credit  was  demanded  for 
the  army  and  navy,  and  a  bill  brought  forward  with  reference  to 
calling  the  garde  mobile  into  active  service  and  for  the  enlistment 
of  volunteers.  The  senate  adopted  the  government  measures  by 
a  unanimous  vote;  the  legislative  body  granted  the  credit  for  the 
army  by  a  majority  of  245  to  10,  and  passed  the  rest  without  a 
dissentient  voice.  It  was  in  vain  that  a  few  members  of  the  op- 
position, who  saw  through  the  web  of  ministerial  lies,  averred  that 
the  King  of  Prussia  had  done  everything  that  could  have  been 
expected,  and  that  no  real  insult  had  been  offered.  It  was  in 
vain  that  they  demanded  by  way  of  proof  the  production  of  the 
despatches  which  were  deemed  so  insulting  to  France.  It  was  in 
vain  that  Thiers,  who  for  years  had  goaded  on  the  vanity  of  the 
French  people  and  incited  them  to  war,  declared  the  occasion 
awkwardly  chosen,  and  affirmed  that  the  military  preparations 
were  not  yet  complete.  The  ministers  and  the  Bonapartist  ma- 
jority overruled  these  isolated  monitors.  On  the  evening  of  the 
15th  the  streets  of  Paris  were  full  of  tattered  crowds  crying, 
"To  Berlin!  to  Berlin!"  while  the  official  Press  spoke  of  the 
defeat  of  Prussia  and  the  appropriation  of  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine  as  foregone  conclusions.  The  formal  declaration  of  war 
was  handed  to  the  Prussian  government  by  the  French  charge 
d'affaires  on  the  19th  of  July. 

The  conduct  of  France  in  this  whole  matter  had  been  arrogant 
ami  false,  inspired  by  lust  of  rule  and  lust  of  conquest.  In  con- 
sideration of  the  vote  of  July  15th  it  is  impossible  to  say  that 
only  the  emperor  wished  for  war.  When  a  unanimous  senate 
and  245  out  of  255  members  of  the  house  of  representatives 


416  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

approve  the  war  measures  of  the  government,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  whole  country,  through  its  representatives,  is  responsible  for 
that  war.  In  Germany  the  gauntlet  was  taken  up  not  only  with- 
out hesitation  but  almost  with  enthusiasm.  There  was  no  more 
talk  of  a  mere  dynastic  struggle.  The  fact  that  Gramont,  not 
satisfied  by  Prince  Leopold's  withdrawal — although  it  was  self- 
evident  that  he  had  withdrawn  only  at  the  request  of  the  King 
of  Prussia — demanded  an  apologetic  letter  for  publication  to  the 
world,  and  a  formal  promise  that  the  whole  house  of  Hohenzol- 
lern  should  forever  hold  itself  aloof  from  Spanish  affairs,  could 
not  fail  to  convince  every  one  that  the  Hohenzollern  candidacy 
was  a  mere  side-issue,  and  that  it  was  the  fixed  intention  of  the 
French  government,  by  fair  means  or  by  foul,  to  find  some  pretext 
for  war,  in  order  to  interfere  in  German  affairs,  disturb  the  proc- 
ess of  unification,  and  appropriate  German  territory.  The  Ger- 
man people  felt  that  the  humiliation  which  France  had  sought 
to  put  upon  the  Prussian  king  was  humiliation  aimed  at  all  Ger- 
many ;  whence  they  regarded  this  war  as  a  national  one,  cherish- 
ing the  hope  that  the  work  of  1866  might  be  completed,  at  the 
same  time  that  the  disgrace  of  one  hundred  years'  standing  should 
be  thoroughly  avenged.  The  establishment  of  German  unity, 
which  had  been  the  aim  of  1866,  had  failed  at  that  time,  owing 
to  French  interference.  By  this  new  war  France  sought  to  make 
that  interference  permanent  and  her  influence  supreme ;  while 
the  German  people,  on  their  part,  were  resolved  to  utilize  the  war 
thus  forced  upon  them  for  the  completion  of  their  longed-for 
unity.  As  in  1866  the  Schleswig-Holstein  question,  the  occa- 
sion of  the  Austro-Prussian  war,  expanded  to  a  German  one,  so 
in  1870  the  question  of  German  unity,  which  was  the  real  occa- 
sion of  the  war,  began  with  the  first  faint  hope  of  victory  to  de- 
velop into  a  thought  of  the  possible  restoration  of  Alsace  and 
Lorraine,  which,  after  the  initial  triumphs  had  been  won,  expand- 
ed into  an  irresistible  demand  for  the  reclamation  of  those  long- 
lost  provinces.  A  war  where  so  much  of  importance  was  involved, 
both  in  that  which  was  to  be  guarded  and  that  which  was  to  be 
achieved,  won  ever  greater  popularity  the  more  conscious  the  Ger- 
man people  became  of  the  critical  nature  of  the  stopping-place 
which  the  process  of  unification  had  reached.  Thanks  to  the 
south  German  governments,  and  the  position  of  the  south  Ger- 
man fraction  in  the  customs'  parliament,  the  hopes  which  had 


THE   KING   RETURNS   TO   BERLIN.  417 

boon  founded  on  that  institution  remained  unfulfilled.  It  now 
seemed  improbable  that  the  customs'  parliament  could  evej-  be 
developed  into  a  real  German  parliament,  unless  external  events 
should  give  some  unexpected  impulse.  The  political  situation  in 
Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg  was  such  that  the  accession  of  those 
states  to  the  North  German  Confederation  was  removed  an  in- 
calculable distance  into  the  future,  and  even  the  most  sanguine 
scarcely  hoped  to  live  to  witness  it.  There  was  rather  a  proba- 
bility of  retrogression,  for  the  Bavarian  and  Wiirtemberg  clericals 
and  radicals  seemed  about  to  get  the  better  of  their  respective 
governments,  with  the  result  of  cancelling  the  treaties  with  Prus- 
sia, and  bringing  on  the  stage  a  wonderful  medley  of  political 
institutions  drawn  from  the  States  of  the  Church,  the  Confedera- 
tion of  the  Rhine,  and  the  wildest  speculations  of  radical  repub- 
licanism. These  men,  genuine  Prussian-haters,  would  have  con- 
verted their  proposed  southern  confederation  into  the  foe  of  north 
Germany  rather  than  its  ally,  leaning  on  the  one  side  on  the  will- 
ing arm  of  France,  and  on  the  other  finding  support  in  Austria. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Germany  when  Gramont 
manufactured  a  casus  belli  of  a  description  calculated  to  remove 
the  hinderances  in  the  way  of  German  unity  as  it  were  in  a  night, 
so  that  the  whole  nation,  from  the  Danish  border  to  the  Alps, 
could  sing  with  patriotic  enthusiasm  the  "  Watch  on  the  Rhine." 
But  they  did  not  stop  at  singing;  decisive  measures  followed 
quick  and  fast.  July  12th  Bismarck  and  Moltke  arrived  in  Ber- 
lin and  held  a  conference  with  tho  other  ministers.  The  next 
day  Bismarck  said  to  the  English  ambassador  that  the  king  had 
already  shown  too  much  moderation  rather  than  too  little,  and 
that  it  was  now  Prussia's  part  to  require  from  France  a  with- 
drawal of  her  threatening  language  and  an  explanation  of  her 
military  preparations.  On  the  15th  the  king  left  Ems  and  re- 
turned to  Berlin.  His  journey  was  one  triumphal  procession. 
Wherever  the  train  stopped  the  king  received  and  replied  to  pa- 
triotic addresses.  The  crown  prince,  Bismarck,  Moltke,  and  Roon 
came  as  far  as  Brandenburg  to  meet  him,  while  in  Berlin  a 
countless  crowd  awaited  his  arrival.  Shortly  before  nine  o'clock 
he  reached  the  capital,  and  learned  for  the  first  time  that  in  Paris 
both  chambers  had  already  pronounced  for  war.  That  same 
evening  the  mobilization  of  the  army  was  determined  on,  and 
on  the  16th  precautionary  measures  were  ordered  on  the  North 

18* 


418  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

Sea  coast,  and  a  special  session  of  the  Bundesrath  summoned. 
On  the  19th  King  William  opened  the  North  German  Reichstag 
with  a  speech  full  of  boldness,  patriotism,  and  confidence :  "  If 
in  former  centuries  Germany  bore  in  silence  infractions  of  her 
rights  and  insults  to  her  honor,  she  bore  them  only  because  in 
her  disintegration  she  was  ignorant  of  her  strength.  To-day, 
when  the  bond  of  legal  and  moral  union  forged  in  the  wars  for 
freedom  binds  the  German  race  ever  closer ;  to-day,  when  Germa- 
ny's armor  offers  the  foe  no  longer  an  unguarded  spot,  she  carries 
in  herself  both  the  will  and  the  power  to  repel  renewed  French 
violence.  The  more  conscious  the  allied  governments  are  that 
they  have  done  all  which  dignity  and  honor  allow  to  preserve  to 
Europe  the  blessings  of  peace,  and  the  plainer  it  becomes  to  all 
that  the  sword  has  been  forced  into  our  hands,  the  more  confi- 
dently do  we  appeal,  supported  by  the  unanimous  sentiment  of 
the  German  governments,  both  north  and  south,  to  the  patriotism 
and  devotion  of  the  German  people  for  the  defence  of  Germany's 
honor  and  independence."  July  21st  the  Reichstag  unanimously 
voted  the  120,000,000  thalers  asked  for  by  the  government.  On 
the  29th  Bismarck  published  the  various  French  propositions  of 
1866  and  1867,  thereby  revealing  to  Germany  and  the  world  at 
large  the  plans  of  conquest  cherished  by  Napoleon's  government. 
This  information  had  already  been  imparted  to  the  south  Ger- 
man governments,  and  they  accordingly  understood  that  in  the 
eyes  of  a  powder  so  false  as  France  neutrality  on  their  part  would 
offer  no  guarantee  for  the  preservation  of  their  territorial  integ- 
rity, but  that  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  they  might  become  the 
victims  of  any  bargain  that  was  made.  This  confirmed  them  in 
their  resolution  honorably  to  fulfil  their  treaty  obligations.  On 
the  16th  of  July  King  Louis  of  Bavaria  issued  the  command  for 
the  mobilization  of  the  army ;  and  on  the  19th  the  lower  house, 
hearkening  to  the  voice  of  truth  and  honor,  and  deaf  to  the  per- 
suasions of  Dr.  Jorg  and  his  committee — consisting  for  the  most 
part  of  ultramontanes — with  their  proposition  of  an  armed  neu- 
trality, appropriated,  by  a  majority  of  101  to  47,  the  sum  of 
18,200,000  florins  for  the  purpose  of  equipping  and  maintaining 
the  army.  This  passed  the  upper  house  by  a  unanimous  vote. 
After  Bavaria  had  set  such  an  example  the  democrats  and  Gross- 
dcutsche  in  Wiirtemberg  could  venture  upon  no  opposition.  For 
the  moment  almost  the  whole  country  forgot  its  hatred  of  Prus* 


ATTITUDE   OF  SOUTH   GERMANY.  419 

sia,  and  gave  its  approval  to  the  resolutions  adopted  in  a  popular 
assembly  at  Stuttgart  on  the  16th  of  July,  calling  on  the  govern- 
ment to  take  part  in  the  national  war.  King  Charles  returned 
from  Switzerland  on  the  17th,  and  at  once  issued  the  command 
to  mobilize  the  army.  The  chambers  met  on  the  21st,  and  on 
the  22d  the  war  credit  asked  by  the  government  was  voted  by 
both  houses  unanimously  in  the  upper  and  with  only  one  dissen- 
tient voice  in  the  lower.  At  the  same  time  the  king  named  a 
Prussian  lieutenant-general,  von  Prittwitz,  who  had  directed  the 
construction  of  the  fortress  of  Ulm  some  twenty  years  before, 
governor  of  that  place ;  and  another  Prussian  lieutenant-general, 
von  Oberwitz,  formerly  military  plenipotentiary  at  Stuttgart,  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  Wiirtemberg  forces.  In  Hesse  the  war 
credit,  which  minister  von  Dalwigk,  much  against  his  will,  had  to 
ask  from  the  chamber,  was  granted  unanimously.  In  Baden  the 
grand-duke,  conscious  of  the  harmony  existing  between  himself 
and  his  people  in  the  national  question,  ordered  the  mobilization  of 
the  army  on  the  16th  ;  and  on  the  22d  the  French  ambassador  re- 
ceived his  passports.  Communication  between  Kehl  and  Strasburg 
was  severed  on  the  16th  by  the  demolition  of  the  floating  bridge, 
and  the  removal  of  the  rails  from  the  railroad  bridge.  On  the 
22d  every  possibility  of  an  Jhvasion  by  rail  was  put  an  end  to  by 
the  blowing  up  of  a  pier  of  the  latter  bridge.  The  day  before, 
on  the  unfounded  rumor  that  explosive  bullets  had  been  distrib- 
uted to  the  Badish  troops,  the  Badish  ambassador  in  Paris  had 
been  informed  by  a  functionary  of  the  French  ministry  that  if 
this  report  proved  true  France  would  resort  to  reprisals,  would 
regard  Baden  as  excluded  from  the  privileges  of  the  law  of  na- 
tions, and  lay  waste  the  country  as  in  Melac's  time,  not  even 
sparing  the  women. 

Both  south  and  north  were  eager  for  the  war.  Every  one  was 
infected  with  the  national  enthusiasm,  and  an  amicable  emulation 
and  self-sacrificing  devotion  pervaded  all  classes,  such  as  had 
never  been  seen  before  in  Germany.  "  Now  or  never !"  was  the 
watchword  of  the  whole  country.  The  repulse  of  the  foe  who 
had  brought  on  the  war  by  his  insulting  arrogance  was  the  imme- 
diate aim.  If  this  were  successfully  accomplished  it  must  cer- 
tainly be  followed  by  the  political  union  of  divided  Germany,  and 
in  the  centre  of  Europe  would  stand  a  people  feared  on  account 
of  its  compact  and  massive  strength,  as  well  as  respected  for  its 


420  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

intellectual  attainments.  It  was  the  thought  that  this  high  aim 
might  now  be  achieved  at  one  leap  which  lent  such  wonderful 
power  to  the  German  movement  of  1870,  arming  the  warriors 
with  incredible  valor  and  endurance,  and  setting  victory  before 
their  eyes  as  absolutely  enjoined  upon  them  by  duty  and  necessi- 
ty. Volunteers  hurried  ..•;>:!)  all  sides,  even  from  distant  lands,  to 
take  their  places  in  the  army.  Young  men  gave  up  the  most  ad- 
vantageous positions  in  business  or  professions,  the  lecture-rooms 
of  universities  were  vacated  by  lecturers  and  listeners,  all  inspired 
by  the  same  motive,  the  rescue  of  the  Father-land.  "  Germany 
first !"  was  the  proud  cry  with  which  the  soldier  grasped  his  gun, 
and  the  watchword  of  those  who  stayed  behind  to  heal  the 
wounded.  Never  and  nowhere  was  such  extensive  and  patriotic 
provision  made  for  the  wounded,  for  the  widowed  and  orphaned, 
for  the  families  of  reserve  and  landivehr  soldiers,  by  the  state, 
municipalities,  and  private  individuals,  as  in  this  war.  From  be- 
ginning to  end  the  whole  German  people  took  part  in  the  good 
work  without  cessation  or  intermission.  Private  persons,  fur- 
thermore, subscribed  large  sums  to  reward  individual  acts  of  bra- 
very, and  the  King  of  Prussia  renewed  (July  19th)  for  the  whole 
army  the  Order  of  the  Iron  Cross,  which  had  originally  been 
founded  by  his  father. 

The  excellence  of  the  military  arrangements,  the  precision  of 
Moltke's  plan  of  campaign,  which  did  not  overlook  the  smallest 
trifle,  and,  in  co-operation  with  these,  Roon's  energetic  adminis- 
tration of  the  war  department,  rendered  it  possible  lo  put  large 
masses  in  the  field  at  once,  so  that  the  mobilization,  which  was 
ordered  on  the  16th,  was  completed  on  the  26th ;  and  eight  days 
later  the  German  armies  were  in  position  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Rhine.  The  strength  of  these  armies  was  as  follows:  the 
North  German  Confederation,  including  Hesse,  put  into  the  field 
385,600  infantry,  48,000  cavalry,  and  1284  guns;  Bavaria,  50,000 
infantry,  5500  cavalry,  and  192  guns;  "\Yurtcmberg,  15,000  in- 
fantry, 1500  cavalry,  and  54  guns;  Baden,  11,700  infantry,  1800 
cavalry,  and  54  guns.  The  total  field  army  numbered,  therefore, 
462,300  infantry,  56,800  cavalry,  and  1584  guns.  In  addition 
to  this  the  garrisons,  together  with  the  troops  intended  to  fill  up 
gaps,  numbered  297,500  infantry,  25,890  cavalry,  40,500  garrison 
artillery,  and  462  field-guns.  Consequently  Germany  had,  accord- 
ing to  reckoning,  a  total  army,  including  field,  fortress,  and  reserve 


GERMAN  PLAN  OF  CAMPAIGN.          421 

troops,  of  882,900  men  and  2046  guns.  But  this  number  is  in 
reality  too  low,  for  every  state  did  more  than  was  prescribed  in 
the  plan  of  mobilization.  In  the  month  of  August,  1870,  the 
actual  effective  strength  was :  for  the  North  German  Confedera- 
tion 982,064  men  and  209,403  horses;  for  Bavaria,  128,964 
men  and  24,056  horses  ;  for  Wiirtemberg,  37,180  men  and  8876 
horses;  for  Baden,  35,181  men  and  8038  horses  ;  giving  a  grand 
total  of  1,183,389  men  of  all  arms  and  250,373  horses. 

As  was  the  case  in  the  invasion  of  Bohemia  in  1866,  the  whole 
German  army  was  divided  into  three  parts,  whose  separate  opera- 
tions were  regulated  in  accordance  with  one  common  plan.  The 
Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  was  once  more  on  the  left  wing,  and 
Prince  Frederic  Charles  in  the  centre,  while  General  Steinmetz 
(in  1866  General  von  Herwarth)  was  on  the  right.  Lieutenant- 
general  von  Blumenthal,  Major-general  von  Stiehle,  and  Major- 
general  von  Sperling  were  the  respective  chiefs  of  staff.  The  first 
army,  under  General  Steinmetz,  comprised  the  7th  and  8th  army 
corps,  numbering  61,000  men,  with  180  guns.  The  second,  com- 
manded by  Prince  Frederic  Charles,  consisted  of  six  army  corps 
— 3d,  4th,  9th,  10th,  12th,  and  the  Guard  corps — and  numbered 
206,000  men,  with  534  guns.  The  third,  under  the  Crown  Prince 
of  Prussia,  embraced  five  army  corps,  the  5th  and  llth  Prussian, 
the  1st  and  2d  Bavarian,  and  the  two  divisions  of  Wurtembergers 
and  Badeners,  amounting  in  all  to  180,000  men,  with  480  guns. 
This  third  army  was  in  so  far  the  most  interesting  that  south  Gcr 
man  and  north  German  troops  were  there  united.  It  represented 
the  unity  of  armed  Germany,  and  the  popular  Crown  Prince  of 
Prussia  was  wisely  chosen  to  command  it.  On  his  way  to  the 
army  the  prince  visited  the  courts  of  Munich,  Stuttgart,  and  Carls- 
ruhe,  everywhere  meeting  with  an  enthusiastic  reception. 

On  the  supposition  that  the  French  army  could  not  be  mobi- 
lized with  sufficient  rapidity  to  assume  the  offensive  and  cross  the 
Rhine,  Moltke's  plan  was  that  the  first  army  should  advance  from 
Coblentz,  its  place  of  rendezvous,  toward  the  Saar,  at  Saarbriicken  ; 
the  second,  from  Bingen  and  Mayence  toward  the  same  river,  at 
Saarbriicken  and  Saargemiind;  and  the  third  army,  from  Mann- 
heim and  Rastatt  toward  the  Lauter,  in  the  north-east  corner  of 
Alsace.  The  crown  prince,  whose  army  was  at  the  outset  closest 
to  the  French  frontier,  was  to  begin  the  campaign  by  driving  the 
French  left  wing  back  across  the  Vosges  and  advancing  as  far  as 


422  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

the  Moselle.  At  the  same  time  Prince  Frederic  Charles  and  Stein- 
metz  were  to  push  the  French  forces  which  should  assemble  before 
Metz  back  as  far  as  that  fortress,  cut  off  their  retreat  to  Chalons 
and  Paris,  oblige  them  to  give  battle  at  Metz,  shut  them  up  in  that 
fortress,  or  drive  them  northward  toward  the  Belgian  boundary, 
and  so  open  the  way  to  Paris  for  the  third  army  and  any  other 
troops  which  might  then  be  available.  The  plan  was  equally  del- 
icate and  audacious  ;  but,  notwithstanding  its  delicacy  and  audac- 
ity, the  military  operations  of  the  campaign  were  able  actually  to 
follow  the  course  thus  laid  out. 

Besides  these  three  armies,  with  their  thirteen  army  corps, 
there  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  a  first  reserve,  composed  of 
three  and  a  half  additional  army  corps,  containing  112,000  men. 
Of  these  the  1st  and  2d  corps,  which  had  been  stationed  on  the 
north  coast,  to  oppose  any  attack  from  French  and  Danish  land- 
ing columns,  were  ordered  to  the  front  at  Metz  as  soon  as  the  first 
victories  were  won.  The  6th  army  corps,  which  had  been  detailed 
to  cover  Silesia,  on  account  of  Austria's  preparations  for  war, 
joined  the  crown  prince's  army  in  the  month  of  August ;  and  in 
September  the  17th  division  was  ordered  to  the  front,  where  it 
later  found  an  opportunity  to  distinguish  itself  by  its  conduct  on 
the  Loire.  The  provinces  bordering  on  the  theatre  of  war  and 
tlie  coast  districts  of  the  North  and  Baltic  seas  were  put  under 
martial  law,  and  five  governors -general  placed  in  command,  of 
whom  General  Vogel  von  Falckenstein,  who  had  so  honorably 
distinguished  himself  by  his  conduct  of  the  campaign  on  the 
Main  in  the  year  1866,  was  appointed  Governor  of  Prussia  (prov- 
ince), Pomerania,  Hanover,  and  Schleswig-Holstein,  with  his  head- 
quarters in  Hanover.  The  17th  division,  as  well  as  the  landwehr 
division,  which  had  been  assigned  to  the  defence  of  the  coast,  was 
placed  under  the  command  of  the  Grand-duke  of  Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin. 

The  commanders  of  the  three  great  armies  left  Berlin  on  the 
26th  to  join  their  troops  at  the  appointed  rendezvous.  The  king, 
accompanied  by  Count  Bismarck  and  Generals  Moltkc  and  Roon, 
left  the  capital  on  the  31st  to  assume  the  chief  command  over  all 
the  German  forces.  On  the  morning  of  August  2d  he  reached 
Mayence,  where  the  general  head-quarters  were  established,  and 
whence  a  proclamation  was  issued  to  the  German  army.  At 
Mayence  and  in  the  three  great  armies  all  the  strength  of  Ger- 


NAPOLEON'S  PLAN.  423 

many  was  centred,  and  hence  anxiety  mingled  with  confidence  as 
the  whole  German  nation  eagerly  watched  for  news  of  the  first 
encounter  with  the  foe. 

One  of  the  peculiarities  of  French  diplomacy  at  this  crisis  was, 
that  while  it  had  it  in  its  power  to  delay  the  commencement  of 
hostilities  until  France  was  ready  to  strike,  it  nevertheless  declared 
war  at  a  time  when  the  French  preparations  were  still  in  such  a 
backward  condition  that  not  only  was  it  impossible  to  assume  the 
offensive,  but  even  a  satisfactory  defensive  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  attitude  of  south  Germany  seriously  thwarted  Napo- 
leon's plans.  Considering  the  obstinate  wrong-headedness  of  the 
ultramontanes  and  democrats  as  irresistible,  he  felt  sure  of  the 
neutrality  of  Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg,  until  he  learned  that  the 
orders  to  mobilize  had  actually  been  issued.  To  prevent  the 
union  of  the  southern  troops  with  the  northern  he  now  proposed 
to  carry  out  a  part  of  Niel's  plan,  and  supply  by  rapidity  what 
he  lacked  in  numbers.  The  strength  of  the  German  field  army 
he  reckoned  at  559,000  men,  and  that  of  his  own  at  300,000. 
He  proposed  to  make  up  for  this  almost  twofold  superiority  of 
numbers  on  the  part  of  the  enemy  by  a  quick  and  energetic  ini- 
tiative. One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  were  to  assemble 
at  Metz,  100,000  at  Strasburg,  and  50,000  in  the  camp  at  Chalons. 
He  proposed  to  unite  the  two  eastern  armies  and  cross  the  Rhine 
at  Maxau  at  the  head  of  250,000  men,  thus  forming  an  iron  bar- 
rier, as  it  were,  between  north  and  south  Germany,  and  compell- 
ing the  southern  states  into  neutrality,  or  perhaps  even  forcing 
upon  them  a  new  Confederation  of  the  Rhine.  If  successful  in  this, 
he  hoped  to  secure  the  alliance  of  Italy  and  Austria,  with  both  of 
which  states  promising  negotiations  had  already  been  opened,  and 
then  it  would  be  time  to  search  out  the  Prussian  army,  which  he 
estimated  at  350,000  at  the  utmost,  and  scatter  it  by  the  pro- 
verbial elan  of  his  brave  soldiers.  In  the  mean  time  the  50,000 
men  who  had  assembled  in  Chalons  were  to  advance  to  Metz,  in 
order  to  cover  the  rear  of  the  army  of  operation  and  guard  the 
north-eastern  frontier,  while  the  appearance  of  a  French  fleet  in 
the  North  and  Baltic  seas,  and  the  landing  of  French  and  Danish 
troops  on  the  coast,  was  to  draw  off  part  of  the  Prussian  forces. 

The  execution  of  this  plan  was  possible  only  in  case,  simultane- 
ously with  the  declaration  of  war,  Napoleon  could  cross  the  Rhine 
with  250,000  men.  But  there  were  at  that  time  not  more  than 


424  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

100,000  in  Metz  and  only  40,000  at  Strasburg,  while  two  divis- 
ions were  still  lacking  at  Chalons.  Artillery  and  cavalry  were 
not  ready  for  action,  not  a  single  corps  had  a  complete  outfit  for 
field  service  ;  and  when  Napoleon  gave  orders  to  hasten  the  arrival 
of  the  missing  regiments,  his  orders  did  not  meet  with  rapid  obe- 
dience, under  the  pretext  that  Algeria,  Paris,  and  Lyons  could  not 
be  stripped  of  their  garrisons.  Other  things  necessary  for  a  cam- 
paign were  also  lacking.  Great  stores  of  provisions,  ammunition, 
and  accoutrements  had  been  accumulated,  but,  unfortunately,  not 
where  tliey  were  needed.  The  railroads  were  not  properly  equip- 
ped for  such  colossal  transports  of  men  and  goods,  nor  had  the 
officials  any  training  in  such  matters ;  consequently  everything 
was  soon  in  hopeless  confusion,  and  while  the  railroad  stations 
were  crowded  with  the  necessaries  of  war  the  fortresses  were  in 
dire  need. 

Under  such  circumstances  there  could  be  no  thought  of  car- 
rying out  Napoleon's  plan  and  assuming  the  offensive.  Other 
hopes  also  proved  delusive.  South  Germany  identified  itself 
completely  with  the  north  so  far  as  the  war  was  concerned.  The 
proposed  alliances  with  Denmark,  Austria,  and  Italy  depended 
for  their  signatures  upon  preliminary  French  successes.  On  Den- 
mark's part  there  was  no  lack  of  inclination  to  invade  Schleswig- 
Holstem  and  other  Prussian  territory  as  well,  but  there  still  ex- 
isted so  vivid  a  recollection  of  the  experiences  of  1864  that  the 
government  could  not  venture  to  act  until  40,000  French  troops 
appeared,  and  genuine  Napoleonic  deeds  of  arms  were  reported 
from  the  theatre  of  war;  but  troops  for  the  North  and  Baltic 
seas  could  not  well  be  spared  where  soldiers  were  so  scarce, 
and  Napoleonic  deeds  of  arms  were  wholly  lacking.  In  Austria, 
where  an  alliance  with  France  had  been  in  negotiation  ever  since 
the  meeting  of  the  two  emperors  in  Salzburg  in  1867,  the  opinion 
prevailed  that  the  occasion  for  war  had  been  badly  chosen  ;  nev- 
ertheless the  war  party,  which  had  been  strengthened  by  Beust's 
intrigues  inspired  by  his  hatred  of  Bismarck,  thought  the  oppor- 
tunity of  humiliating  Prussia  and  rehabilitating  the  Hapsburgs  in 
their  old  position  too  precious  to  be  lost ;  and  hence  the  prom- 
ise was  given  that  preparations  should  be  at  once  begun,  and  on 
their  completion,  in  the  month  of  September,  war  declared  and  an 
invasion  of  Germany  undertaken.  A  formal  treaty  of  alliance 
between  France  and  Austria  had  already  been  drawn  up  in  St. 


ATTITUDE  OF  AUSTRIA  AND  ITALY.  425 

Cloud,  and  simply  awaited  ratification.  But  this  plan  was  never 
carried  out,  for  Austria  could  not  mobilize  so  rapidly  as  Prussia, 
and  before  everything  was  ready  the  tempter  of  St.  Cloud  was 
safe  behind  bolts  and  bars.  Italy  was  in  the  peculiar  position  of 
being  the  ally  of  both  France  and  Prussia.  To  the  former  she 
owed  the  possession  of  Lombardy,  while  to  the  latter  she  was 
indebted  for  Venetia ;  consequently  one  would  have  supposed 
that  she  was  almost  obliged  to  remain  neutral.  And  yet  it  seems 
that  the  king,  with  a  considerable  party  of  generals  and  states- 
men, could  have  been  won  for  Napoleon,  if  the  latter  had  been 
willing  to  abandon  to  them  Rome  as  the  price  of  their  assistance. 
Nothing  less  than  this  would  have  overcome  the  parliamentary 
opposition  to  a  French  alliance.  But  Napoleon,  in  whose  pro- 
gramme the  Pope  and  the  Jesuits  played  so  important  a  part, 
would  not  consent.  Accordingly,  Italy  remained  neutral,  and 
waited  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  help  herself.  So  far  as 
results  are  concerned,  the  events  of  1866  were  repeated,  Italy 
reaping  the  benefit  of  Prussian  victories. 

Accordingly,  France  remained  isolated.  Alone  she  had  begun 
the  war,  and  alone  she  must  end  it.  The  fine  speeches  of  the 
French  diplomats,  and  the  journey  of  Thiers  later  to  London,  St. 
Petersburg,  Vienna,  and  Florence,  wrought  no  change  in  this  re- 
spect. Every  state  warmly  advocated  neutrality,  however  lax 
some  of  them  were  in  the  fulfilment  of  their  neutral  obligations 
—  like  England  and  the  United  States,  which  furnished  the 
French  ships  with  coal,  and  in  the  second  stage  of  the  war  sold 
the  French  army  the  arms  without  which  the  governing  powers 
could  not  have  prosecuted  the  war.  The  Spanish  government, 
forbidden  by  Gramont  to  insist  upon  its  Hohenzollern  candidate, 
dishonorably  submitted  to  French  dictation.  Prince  Leopold's 
resignation  was  accepted  as  final ;  and  Prim,  now  minister-presi- 
dent, began  to  look  about  him  for  a  new  candidate.  Germany 
also  entered  upon  the  war  without  an  ally,  and  she  had  cause  to 
consider  herself  fortunate  in  having  none.  In  1814  and  1815, 
although  she  had  borne  the  brunt  of  the  conflict,  she  had  received 
the  jackal's  share  of  the  booty,  while  her  wisest  and  most  impor- 
tant recommendations  and  requests  had  been  treated  as  so  much 
waste  paper.  In  1870  Germany  was  strong  enough  alone  to  un- 
dertake the  fight  with  France ;  and  if  victorious  she  would  also 
be  strong  enough  to  disregard  the  officious  recommendations  of 


426  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

the  tender -hearted  brothers  of  charity-in-other-men's-affairs,  in 
London  and  elsewhere,  and  dictate  a  peace  at  her  own  pleasure, 
without  consulting  other  interests  than  her  own.  But  it  was 
also  fortunate  for  Germany  that  she  had  some  one  to  cover  her 
rear,  and  make  it  possible  for  her  almost  completely  to  strip  her 
eastern  provinces  of  troops  and  concentrate  her  whole  force  at 
the  seat  of  war.  That  which  kept  Austria's  sword  in  its  sheath, 
and  perhaps  the  swords  of  some  other  countries  too,  was  Emperor 
Alexander's  announcement,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  that  he 
would  remain  neutral  as  long  as  the  other  powers  did  the  same, 
but  that,  in  case  a  third  power  interfered  on  the  side  of  France, 
he  would  abandon  his  neutrality  and  act  as  Prussia's  ally.  By 
means  of  this  resolute  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  Russian  emper- 
or the  war  was  localized  and  prevented  from  becoming  European. 
In  case  Austria  should  be  induced  by  any  untoward  turn  of  events 
to  march  her  troops  into  Germany,  the  Russians  would  invade 
Austria,  and  employ  the  opportunity  to  take  revenge  for  1854. 
At  the  end  of  the  war  (February  27th,  1871),  in  a  telegram  to 
Emperor  Alexander,  King  William  expressed  himself  as  follows : 
"  Prussia  will  never  forget  that  it  is  owing  to  you  that  the  war 
did  not  assume  the  most  extreme  dimensions." 

Like  the  Prussian  king,  the  French  emperor  undertook  in  per- 
son the  chief  command  of  all  his  troops.  General  Leboeuf,  the 
minister  of  war,  was  appointed  chief  of  staff.  July  23d  Napoleon 
intrusted  the  regency  to  the  empress  for  the  period  of  his  absence 
from  Paris;  and  on  the  24th  she  set  out  for  Cherbourg,  to  inspect 
the  fleet  commanded  by  Vice-admiral  Count  Bouet-Villaumez,  be- 
fore its  departure  for  the  North  and  Baltic  seas,  and  dismiss  it 
with  a  proclamation.  On  the  28th  Napoleon,  accompanied  by 
his  son,  left  for  Metz,  to  assume  command  of  the  army.  The 
proclamation  to  the  "  Army  of  the  Rhine,"  far  from  breathing 
the  old  confidence  of  victory,  held  in  view  "  a  long  and  toilsome 
war."  The  army  consisted  of  eight  corps.  Of  these,  the  1st, 
under  Marshal  MacMahon,  was  stationed  at  Strasburg ;  the  2d, 
under  General  Frossard,  at  St.  Avoid ;  the  3d,  under  Marshal  Ba- 
zaine,  at  Metz ;  the  4th,  under  General  Ladmirault,  at  Diedenho- 
fen  (Thionville) ;  the  5th,  under  General  Failly,  at  Bitsch ;  the 
6th,  under  Marshal  Canrobert,  in  the  camp  at  Chalons ;  the  7th, 
under  General  Felix  Douay,  at  Belfort;  the  8th — the  Imperial 
Guard  —  under  General  Bourbaki,  at  Nancy.  Accordingly,  the 


THE  BATTLE  OF  SAARBRUCKEN.  427 

French  forces  were  divided  into  two  groups,  the  larger  stationed 
on  the  Moselle,  and  the  smaller  in  Alsace.  To  the  latter  belonged 
the  1  st  and  7th  corps,  both  of  which  were  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Marshal  MacMahon,  with  orders  to  prevent  the  crown 
prince's  army  from  entering  Alsace.  The  larger  group  comprised 
the  2d,  3d,  and  4th  corps,  the  2d  being  pushed  forward  as  ad- 
vance guard.  The  6th  and  8th  were  to  have  formed  the  reserve ; 
but  the  greatly  superior  numbers  of  Prince  Frederic  Charles  and 
Steinmetz,  who  were  advancing  against  this  larger  group,  necessi- 
tated the  immediate  bringing  of  those  corps  to  the  front.  The 
connection  between  the  two  groups  was  to  be  maintained  by  the 
5th  corps,  stationed  at  Bitsch. 

Skirmishing  of  the  advanced  posts  and  collisions  between  re- 
connoitring parties  began  on  the  19th  of  July.  The  most  impor- 
tant of  these  minor  engagements  was  that  at  Saarbriicken,  on  the 
2d  of  August.  One  thousand  Germans  (one  battalion  of  fusiliers 
and  three  squadrons  of  uhlans),  under  Lieutenant-colonel  von  Pes- 
tcl,  were  stationed  at  that  place.  In  order  to  inform  himself  of 
the  enemy's  strength  and  send  the  impatient  Parisians  news  of 
victory,  Napoleon  ordered  General  Frossard's  corps  to  advance, 
thus  bringing  about  the  so-called  battle  of  Saarbrucken,  where 
1000  Prussians  were  attacked  by  30,000  Frenchmen.  Napoleon, 
with  his  son,  was  present  at  the  action,  wishing  to  convince  him- 
self of  the  superiority  of  the  chassepots  and  the  effectiveness  of 
the  mitrailleuses.  The  French,  occupying  the  heights  of  Spichern, 
on  the  left  side  of  the  Saar  valley,  opened  fire  upon  Saarbrucken 
and  its  occupants  from  twenty-three  guns,  simultaneously  advan- 
cing against  the  unfortified  town.  After  a  resistance  of  three 
hours  the  Prussians  withdrew  to  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  and, 
leaving  a  force  to  occupy  the  opposite  town  of  St.  Johann  and 
the  railroad  station  at  that  place,  bivouacked  four  or  five  miles 
away  toward  the  north-west.  Toward  evening  General  Frossard 
entered  Saarbriicken,  but  withdrew  again  to  the  heights  without 
attempting  a  pursuit.  In  this  engagement,  which  was  principally 
an  artillery  action,  the  Prussians  lost  four  officers  and  seventy- 
nine  men,  and  the  French  six  officers  and  eighty  men.  News  of 
the  victory  was  at  once  despatched  to  Paris,  the  emperor's  tele- 
gram to  Eugenie  speaking  of  the  young  prince's  "  baptism  of 
fire,"  and  extolling  his  coolness  and  presence  of  mind.  The  Press 
teemed  with  fantastic  compositions,  imagining  the  army  of  the 


428  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

Rhine   already  before  the  gates  of  Mayence,  and  greeting  this 
glorious  feat  of  arras  as  "  the  sign  of  a  new  epoch." 

This  triumph  was  brief.  August  4th  the  crown  prince  crossed 
the  French  frontier  and  attacked  the  town  of  Weissenburg,  on  the 
little  river  Lauter.  MacMahon's  advance-guard,  General  Abel 
Douay's  division,  consisting  of  eleven  battalions  and  four  bat- 
teries, held  the  town  and  the  strongly  fortified  Geisberg.  Weis- 
senburg was  successfully  carried  by  Prussian  and  Bavarian  bat- 
talions combined,  and  the  Geisberg  by  sixteen  battalions  of  Prus- 
sians alone.  General  Douay  fell  in  the  fight.  The  French  loss 
was  1200  dead  and  wounded,  and  1000  unwounded  prisoners,  of 
whom  thirty  were  officers.  The  remainder  of  the  defeated  forces 
escaped  to  Worth.  The  German  loss  was  ninety-one  officers  and 
1460  men.  August  5th  MacMahon  with  his  corps  took  up  his 
position  at  Worth,  fortifying  the  heights  westward  from  Sauer- 
bach,  together  with  the  villages  of  Froschweiler  and  Elsasshausen, 
in  the  intention  of  meeting  at  that  place  the  advancing  columns 
of  the  crown  prince,  whose  attack  he  expected  on  the  7th.  To 
strengthen  his  army  sufficiently  for  the  task  required  of  it  he  en- 
deavored to  bring  up  General  Felix  Douay's  corps  from  Belfort 
and  Miihlhausen,  and  that  of  General  Failly  from  Bitsch  ;  but  only 
one  division  of  the  former  arrived  in  time,  and  a  division  of  the 
latter  which  was  sent  to  his  support  did  not  reach  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  battle-field  until  the  evening  of  the  6th,  in  time  to 
afford  a  partial  protection  on  the  retreat.  Consequently,  Mac- 
Mahon was  left  with  not  more  than  45,000  men  to  face  the  crown 
prince's  whole  army.  It  was  the  prince's  intention  to  deliver  a 
decisive  battle  on  the  7th,  as  he  could  not  undertake  a  concentric 
attack  with  all  five  corps  before  that  time ;  but  on  the  morning 
of  the  6th  the  advance  guard  of  the  5th  corps  became  involved  in 
a  sharp  action  with  the  enemy  at  Worth,  while  the  llth  corps  on 
the  left  and  a  Bavarian  corps  on  the  right  also  came  into  collision 
with  the  French  on  the  two  wings.  There  was,  accordingly,  no 
choice  left  but  to  continue  the  battle  and  concentrate  as  many 
troops  as  possible  at  the  threatened  points.  In  this  way  from  a 
mere  skirmish  of  the  advance  guard  resulted  the  decisive  battle 
of  Worth.  With  the  exception  of  the  Badish  division  every 
corps  ultimately  took  part  in  the  battle.  After  Worth  itself  had 
been  carried,  the  fighting  was  most  severe  around  the  fortified 
village  of  Froschweiler.  This  was  finally  taken,  and  a  desperate 


THE  BATTLES  OF  WORTH  AND  SPICHERN.  429 

charge  of  the  French  cuirassiers  repulsed.  Thereupon  MacMa- 
hon's  army  broke  and  fled  in  wild  confusion,  some  toward  the 
passes  of  the  Vosges,  others  to  Strasburg  or  Bitsch.  The  fugi- 
tives were  energetically  followed,  the  pursuit  continuing  through 
the  following  day.  The  trophies  of  victory  were  numerous  and 
valuable :  200  officers  and  9000  men  prisoners,  one  eagle,  four 
Turco  banners,  twenty -eight  cannon,  five  mitrailleuses,  twenty- 
three  wagons  full  of  arms,  125  other  wagons,  1193  horses,  and 
the  army-chest  with  222,000  francs  in  gold.  The  French  lost 
6000  dead  and  wounded ;  the  German  loss  was  489  officers  and 
10,153  men — a  loss  greater  than  that  of  Sadowa.  On  the  battle- 
field, where  the  victorious  army  bivouacked,  went  up  that  night 
from  thousands  of  voices  and  hundreds  of  instruments  the  hymn 
"Nun  danket  alle  Gott"  MacMahon,  with  about  15,000  of  his 
defeated  troops,  reached  Zabern  on  the  morning  of  the  7th,  and 
set  out  thence  for  Chalons,  whither  Generals  Douay  and  Failly 
were  also  directed  to  lead  their  forces.  A  new  army  was  to  be 
formed  at  that  point,  and  northern  Alsace  was  abandoned  to  the 
crown  prince's  victorious  troops.  The  Badish  division  received 
orders  to  inarch  against  Strasburg,  and  by  the  9th  the  whole 
corps  was  assembled  before  that  city,  Hagcnau  having  been  taken 
by  the  cavalry  on  the  way.  General  Uhrich,  of  Pfalzburg,  the 
commandant,  was  summoned  to  surrender,  and  on  his  refusal 
preparations  for  a  siege  were  made,  a  regular  siege  corps  being 
formed  from  the  Badish  division,  a  Prussian  reserve  division,  and 
the  gardelandwehr  division,  and  placed  under  the  command  of 
General  Werder.  With  the  remainder  of  the  third  army  the 
crown  prince  left  Worth  on  the  8th  of  August,  marched  through 
the  unguarded  passes  of  the  Vosges,  and  entered  Nancy  on  the 
1 6th.  On  the  way  the  Wurtemberg  troops  took  the  small  for- 
tresses of  Lichtenburg  and  Liitzelstein,  and  the  Bavarians  Marsal, 
while  detachments  were  left  behind  to  blockade  Bitsch  and  Pfalz- 
burg. At  Nancy  the  prince  rested  for  a  few  days  and  waited  for 
decisive  news  from  the  Saar  and  Moselle. 

A  second  victory  was  won  on  the  6th  of  August  at  Spichern. 
Like  the  battle  of  Worth,  this  action  was  not  the  result  of  a 
strategical  combination,  but  rather  of  a  misunderstanding.  Ac- 
cording to  Moltke's  plan  Frossard's  corps,  which  was  stationed  on 
the  heights  of  Spichern,  was  to  be  forced  to  beat  a  retreat  by  a 
simultaneous  movement  of  the  first  and  second  armies  threatening 


430  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

the  French  position  in  the  rear  at  Forbach  and  Saargemiind.  In 
case  the  French  made  a  stand,  they  were  to  be  overwhelmed  by 
weight  of  numbers.  On  the  morning  of  August  6th,  when  Generals 
Kanieke  and  Eheinbaben  with  troops  from  the  first  and  second 
armies  arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of  Saarbriicken,  they  were  led 
by  the  reports  of  their  reconnoitring  parties  to  suppose  that  Fros- 
sard  was  already  in  full  retreat.  Wishing  to  inflict  upon  the  retir- 
ing foe  as  much  damage  as  possible,  they  at  once  attacked,  driv- 
ing the  French  outposts  back  to  the  steep  and  woody  heights  of 
Spichern,  where  they  for  the  first  time  ascertained  that  Frossard's 
whole  corps  was  before  them.  Holding  it  irreconcilable  with, 
their  honor  to  yield  ground  which  had  once  been  won  and  re- 
treat across  the  Saar,  they  continued  the  uneven  combat,  a  single 
division  maintaining  the  battle  for  four  hours  against  three  divis- 
ions of  the  foe,  with  numerous  artillery  and  an  extraordinarily  fa- 
vorable situation.  After  three  o'clock  other  divisions  of  both  the 
German  armies  began  little  by  little  to  reach  the  field  of  battle, 
attracted  by  the  thunder  of  the  cannonading,  so  that  finally  27,000 
Germans  were  matched  against  40,000  French.  Some  battalions 
at  length  succeeded  in  gaining  a  footing  on  the  heights  and  plant- 
ing twelve  guns  there.  The  resolution  and  endurance  of  the  Ger- 
man soldiers  was  almost  unexampled.  The  Brandcnburger  gren- 
adier regiment  alone  lost  thirty-five  officers  and  771  men.  After 
the  heights  had  been  won  Gliirner's  division  advanced  against  the 
French  left  wing,  defeated  it,  and  threatened  the  enemy's  line  of 
retreat.  Thereupon  the  French  retired,  the  movement  here  and 
there  degenerating  into  actual  flight.  As  the  Forbach  road  was 
already  occupied  by  the  enemy,  Frossard  fell  back  on  Metz  by 
way  of  Saargemiind.  Bazaine,  who,  although  not  more  than 
seven  or  eight  miles  from  the  field  of  battle,  had  made  no  at- 
tempt to  come  to  Frossard's  assistance,  led  his  corps  to  the  same 
place.  In  this  battle,  owing  to  the  unfavorable  nature  of  the 
ground,  the  losses  of  the  conquerors  were  heavier  than  those  of 
the  conquered.  The  Germans  had  223  officers  and  4648  men 
dead,  wounded,  and  missing ;  while  the  French,  according  to  their 
own  reports,  lost  249  officers  and  3829  men,  2000  of  whom  were 
taken  prisoners.  August  7th  the  victors  continued  their  forward 
march,  capturing  great  stores  of  provisions  in  Forbach.  On  the 
9th  St.  Avoid  was  taken,  and  foraging  parties  advanced  almost  to 
Metz.  Marching  through  the  Rhenish  Palatinate,  part  of  Prince 


OVERTHROW  OF  THE   GRAMONT  MINISTRY.  4.31 

Frederic  Charles's  army  directed  its  course  toward  Mctz  by  way 
of  Saarbriicken,  and  part  through  Saargemiind.  On  receipt  of 
the  news  of  the  victory  the  king  left  Mayence,  arriving  at  Saar- 
briicken on  the  9th  and  St.  Avoid  on  the  llth.  Here  he  issued 
a  proclamation  to  the  French  people  to  the  effect  that  he  was 
waging  war  against  soldiers  and  not  citizens,  and  that  the  latter 
should  not  be  molested  in  person  or  property  so  long  as  they 
were  guilty  of  no  hostilities  toward  the  German  troops. 

.  In  the  imperial  head-quarters  at  Metz  the  greatest  consterna- 
tion prevailed.  In  the  first  moment  of  alarm  it  was  decided  that 
the  whole  army  should  fall  back  on  Chalons,  leaving  a  garrison 
of  only  20,000  men  in  Metz,  and  that  the  empsror  should  return 
to  Paris.  Other  counsels,  however,  soon  prevailed,  and  it  was  de- 
cided to  concentrate  five  army  corps  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Moselle,  at  Metz,  and  to  form  a  second  army,  consisting  of  four 
corps,  under  MacMahon's  command,  in  the  camp  at  Chalons.  The 
first  line  of  defence  on  the  Rhine  and  Saar  had  been  abandoned, 
and  France  was  to  be  defended  on  the  Moselle.  By  this  decision 
Alsace  and  Lorraine  were  surrendered  to  the  foe  at  the  very  out- 
set. Everything  now  centred  on  the  banks  of  the  Moselle.  Paris, 
in  the  very  midst  of  its  wild  intoxication  of  imagined  victory,  was 
terribly  undeceived  by  the  news  of  August  6th.  The  opposition 
in  the  lower  house  spoke  openly  of  the  incapacity  of  the  emperor, 
the  necessity  of  his  surrender  of  the  chief  command,  and  even  of 
his  abdication.  In  the  excitement  of  the  moment  some  one  ad- 
ministered to  Gramont  a  box  on  the  ear,  and  Ollivier  narrowly 
escaped  a  like  indignity.  A  vote  of  censure  against  the  ministry 
for  their  deficient  preparations  was  moved  and  carried,  whereupon 
the  Gramont-Ollivier  ministry  resigned,  and  on  the  10th  a  purely 
Bonapartist  cabinet  was  formed,  with  Count  Palikao  (General 
Montauban)  as  president.  Under  such  conditions  the  retention 
of  the  chief  command,  with  its  consequent  responsibility  before 
all  the  world  for  the  defeats  of  his  marshals  and  generals,  had 
no  farther  attractions  for  the  emperor.  August  9th  he  re- 
signed his  position  as  commander -in -chief,  and  appointed 
Marshal  Bazaine  as  his  successor,  while  Lebceuf  at  the  same  time 
withdrew  from  the  direction  of  the  staff.  The  whole  energy  of 
the  government  was  now  directed  toward  the  strengthening  of 
France's  insufficient  military  organization.  New  levies  were  called 
into  the  field,  comprising  all  unmarried  men  between  the  ages  of 


432  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

twenty-five  and  thirty  not  already  enrolled  in  the  garde  mobile ; 
the  project  of  sending  troops  to  the  Baltic  was  definitely  aban- 
doned, and  even  the  soldiers  stationed  in  the  States  of  the  Church 
for  the  protection  of  the  Pope  were  recalled,  leaving  Pius  to  his 
fate  and  the  discretion  of  the  Italian  government.  The  provis- 
ioning of  Paris  was  pushed  forward  with  all  speed,  and  the  Ger- 
mans resident  in  France,  whose  departure  had  been  prevented  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war,  were  now  expelled  with  circumstances  of 
indefensible  brutality.  The  maritime  operations,  not  being  sup- 
ported by  -landing  troops,  were  attended  with  small  success.  The 
entrances  to  the  German  harbors  were  well  guarded  by  batteries 
and  torpedoes,  so  that  the  French  fleet  could  accomplish  nothing 
farther  than  a  couple  of  months'  blockade  and  the  capture  of  a 
few  merchantmen.  One  division  of  the  fleet,  under  Vice-admiral 
Bonet-Villaumez,  had  sailed  for  the  Baltic  in  July ;  a  second,  un- 
der Vice-admiral  Fourichon,  was  despatched  to  the  North  Sea  in 
August ;  and  a  third  followed  the  second  in  October.  With  the 
exception  of  a  couple  of  insignificant  actions  at  Hiddensee  and 
Danzig,  on  the  17th  and  21st  of  August,  nothing  worth  mention 
in  the  way  of  naval  operations  occurred,  and  the  fleets  returned 
home. 

In  the  German  head -quarters,  which  had  been  at  St.  Avoid 
since  the  llth  of  August,  it  was  resolved  in  some  way  to  make 
Bazaine's  army  harmless,  either  by  shutting  him  up  in  Metz  or 
by  pushing  him  northward  to  the  Belgian  frontier.  With  this 
end  in  view,  the  first  army,  under  General  Steinmetz,  was  to  take 
up  a  position  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Moselle,  and  hold  the  French 
troops  there  as  long  as  possible,  preventing  them  from  attacking 
the  Germans  in  their  passage  of  the  river  above  Metz.  In  the  meaii 
time  by  forced  marches  the  second  army,  under  Prince  Frederic 
Charles,  was  to  cross  the  river  at  Xoveant  and  Pont-a-Mousson, 
where  the  bridges  had  not  been  destroyed,  anticipate  any  attempt 
on  the  part  of  the  French  to  retreat  by  occupying  the  road  to 
Verdun,  and  hold  them  in  check  before  Metz  until  all  the  corps  of 
the  first  and  second  armies  were  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Moselle, 
in  position  to  undertake  a  decisive  battle.  The  task  was  a  difficult 
one,  and  it  was  questionable  whether  all  the  parts  of  the  various 
corps  could  accomplish  the  long  march  from  St.  Avoid  to  the 
Verdun  road  in  time  to  effect  the  desired  result.  All  depended 
upon  what  course  Bazaine  might  conclude  to  pursue,  and  the  en- 


PLANS  AGAINST  BAZAINE.  433 

ergy  with  which  he  executed  his  plans.  It  was  his  purpose  to 
leave  Metz  with  the  field  army  and  join  MacMahon  at  Chalons. 
There  would  then  be  300,000  French  at  that  place  to  block  the 
German  march  to  Paris.  In  that  event  the  Germans  would  have 
to  leave  60,000  men  before  Metz — which  was  adequately  provis- 
ioned for  a  small  garrison — and  Diedenhofen,  and  would  not  have 
enough  left  to  venture  an  attack  on  the  united  and  well-intrenched 
armies  at  Chalons.  Accordingly,  the  union  of  those  two  armies 
must  be  prevented  at  any  price,  and  Bazainc  be  attacked  before 
Metz.  The  execution  of  this  plan  led  to  the  severe  fighting  near 
that  city — the  battle  of  Colombey-Nouilly  (Borny),  on  the  14th, 
Vionville  on  the  16th,  and  Gravclotte  on  the  18th.  On  the  14th, 
before  the  fighting  began,  Napoleon,  with  his  son,  left  Metz  for 
Chalons  by  way  of  Verdun. 

Bazaine  made  the  great  mistake  of  not  carrying  out  with  suffi- 
cient energy  the  retreat  to  Verdun  and  Chalons,  which  had  already 
been  determined  upon  on  the  12th.  On  the  morning  of  the  14th 
the  order  to  march  was  given.  As  soon  as  the  advance  guard  of 
the  7th  Prussian  corps  perceived  this  retrograde  motion  on  the 
part  of  the  enemy;  supported  by  the  1st  army  corps,  which  had 
arrived  in  the  very  nick  of  time,  it  assumed  the  offensive  with  the 
object  of  delaying  the  purposed  retreat.  The  attack  was  directed 
against  part  of  the  4th  French  corps  (Ladmirault)  and  the  3d 
corps,  commanded  by  Decaen — who  had  taken  Bazaine' s  place — 
which  were  still  on  the  left  bank,  the  rest  of  the  army  having 
already  crossed  the  river.  The  battle  lasted  from  half-past  three 
in  the  afternoon  until  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  ending  in  the 
retreat  of  the  enemy  to  the  fortifications  of  Metz.  The  positions 
which  he  still  held  at  the  end  of  the  day  he  evacuated  during  the 
night,  withdrawing  altogether  behind  the  protecting  outer  forts. 
The  result  of  this  improvised  battle  was  such  a  delay  on  the  part 
of  the  French  that  two  days  later  the  Germans  were  able  effectu- 
ally to  bar  all  farther  attempts  at  retreat.  The  loss  on  the  Ger- 
man side  in  the  battle  of  Colombey-Nouilly  (Borny)  was  about 
5000,  including  222  officers,  while  the  French  lost  3408  men  and 
200  officers. 

Bazaine  did  not  yet  perceive  the  necessity  of  hastening  his 
retreat.  On  the  morning  of  the  16th  all  his  troops  were  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Moselle,  on  the  road  to  Verdun,  but  the  lack  of 
supplies  prevented  any  considerable  advance.  The  roads  were 

19 


434  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

completely  blocked  up  by  tbe  baggage-train,  and  that  part  of  the 
army  which  was  following  the  southern  road  from  Gravelotte  to 
Verdun  lay  encamped  on  tbe  plateau  of  Rezonviile  and  Vionville. 
In  this  position  it  was  attacked  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
the  16th  by  the  3d  Prussian  army  corps — the  Brandenburgers — 
under  General  von  Alvensleben  II.,  at  Vionville.  For  six  whole 
hours  this  corps,  assisted  by  two  cavalry  divisions  and  an  infantry 
brigade  from  the  10th,  sustained  the  struggle  against  three  French 
corps,  taking  the  villages  of  Vionville  and  Flavigny,  and  driving 
Frossard  back.  Somewhat  after  two  o'clock,  as  Canrobert  ad- 
vanced against  the  German  centre,  while  Lebceuf — commanding 
the  3d  corps  in  the  place  of  Decaen,  who  had  been  badly  wound- 
ed on  the  14th — attempted  to  turn  the  left  wing  of  the  Branden- 
burgers and  take  them  in  the  rear,  Alvensleben,  merely  to  gain 
time  until  re  -  enforcements  should  arrive,  despatched  Bredow's 
cavalry  brigade  against  Canrobert's  batteries  and  infantry.  The 
cuirassiers  and  uhlans  broke  through  the  hostile  ranks,  shattering 
them  so  completely  that  Canrobert's  advance  was  abandoned,  the 
French  being  convinced,  furthermore,  that  such  a  charge  would 
not  have  been  undertaken  unless  the  assaulting  party  had  a  large 
force  behind  it.  The  cavalry  who  had  participated  in  this  daring 
ride  into  death,  900  in  number,  were  so  terribly  cut  up  that  of 
six  squadrons  only  two  returned.  Soon  after  this  charge,  at  half- 
past  three  o'clock,  Prince  Frederic  Charles  arrived  upon  the  field 
and  assumed  the  command.  At  four  o'clock  the  Hanoverians 
began  to  come  up  on  the  left  wing.  The  two  corps  of  Leboeuf 
and  Ladmirault  made  a  new  effort  to  outflank  the  Germans,  and 
a  warm  action  on  the  heights  of  Bruville  ensued.  Again  a  caval- 
ry charge  was  resorted  to.  This  time  it  was  the  Guard  dragoons, 
under  Count  Brandenburg,  who  were  intrusted  with  the  task. 
They  broke  their  way  through  the  ranks  of  the  opposing  infan- 
try, but  themselves  lost  almost  all  their  officers  and  a  large  part 
of  their  men.  Then  followed  a  brilliant  cavalry  engagement  be- 
tween twelve  French  and  six  German  regiments,  in  which  the 
former  were  defeated,  relieving  the  left  wing  from  all  farther 
attack.  Bazaine  next  attempted  to  turn  the  right  wing ;  but  re- 
enforcements  arrived  from  the  8th  and  9th  corps,  and  the  enemy 
was  repulsed.  Late  on  the  same  evening  the  Germans  in  their 
turn  made  an  attack  with  infantry  and  artillery  on  the  French 
centre ;  but  Bazaine  had  planted  fifty -four  guns  there,  and  no 


BATTLE   OF  GRAVELOTTE.  435 

impression  could  be  made.  Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock,  after 
twelve  hours  of  hard  fighting,  darkness  put  an  end  to  the  battle. 
When  the  French  at  length  realized  the  German  plan  they  fonght 
with  desperate  valor  in  the  attempt  to  break  through,  but  the 
Brandenburgers  and  Hanoverians  on  their  part  maintained  their 
position  with  unwavering  fortitude  and  daring  courage.  The 
loss  on  the  side  of  the  Germans  was  711  officers  and  15,079  men, 
while  the  French  reckoned  their  losses  at  879  officers  and  16,128 
men.  The  number  of  Germans  who  took  part  in  this  battle — on 
the  whole  the  most  brilliant  of  the  war — was  60,000,  to  whom 
was  opposed  double  that  number  of  French. 

Even  now,  when  the  danger  of  being  shut  up  in  Metz  was  so 
imminent,  Bazaine  made  no  attempt  to  break  through  at  all  haz- 
ards, but  instead,  fearing  that  his  communications  with  the  for- 
tress might  be  broken,  drew  back  his  troops  toward  Metz,  and 
awaited  the  attack  of  the  enemy  in  a  position  rendered  strong 
both  by  nature  and  by  art.  On  the  right  wing,  at  St.  Privat, 
stood  Canrobert;  on  the  left,  at  St.  Hubert  and  Rozerieulles, 
Frossard ;  in  the  centre,  to  the  right,  at  Amanvillers,  Ladmirault ; 
to  the  left,  at  Leipzig  and  Moscou,  Lebceuf ;  while  the  Guard 
corps  was  stationed  behind  the  centre  as  a  reserve.  Before  these 
positions  on  the  morning  of  the  18th  stood  seven  German  army 
corps,  and  by  evening  they  were  joined  by  an  eighth,  the  Pomera- 
nian. Only  the  1st  corps  was  left  behind  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Moselle.  According  to  orders  from  head-quarters  the  Guards 
and  the  Saxons  were  to  operate  against  St.  Privat,  the  8th  and 
7th  corps  against  Rozerieulles,  and  the  9th,  in  the  centre,  against 
Amanvillers,  while  the  3d  and  10th,  which  had  been  roughly 
handled  at  Vionville,  formed  the  reserve.  The  enemy  was  to  be 
driven  out  of  all  his  positions,  forced  from  the  open  field  back 
to  the  guns  of  Metz  and  into  the  fortress  itself,  and  shut  up 
there.  This  was  Moltke's  plan  for  the  battle  of  Gravelottc,  the 
first  battle  in  the  war  in  which  a  pre-arranged  plan  was  actually 
carried  out.  King  William  assumed  the  chief  command  in  per- 
son. At  twelve  o'clock  the  battle  began.  The  9th  corps,  ad- 
vancing against  Ladmirault's  position  at  Amanvillers,  was  at- 
tacked on  the  right  and  left  by  Leboeuf  and  Canrobert,  but  suc- 
ceeded toward  evening  in  taking  the  foremost  heights,  and,  after 
the  capture  of  St.  Privat  had  laid  bare  his  right  wing,  forced  Lad- 
mirault to  abandon  his  position  and  retire  to  the  fortress.  On 


436  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

the  left  wing  the  Saxons  took  the  village  of  St.  Marie-aux-chenes, 
and  attempted  to  turn  Canrobert's  position,  for  the  purpose  of 
falling  upon  his  left  flank  simultaneously  with  the  attack  of  the 
Guards  in  front.  As  this  manoeuvre  consumed  more  time  than 
had  been  expected,  the  commander  of  the  Guards,  Prince  Augus- 
tus of  Wiirtemberg,  undertook  an  attack  in  front  without  wait- 
ing for  the  completion  of  the  flank  movement;  but  his  men  were 
exposed  to  such  a  deadly  fire  in  crossing  the  open  ground  before 
the  French  position,  that 'it  became  evident  that  the  assault  was 
premature,  and  after  suffering  terrible  losses  it  was  abandoned. 
Between  six  and  seven  the  Saxons  reached  the  desired  position, 
and  the  Guards  again  advanced  to  the  charge.  Attacked  on  two 
sides,  the  village  was  taken  at  seven  o'clock,  and  Canrobert's 
forces  driven  back  into  the  city.  On  the  right  wing  everything 
did  not  work  so  smoothly  as  could  have  been  desired.  After 
three  unsuccessful  attempts  the  little  hamlet  of  St.  Hubert  was 
finally  taken,  but  Rozerieulles  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
French ;  and  at  seven  o'clock  the  latter,  assuming  the  offensive, 
even  descended  into  the  ravine  and  attempted  to  scale  the 
heights  of  Gravelotte.  They  were  at  length  beaten  back  by  the 
artillery ;  and  the  Pomeranian  corps,  which  had  just  arrived  on 
the  field,  followed  up  the  advantage,  carrying  all  the  enemy's 
outlying  intrenchments.  As  darkness  fell,  Frossard  was  in  pos- 
session of  his  main  positions  only,  and  during  the  night  these 
also  were  evacuated. 

It  was  a  brilliant  victory,  and  followed  by  important  results. 
Bazaine's  army  was  shut  up  in  the  fortress  and  among  the  outly- 
ing forts,  and  rendered  unavailable  for  farther  service  in  the  field. 
The  losses  of  the  French  amounted  to  about  13,000  men,  includ- 
ing 600  officers;  the  German  loss  was  899  officers  and  19,260 
men,  of  whom  328  officers  and  4909  men  were  killed  outright. 
The  number  of  combatants  on  the  side  of  the  French  was  about 
140,000,  on  the  side  of  the  Germans  178,818,  the  former  having 
550,  and  the  latter  822  cannon.  It  must  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, that  the  French  occupied  a  position  very  much  of  the  nat- 
ure of  a  fortress,  which  had  to  be  carried  by  storm,  and  for  the 
most  part  without  any  protection  for  the  storming  parties. 

This  victory  was  scarcely  won  when  new  plans  were  developed 
by  the  strategists  at  German  head-quarters.  For  the  blockade  of 
Metz  a  siege  annv  was  formed,  under  the  command  of  Prince 


MACMAHON   ORDERED   TO   RELIEVE   METZ.  437 

Frederic  Charles,  consisting  of  seven  corps,  two  cavalry  divisions, 
Kummer's  reserve  division,  and  one  reserve  cavalry  brigade.  Gen- 
eral Steinmetz  was  relieved  of  his  command,  for  reasons  which  are 
not  yet  clearly  ascertained  (various  as  accounts  may  be  in  other 
respects,  they  yet  all  agree  in  assigning  essential  insubordination 
toward  Prince  Frederic  Charles  as  one  cause  of  his  removal),  and 
appointed  governor  of  Poscn.  The  Guard  corps,  the  Saxon  troops, 
the  4th  corps,  and  the  1st  and  2d  Bavarian  corps  were  formed 
into  a  new  army,  the  fourth  or  Maas  army,  the  command  of  which 
was  intrusted  to  Albert,  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony.  This  army  and 
that  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  were  to  carry  out  the  farther 
field  operations,  under  the  chief  command  of  King  William.  In 
the  mean  time  the  Prussian  crown  prince  had  been  joined  by  the 
6th  army  corps,  which  had  been  left  behind  in  Silesia  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  so  that  the  two  armies  together  consisted  of 
eight  and  a  half  army  corps  and  four  cavalry  divisions.  The 
immediate  objective  of  their  operations  was  MacMahon's  army 
at  Chalons.  This  had  been  raised  to  about  150,000  men,  and 
consisted  of  the  1st,  5th,  7th,  and  12th  corps — it  is  character- 
istic of  the  French  organization  at  that  time  that  the  9th,  10th, 
and  llth  did  not  exist — commanded  by  Generals  Ducrot,  Failly, 
Douay,  and  Lebrun.  Before  any  certain  information  had  been 
received  regarding  the  events  before  Metz  it  had  been  resolved 
in  a  council  of  war  that  the  emperor  should  at  once  return  to 
Paris  and  resume  the  government,  and  that  MacMahon  should 
follow  with  the  army.  The  empress  and  Count  Palikao  were 
strongly  opposed  to  the  execution  of  this  plan,  and  sent  word 
to  Chalons  that  the  emperor's  return  would  be  the  signal  for 
a  revolution  in  Paris.  According  to  them  the  army  was  more 
necessary  for  the  support  of  Bazaine  than  for  the  protection 
of  the  capital,  which  was  rendered  impregnable  by  its  forts. 
Although  MacMahon  did  not  share  this  view,  yet,  constantly 
urged  by  Palikao  to  go  to  the  relief  of  Metz,  he  set  out  on 
the  21st  of  August  from  Chalons  for  Rheims,  accompanied  by 
the  emperor,  who  in  this  whole  crisis  displayed  lamentable  ir- 
resolution, weakness,  and  general  inefficiency.  From  Rheims  he 
marched  on  the  24th  to  Rethel,  with  the  intention  of  crossing  the 
Maas  at  Stenay  and  there  forming  a  junction  with  Bazaine,  in 
case  the  latter  should  succeed  in  breaking  out.  If  the  attempt  to 
break  out  failed,  then  MacMahon  was  to  march  up  the  right  bank 


438  POLITICAL   11ISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

of  the  Maas  toward  Metz,  and  endeavor  to  release  him  from  tliL- 
iron  chain  in  which  he  was  bound.  This  plan,  for  which  Palikao 
was  responsible,  was  exceedingly  hazardous,  as  it  gave  the  two 
German  field  armies  an  opportunity  to  cut  off  his  communications 
and  drive  him  across  the  Belgian  frontier,  or  force  him  to  engage 
in  battle  against  superior  numbers.  For  its  execution,  in  which 
respect  it  resembled  Bazaine's  plan  of  retreat  from  Metz,  the  im- 
portant question  was  whether  he  could  reach  the  Maas  in  time  or 
not.  He  did  not  reach  it,  ascertaining  on  the  27th  that  Stenay 
was  already  occupied  by  the  Germans. 

August  24th,  as  soon  as  MacMahon's  departure  from  Chalons 
and  the  direction  of  his  march  became  known  in  German  head- 
quarters, the  third  and  fourth  armies  set  out  with  all  speed  for 
the  north,  the  latter  from  Verdun  and  the  former  from  Vitry,  far- 
ther to  the  south,  in  order  to  prevent  his  junction  with  Bazaine. 
The  plan  was  to  force  MacMahon's  army  up  toward  the  Bel- 
gian frontier,  surround  it  on  three  sides,  and  leave  him  no  other 
choice  than  either  to  lead  his  whole  army  into  Belgium  and  be 
disarmed,  or,  in  case  he  deemed  that  incompatible  with  his  mili- 
tary honor,  to  venture  a  battle  against  superior  numbers,  and  after 
an  honorable  struggle  surrender  with  all  his  forces.  The  Ger- 
mans hastened  forward  by  forced  marches,  the  fourth  army  on 
the  right,  the  third  on  the  left.  The  former  gained  Stenay  be- 
fore the  French,  rendering  the  passage  of  the  Maas  at  that  point 
impracticable.  On  the  27th  and  29th  there  was  fighting  at 
Buganzy,  Nouart,  and  Voncq,  and  on  the  30th  Failly's  corps  was 
surprised  at  Beaumont.  In  the  mean  time  the  Bavarians  in  the 
third  army  had  driven  in  Douay's  corps,  so  that  MacMahon  saw 
no  better  chance  of  escape  than  to  throw  himself  with  his  army 
into  the  neighboring  fortress  of  Sedan.  Here  he  occupied  the 
hills  which  shut  in  the  fortress  on  three  sides,  stationing  Lebrun's 
corps  on  the  right  wing,  at  Bazeilles ;  Douay  on  the  left,  at  Illy 
and  Floing;  Ducrot  in  the  centre,  at  Moncelle  and  Daigny ;  and 
Wimpffen  in  the  Garenne  forest,  as  reserve.  The  last-named  gen- 
eral had  been  appointed  in  place  of  General  Failly,  who  had  just 
been  removed  on  account  of  his  conduct  on  the  6th  of  August. 

August  31st  the  Germans  advanced  against  Sedan  in  order  to 
encircle  it  with  the  iron  ring  of  their  unyielding  troops.  The  at- 
tack on  the  east  side,  at  Bazeilles  and  Balan,  was  committed  to 
the  1st  Bavarian  corps,  supported  in  the  rear  by  the  4th  Prussian, 


BATTLE  OF  SEDAN.  439 

and  on  the  left  by  the  2d  Bavarian.  The  5th  and  llth  corps 
were  to  carry  the  positions  on  the  west  and  north-west,  while  the 
Saxons  and  the  Guards  were  to  advance  in  the  centre.  The  Wiir- 
temberg  division  was  detailed  to  watch  the  fortress  of  Mezieres 
and  render  any  assistance  from  that  side  impossible.  The  6th 
corps  was  stationed  farther  west,  at  Attigny,  in  order  to  block 
MacMahon's  way  in  case  he  escaped  westward.  The  battle  be- 
gan between  four  and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  September 
1st,  at  the  village  of  Bazeilles.  After  the  severest  fighting — the 
Marines,  probably  the  best  soldiers  in  the  French  army,  were  sta- 
tioned at  this  point  —  for  several  hours,  in  which  the  villagers 
themselves  took  part,  the  Bavarians,  supported  by  the  4th  corps, 
finally  took  the  place  by  storm.  At  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon Balan  was  also  taken,  and  toward  evening  the  Bavarians 
stood  before  the  gates  of  Sedan.  On  their  right  the  Saxons  and 
the  Guards  had  taken  the  villages  in  the  valley  and  stormed  the 
heights  on  the  other  side,  while  to  the  north-west  the  victors  of 
Weissenburg  and  Worth  had  captured  heights  and  villages,  and 
repulsed  numerous  charges  of  the  French  cavalry.  From  all 
sides  the  defeated  troops  flocked  into  the  narrow  space  between 
Sedan  and  the  forest  of  Garenne.  The  German  artillery,  com- 
manding the  whole  circle,  was  in  a  favorable  position  to  hurl 
death  and  destruction  into  this  despairing  mob  and  compel  an 
unconditional  surrender.  Sometime  after  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  bombshells  fell  into  the  town  and  set  some  houses  on 
fire,  and  each  moment  the  situation  of  the  French  troops  became 
more  untenable. 

At  length  the  emperor,  seeing  that  farther  resistance  was  hope- 
less, planted  a  flag  of  truce  on  the  walls  of  the  fortress  and  sent 
General  ,Reille  to  King  William  to  offer  him  his  sword.  The 
king  accepted  it,  on  condition  that  the  French  army  should  lay 
down  its  arms.  That  evening,  in  Donehery,  Bismarck  and  Moltke 
met  General  Wimpffen — who,  since  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
when  MacMahon  was  wounded  by  the  explosion  of  a  shell,  had 
held  the  chief  command — to  negotiate  regarding  the  capitulation. 
On  the  following  morning  Napoleon  had  a  meeting  with  Bismarck 
at  the  same  place,  in  the  hope  of  securing  better  conditions.  The 
capitulation  was  finally  concluded  in  the  course  of  the  morning 
of  the  2d.  At  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  took 
place  the  meeting  between  Napoleon  and  King  William,  and  on 


440  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  KECEXT  TIMES. 

the  following  day  Napoleon  set  out  as  prisoner  of  war  for  the 
palace  of  Wilhelmshohe,  near  Cassel.  The  trophies  of  the  victory 
consisted  of  one  eagle,  two  colors,  419  field  guns  and  mitrailleuses, 
139  pieces  of  fortification  ordnance,  1072  wheeled  vehicles  of  all 
sorts,  66,000  stand  of  arms,  6000  serviceable  horses,  83,000  pris- 
oners from  the  capitulation  (including  Marshal  MacMahon,  forty 
generals,  230  staff  officers,  and  2595  officers  of  the  line),  21,000 
unwounded  prisoners  taken  in  the  battle,  and — as  the  telegraph 
reported  —  one  emperor.  Fourteen  thousand  French  had  been 
wounded  in  the  battle,  3000  killed,  and  3000  had  escaped  to 
Belgium  and  been  disarmed.  Accordingly,  the  whole  strength 
of  MacMahon's  army,  which  had  thus  been  utterly  annihilated, 
was  124,000  men.-^  The  prisoners  were  transported  to  Germany, 
and  placed  under  military  guard  at  various  places.  The  officers 
were  allowed  to  return  to  France  on  giving  a  written  promise  not 
to  serve  against  Germany  during  the  remainder  of  the  war.  Five 
hundred  officers  signed  such  a  pledge ;  but  all  did  not  keep  their 
word,  some,  like  Generals  Ducrot  and  Cambriels,  escaping  on  the 
way.  The  German  loss  in  dead  and  wounded  was  460  officers 
and  8500  men. 

The  rejoicing  of  the  German  army  was  unbounded.  Nothing 
seemed  any  longer  impossible.  In  every  corner  of  Germany 
there  was  a  mighty  outburst  of  enthusiasm  when  the  telegraph 
brought  the  news,  "  Emperor  and  army  taken,"  and  the  con- 
fidence in  the  ability  of  the  German  leaders  was  unlimited.  For- 
eign countries  were  filled  with  astonishment,  and  those  which 
had  had  some  thought  of  taking  part  in  the  war  now  became  as 
peaceful  as  though  they  themselves  had  met  with  a  Sedan.  Sep- 
tember 2d  King  William  made  the  round  of  his  troops,  and  the 
unanimous  cry  of  the  soldiers  was,  "To  Paris!"  An  hour  after 
the  conclusion  of  the  capitulation,  on  the  self-same  day,  the  order 
to  march  was  given.  On  the  3d  the  troops  set  forward ;  and  on 
the  19th  six  and  a  half  army  corps  and  three  divisions  of  cav- 
alry, numbering  in  all  122,661  infantry  and  24,325  cavalry,  with 
61'.!  Lruns,  stood  before  the  French  capital.  This  army  was  not 
large  enough  to  blockade  such  an  enormous  city,  and  at  the  same 
time  repulse  any  relief  armies  which  might  be  formed,  and  ac- 
cordingly in  the  next  few  weeks  the  two  corps  which  had  been 
left  behind  at  Sedan — the  17th  infantry  division,  under  the  Grand- 
duke  of  Mecklenburg,  and  a  gardelandwehr  division — were  also 


FALL   OF   THE   EMPIRE.  441 

brought  up ;  so  that  on  the  21st  of  October  the  total  strength  of 
the  blockading  army  was  nine  and  a  half  corps  and  four  divisions 
of  cavalry,  numbering  in  all  202,030  infantry  and  33,794  cavalry, 
with  898  guns.  The  third  army,  under  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Prussia,  guarded  the  southern  half-circle ;  and  the  fourth  army, 
under  the  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony,  the  northern,  the  lines  of 
each  extending  from  the  Marne  to  the  Seine.  Only  one  mishap 
occurred  on  the  road  to  Paris.  On  the  9th  of  September,  after 
the  capitulation  had  been  signed,  the  citadel  of  Laon  was  blown 
into  the  air  by  a  French  non-commissioned  officer,  with  the  result 
that  100  Germans  and  400  French  were  killed  or  wounded. 

On  their  arrival  before  Paris  the  German  armies  found  the 
imperial  government  already  overthrown,  to  the  inevitable  pro- 
traction of  the  war.  Palikao's  ministry  had  kept  the  chambers 
and  the  people  in  complete  ignorance  in  regard  to  the  fighting 
before  Metz  and  its  results,  for  weeks  maintaining  themselves  on 
lies ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  3d  of  September,  when  all  the  for- 
eign papers  were  full  of  Sedan,  that  they  found  themselves  com- 
pelled, both  in  the  chambers  and  in  a  proclamation  to  the  people, 
to  acknowledge  that  Bazaine  had  been  defeated  and  shut  up  in 
Metz,  MacMahon's  army  had  capitulated  at  Sedan,  and  the  emper- 
or was  a  prisoner.  Jules  Favre,  in  the  lower  house,  at  once  moved 
the  deposition  of  Napoleon  and  his  dynasty,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  provisional  government.  The  ministry,  on  the  other 
hand,  asked  for  the  formation  of  a  committee  of  government  and 
defence,  consisting  of  five  members,  and  the  appointment  of  Pali- 
kao  as  governor -general.  These  measures  were  to  come  to  a 
discussion  in  the  sitting  of  September  4th,  at  five  P.M.  ;  but,  as 
on  the  24th  of  February,  1848,  at  the  time  appointed  the  hall 
was  full  of  working-men  and  soldiers  demanding  the  deposition 
of  the  emperor  and  the  proclamation  of  a  republic.  Ill  at  ease 
in  such  a  company  as  this,  the  ministers  and  the  members  of  the 
Right  hurried  off.  Gambctta  proclaimed  the  Napoleon  family 
dethroned  in  perpetuity.  Then  arose  a  general  cry,  "  To  the  City 
Hall !"  and,  escorted  by  thousands,  the  members  of  the  Left  made 
their  way  thither.  The  empress  had  fled  from  the  Tuileries  at 
one  o'clock  on  the  same  day.  She  reached  in  safety  the  little 
coast  town  of  Deanville,  and  on  the  9th  of  September  was  landed 
on  the  English  coast.  There  she  met  her  son,  who  had  parted 
from  his  father  on  the  way  from  Chalons  to  Sedan  and  journeyed 

19* 


442  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

to  England  by  way  of  Belgium.  Both  of  them  took  up  their 
residence  at  Chislehurst,  in  the  neighborhood  of  London,  where 
they  were  joined  by  Napoleon  on  the  20th  of  March,  1871,  after 
the  close  of  the  war ;  and  there  the  ex-emperor  died,  on  the  9th 
of  January,  1873. 

The  provisional  government  in  the  City  Hall  assumed  the  offi- 
cial title  of  "  The  Government  of  National  Defence."  It  had  been 
set  up  by  the  radical  delegates  representing  the  city  of  Paris,  and 
its  members  were  chosen  wholly  from  their  number.  The  names 
of  the  eleven  members  of  this  government  were:  Favre,  Gambetta, 
Simon,  Picard,  Pelletan,  Cremieux,  Ferry,  Glais-Bizoin,  Emanuel 
Arago,  Gamier-Pages,  and  Rochefort.  To  his  honor  Thiers,  who 
had  been  offered  a  seat  in  this  body,  declined.  General  Trochu 
was  named  president,  and  at  the  same  time  governor-general  of 
the  capital.  Favre  was  vice-president  and  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  and  Gambetta  was  minister  of  the  interior.  It  could  not 
be  regarded  as  a  legal  government,  with  which  negotiations  might 
be  opened  and  treaties  concluded,  inasmuch  as  it  had  been  chosen 
by  the  Parisians  only,  and  hence  represented  the  capital,  and  not 
the  French  people  at  large.  Elections  for  a  constitutional  assem- 
bly, which  could  have  given  this  government  its  sanction  or  a 
successor,  were  ordered  for  October ;  but  the  government  was  not 
in  earnest  in  its  endeavors  to  bring  together  such  a  body,  nor 
were  the  times  propitious.  "  The  Government  of  National  De- 
fence" was  merely  de  facto,  exercising  a  sort  of  dictatorship. 
Proclamations  and  decrees  were  issued  ad  libitum.  The  republic 
was  formally  proclaimed,  the  lower  house  dissolved,  and  the  sen- 
ate abolished.  The  Germans  still  remaining  in  Paris  were  com- 
pelled to  leave  under  penalty  of  martial  law.  Measures  were 
taken  for  fortifying  and  provisioning  the  city  and  calling  new 
forces  into  the  field.  In  consequence  of  the  enormous  influx  of 
fugitives,  the  population  rose  to  about  2,400,000.  Outside  of 
the  city  walls  were  fifteen  forts,  as  well  as  defences  of  other  de- 
scriptions, which  were  in  part  provided  with  heavy  marine  ord- 
nance. The  line  of  defence  had  a  circuit  of  about  thirty  miles, 
and  the  army  defending  that  line  numbered  more  than  400,000 
men.  The  two  corps  of  Generals  Vinoy  and  Renault,  numbering 
about  60,000,  together  with  18,000  marines,  formed  the  core  of 
the  Parisian  army.  The  remainder  consisted  of  100,000  soldiers 
of  the  garde  mobile  from  the  neighboring  departments  and  30,000 


GAMBETTA  AND  THE  GOVERNMENT  IN  TOURS.         443 

from  Paris,  with  200,000  or  more  national  guards  from  the  capi- 
tal, all  of  whom  were  of  very  doubtful  value.  In  comparison  with 
King  William's  thoroughly  disciplined  troops,  they  were  nothing 
more  than  a  street  mob.  But  everything  connected  with  the  de- 
fence was  on  such  a  colossal  scale  that  a  siege  of  the  most  ardu- 
ous and  tedious  description  was  to  be  expected.  Notwithstanding 
the  enormous  number  of  inhabitants,  there  was  a  sufficient  supply 
of  provisions  for  more  than  four  months,  and  not  for  six  or  eight 
weeks  only,  as  had  been  at  first  supposed  at  German  head-quarters. 
To  take  so  well-fortified  a  city  by  storm  would  have  been  a 
most  arduous  enterprise  even  for  a  far  more  numerous  army  than 
that  of  the  Germans.  The  opening  of  an  energetic  bombardment 
required  a  park  of  about  300  siege-guns,  with  the  necessary  am- 
munition ;  and  as  the  railroads,  which  had  considerable  difficulties 
of  one  sort  and  another  to  contend  with,  were  fully  occupied  with 
the  transport  of  additional  forces  and  provisions,  this  could  not 
be  set  in  place  before  the  end  of  the  year.  Consequently  there 
was  no  other  course  than  to  surround  the  city,  completely  cutting 
off  all  communication  with  the  outside  world,  and  reducing  it  to 
a  state  of  isolation.  Paris  must  be  cast  on  its  own  resources  for 
defence  and  provisions.  It  soon  became  evident  that  there  would 
be  two  modes  of  opposition  to  be  encountered  in  the  execution 
of  this  plan  :  first,  sallies  of  the  Parisians  for  the  purpose  of  driv- 
ing back  the  besiegers,  breaking  through  their  lines,  and  operating 
in  their  rear ;  and  secondly,  the  formation  of  provincial  armies, 
which  were  to  advance  to  the  relief  of  the  city,  and,  in  concert 
with  the  Parisian  garrison,  compel  the  Germans  to  raise  the  siege. 
The  latter  mode  of  opposition  was  essentially  the  work  of  Gam- 
betta,  who  on  the  6th  of  October  left  Paris  in  a  balloon  for  Tours, 
where  he  set  up  an  outside  government,  assumed  the  direction  of 
the  war  department  in  addition  to  that  of  the  interior,  and  at  last 
exercised  a  provisional  dictatorship.  He  made  every  effort  to 
arouse  the  national  hatred  against  the  Germans  and  array  under 
the  French  banner  for  the  defence  of  their  country  all  who  were 
capable  of  bearing  arms.  Under  his  direction  large  forces  were 
collected  on  the  Loire  and  to  the  north  and  west  of  Paris,  and 
finally  the  communications  of  the  besiegers  with  Germany  were 
threatened.  To  him,  therefore,  was  due  the  prolongation  of  the 
war ;  and  on  him  also  rests  the  responsibility  for  the  more  bloody 
character  which  it  now  assumed,  and  the  severer  nature  of  the 


444  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

wounds  inflicted  on  liis  country.  Nothing  more  than  this  could 
be  achieved,  for  his  generals  were  no  match  for  Moltke's  strategy, 
and  their  soldiers  were  scarcely  better  disciplined  than  the  garde 
mobile  in  Paris. 

By  the  5th  of  October  King  William's  head-quarters  were  in 
Versailles,  but  before  that  time  some  important  diplomatic  docu- 
ments had  been  already  written,  and  some  oral  negotiations  had 
taken  place.  In  a  circular  note  of  September  6th  Favre  claimed 
that  since  the  overthrow  of  the  empire  the  King  of  Prussia  had 
no  reason  for  the  continuation  of  hostilities,  inasmuch  as  the  pres- 
ent government  had  not  been  in  favor  of  the  war.  At  the  same 
time  he  announced  that  if  war  were  forced  upon  them  he  and  his 
colleagues  would  not  prove  remiss  in  its  prosecution ;  they  would 
throw  the  whole  responsibility  for  its  continuance  upon  the  King 
of  Prussia;  but,  whatever  might  be  the  result,  not  a  single  foot  of 
land  nor  so  much  as  a  solitary  stone  of  a  French  fortress  should 
be  surrendered  to  the  Germans.  To  this  document  Bismarck  re- 
plied, in  his  circular  note  of  September  13th,  that  since  senate, 
popular  representatives,  and  Press  had  almost  unanimously  pro- 
nounced in  favor  of  the  war,  it  could  not  be  claimed  that  the 
country  had  not  wished  it,  and  that  only  the  imperial  government 
was  responsible.  Furthermore,  Germany  must  expect  a  war  of 
revenge  on  the  part  of  France,  even  if  she  exacted  no  cession  of 
territory  and  levied  no  money  indemnity,  contenting  herself  mere- 
ly with  the  glory  she  had  won ;  this  being  the  case,  she  must 
consider  her  own  security,  and,  by  strengthening  her  boundaries 
on  the  side  toward  France,  seek  to  render  more  difficult  the  next 
French  Attack  on  Germany,  and  especially  on  the  hitherto  unpro- 
tected south  German  frontier.  As  the  neutral  powers,  with  the 
exception  of  Russia,  took  part  with  France,  and  seemed  inclined 
to  interfere  in  any  negotiations  for  peace  which  might  be  opened 
between  the  two  belligerents  in  order  to  shield  France  from  all 
oppressive  conditions,  and  as  Thiers  was  at  that  very  time  mak- 
ing his  European  tour  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  result, 
Bismarck  issued  a  second  circular  note  on  the  16th  of  September, 
in  which  he  recommended  the  powers  not  to  prolong  the  war  by 
cherishing  among  the  French  people  any  hope  of  intervention, 
since  Germany  had  conducted  the  war  alone  and  would  alone  settle 
the  terms  of  peace  regardless  of  any  attempted  intervention,  from 
whatsoever  source.  It  was  the  fixed  determination  of  the  German 


VAIN   NEGOTIATIONS  FOB  A  TRUCE.  445 

governments  and  German  people,  lie  said,  to  protect  Germany 
against  French  attacks  by  better  boundaries,  and  the  fortresses  of 
Metz  and  Strasburg,  which  in  French  hands  had  been  gates  of  in- 
vasion constantly  open  toward  Germany,  must  come  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  latter,  a  transfer  through  which  they  would  acquire 
a  purely  defensive  character. 

The  Parisian  government,  which  since  the  annihilation  of  the 
French  armies  had  been  so  ardent  an  advocate  and  admirer  of 
poace,  was  desirous  first  of  all  to  ascertain  under  what  conditions 
King  William  would  consent  to  a  suspension  of  hostilities.  With 
this  object  Favre  requested  an  interview  with  Bismarck,  and  held 
several  conversations  with  him  at  Ferrieres  on  the  19th  and  21st 
of  September.  In  these  conversations  Favre  asserted  that  the 
most  to  which  France  could  consent  was  the  payment  of  a  war 
indemnity,  and  that  it  could  never  agree  to  a  cession  of  territory. 
For  the  decision  of  this  matter  it  was  necessary  to  elect  a  national 
assembly,  by  which  a  regular  government  might  be  set  up,  and  for 
the  election  of  this  assembly  a  truce  of  fourteen  to  twenty-one 
days  was  requisite,  and  such  a  truce  France  accordingly  requested. 
Bismarck  replied  that  a  truce  was  not  to  the  interest  of  Germany 
from  a  military  point  of  view,  and  could,  therefore,  be  granted 
only  on  consideration  of  the  surrender  of  the  fortresses  of  Stras- 
burg, Toul,  and  Bitsch.  As  the  Parisian  government  would  not 
consent  to  these  conditions,  the  negotiations  were  broken  off,  and 
Favre  and  the  other  French  diplomats  complained  in  new  circu- 
lar notes  of  the  intention  of  Prussia  to  reduce  France  to  the  con- 
dition of  a  second-rate  power.  The  absurdity  and  falsity  of  the 
assumption  that  a  country  with  38,000,000  inhabitants,  or,  in- 
cluding Algeria,  42,000,000,  could  be  reduced  to  the  condition  of 
a  second-rate  power  by  the  cession  of  territory  containing  about 
one  and  a  half  million,  was  clearly  brought  out  by  Bismarck  in 
his  despatch  of  October  1st.  A  few  weeks  later  negotiations  were 
resumed,  and  this  time  Thiers,  now  returned  from  his  tour  of  the 
European  courts,  appeared  in  Versailles  (November  1st)  as  nego- 
tiator. Again  the  question  at  issue  was  a  suspension  of  hostili- 
ties, to  afford  an  opportunity  for  the  holding  of  the  much-talked- 
of  elections.  Not  only  would  Gambetta  have  used  this  respite  of 
about  four  weeks  for  the  collection  of  new  forces,  Thiers  even 
demanded  permission  to  provision  Paris  unmolested ;  and  when 
Bismarck  in  astonishment  asked  what  France  offered  in  return  for 


446  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

all  these  concessions,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  answer — nothing.  Of 
course  this  brought  the  negotiations  to  an  end.  The  republican 
government  was  childishly  defiant,  the  victim  of  a  sort  of  crazy 
sense  of  its  own  importance.  In  every  war  where  France  had 
been  the  victor  she  had  imposed  hard  conditions  on  her  van- 
quished foes,  never  omitting  to  exact  a  cession  of  territory.  Quite 
recently,  in  the  Italian  war  of  1859,  after  the  victories  of  Magenta 
and  Solferino,  she  had  exacted  from  Austria  the  cession  of  Lom- 
bardy,  and  no  reasonable  human  being  in  all  Europe  doubted 
that,  in  case  France  had  come  out  victor  in  the  present  war,  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine  would  have  been  lost  to  Germany.  Yet 
France  had  the  impertinence  to  demand  from  the  foe,  so  much  of 
whose  territory  she  had  in  former  centuries  appropriated,  and 
whom  she  had  intended  in  the  present  war  to  rob  of  her  finest 
provinces,  that  she  should  respect  the  French  boundaries  in  their 
full  extent,  regard  French  territory  as  sacred  and  inviolable,  and 
not  attempt  to  win  back  even  those  provinces  which  had  origi- 
nally been  German.  Such  arrogant  pretensions  could  be  answered 
only  by  new  defeats.  The  humiliation  must  be  still  more  severe, 
and  Paris  must  have  a  still  more  bitter  taste  of  need  before  France 
could  learn  that  every  people,  even  the  French,  must  pay  the  pen- 
alty of  its  sins. 

It  was  again  necessary  to  resort  to  arguments  from  the  can- 
non's mouth,  and  both  at  Paris  and  at  other  points  the  iron  con- 
troversy at  once  commenced.  On  the  first  day  of  the  investment, 
September  19th,  the  Parisians,  numbering  about  40,000  men,  made 
a  sortie  on  the  side  toward  Chatillon,  but  were  repulsed  by  Prus- 
sian and  Bavarian  troops,  and  returned  to  Paris  in  disgraceful 
flight.  The  sallies  on  the  30th  of  September  and  the  13th  and 
21st  of  October  met  with  no  better  success.  October  28th  the 
French  succeeded  in  taking  the  feebly  garrisoned  village  of  Le 
Bourget,  to  the  north  of  Paris;  but  on  the  30th  they  were  dis- 
lodged from  this  position  by  a  division  of  the  Guards.  In  Paris 
great  dissatisfaction  prevailed  in  consequence  of  these  constant 
defeats.  Taking  advantage  of  this  for  the  purpose  of  overthrow- 
ing the  government  and  establishing  the  Commune,  the  social- 
democrats  effected  an  uprising  on  the  31st  of  October  and  1st 
of  November,  and  for  a  few  hours  held  possession  of  the  City 
Hall.  Rochefort  was  so  seriously  compromised  in  this  matter 
that  he  had  to  withdraw  from  the  government.  The  Parisians 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  LOIRE.  447 

now  rested  all  their  hopes  on  the  armies  of  relief  whieli  had  been 
formed  outside,  and  passed  a  few  weeks  in  quiet,  awaiting  their 
action.  The  first  attempt  to  relieve  the  capital  was  made  from 
the  side  of  the  Loire,  where  an  army  corps  assembled  under  the 
command  of  General  de  la  Motterouge,  and  began  an  advance 
from  Orleans  toward  Paris.  The  1st  Bavarian  corps,  under  Gen- 
eral von  der  Tann,  Wittich's  infantry  division,  and  two  cavalry 
divisions  were  sent  out  to  meet  them.  On  the  10th  and  llth  of 
October  the  French  were  beaten  at  Artenay  and  other  places,  and 
driven  back  across  the  Loire;  and  on  the  evening  of  the  llth  von 
der  Tann  entered  Orleans.  Leaving  the  Bavarians  to  hold  that 
city,  the  remaining  troops  were  employed  to  capture  Chateaudun, 
Chartres,  and  Dreux,  to  the  north-west  of  Orleans,  and  put  to 
flight  the  parties  of  garde  mobile  and  franctireurs  which  they 
there  encountered.  Gambetta,  who  had  joined  to  himself  M.  de 
Freycinet,  formerly  a  mining  engineer,  as  a  sort  of  adviser  in  mili- 
tary matters,  called  out  all  the  men  between  the  ages  of  twenty- 
five  and  forty,  organized  five  new  army  corps,  and  established 
special  drill  camps  for  the  instruction  of  the  new  recruits.  After 
the  defeat  at  Orleans  General  de  la  Motterouge  was  removed,  and 
General  Aurelle  de  Paladines  appointed  in  his  place.  The  new 
general  crossed  the  Loire  with  two  corps,  and  directed  his  march 
toward  the  road  leading  from  Paris  to  Orleans,  with  the  intention 
of  severing  the  communications  of  the  Bavarian  general.  On  the 
first  news  of  this  mano3uvre  von  der  Tann  abandoned  Orleans, 
leaving  his  sick  behind  him,  and  set  out  for  Paris.  After  an  ob- 
stinate engagement  with  the  enemy  at  Coulmiers,  on  his  retreat, 
November  9th,  he  finally  took  up  a  position  at  Toury,  thus  block- 
ing the  road  to  Paris.  Another  infantry  division  was  sent  from 
Versailles  to  von  der  Tann's  assistance,  and  the  united  forces 
placed  under  the  command  of  the  Grand-duke  of  Mecklenburg. 
Notwithstanding  all  Gambetta's  urgency,  General  Aurelle  with  his 
poorly  equipped  troops,  now  numbering  four  corps,  would  not 
venture  an  attack  upon  this  force,  to  whose  assistance,  further- 
more, Prince  Frederic  Charles,  with  three  additional  corps,  was 
hastening  by  forced  marches.  He  accordingly  intrenched  him- 
self before  Orleans,  and  awaited  the  attack  of  the  Germans  there. 
This  sealed  the  fate  of  his  troops,  and  freed  the  army  of  invest- 
ment before  Paris  from  all  farther  danger  on  that  side. 

In  the  mean  time  great  successes  had  been  achieved  in  the 


448  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

east — successes  important  partly  for  themselves,  and  partly  be- 
cause of  the  possibility  they  afforded  of  new  and  more  extensive 
operations.  The  fortress  of  Toul  capitulated  on  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember, opening  the  railroad  between  Strasburg  and  Paris.  The 
capitulation  of  Strasburg,  the  ancient  German  imperial  city,  took 
place  on  the  28th  of  September.  As  a  bombardment  lasting 
from  the  24th  to  the  27th  of  August  had  not  induced  General 
Ulirich  to  surrender,  it  became  necessary  to  besiege  the  city  in 
regular  form.  Everything  was  ready  for  a  general  assault,  the 
result  of  which  seemed  certain,  when  the  commandant  finally 
yielded,  surrendering  himself,  451  officers,  and  17,111  men  as 
prisoners  of  war.  The  news  that  the  city  which  had  been  ac- 
quired by  shameful  treachery  on  the  20th  of  September,  1681, 
was  once  more  German,  was  received  with  enthusiastic  rejoic- 
ings. From  a  military  point  of  view  the  capture  of  Metz  was  far 
more  important  than  that  of  Strasburg.  There  lay  the  "Army 
of  the  Rhine,"  under  Marshal  Bazainc,  closely  shut  in  by  Prince 
Frederic  Charles.  Like  General  Trochu  in  Paris,  Bazaine  made 
several  attempts  to  break  out,  but  with  no  better  success.  The 
most  important  attempt  was  that  of  the  31st  of  August  and  1st 
of  September,  which  led  to  the  battle  of  Noisseville.  Informed 
of  MacMahon's  advance  toward  the  Maas,  Bazaine  endeavored  to 
break  out  and  form  a  junction  with  him,  but  after  an  obstinate 
fight  his  troops  were  driven  back  into  their  position  between  the 
forts.  The  later  attempts,  on  the  22d  and  27th  of  September, 
and  the  2d  and  7th  of  October,  were  little  more  than  sallies  for 
the  purpose  of  employing  the  troops  and  procuring  food  and 
forage.  On  learning  of  the  catastrophe  of  Sedan  and  the  fall 
of  the  empire,  Bazaine  resolved  to  hold  out  until  the  conclusion 
of  peace,  which  he  supposed  to  be  close  at  hand,  in  the  belief 
that,  at  the  head  of  the  only  regular  army  left  in  France,  he 
would  be  able  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  reorganization 
which  must  of  necessity  ensue.  But  the  republican  leaders 
showed  themselves  in  no  hurry  to  conclude  a  peace,  and  the  pro- 
visions, which  had  been  intended  for  a  garrison  of  twenty  or 
thirty  thousand,  and  not  for  an  army  of  almost  200,000,  were 
soon  exhausted.  Through  his  adjutant,  General  Boyer,  Bazaine 
at  length  opened  negotiations  with  Bismarck  in  Versailles,  and 
offered  (October  14th)  to  capitulate  for  himself  and  his  army, 
but  not  for  the  fortress  and  the  garrison.  This  proposal  was 


THE  FALL  OP  METZ.  449 

naturally  rejected,  and  the  surrender  of  the  whole  force  insisted 
on.  On  the  24th  of  October  the  last  rations  of  bread  were  dis- 
tributed, and  on  the  25th  Bazaine  opened  negotiations  with 
Prince  Frederic  Charles.  An  agreement  was  reached  on  the 
27th,  and  a  French  council  of  war  accepted  the  terms  on  the 
following  day.  On  the  29th  the  city  and  the  forts  were  sur- 
rendered to  the  German  troops.  Three  marshals — Bazaine,  Can- 
robert,  and  Leboeuf — 6000  officers,  and  about  173,000  men,  in- 
cluding the  National  Guards  and  the  sick,  were  made  prisoners 
of  war;  fifty-three  eagles  and  colors,  541  field-pieces,  66  mitrail- 
leuses, 800  stationary  guns,  about  300,000  stand  of  arms,  and 
other  stores,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  history  of 
war  contains  no  similar  capitulation.  The  King  of  Prussia  at 
once  named  the  crown  prince  and  Prince  Frederic  Charles  field- 
marshals-general,  a  dignity  never  enjoyed  before  by  any  prince 
of  the  Prussian  royal  house.  In  recognition  of  his  services 
Moltke  was  at  the  same  time  raised  to  the  rank  of  count,  while 
a  general  order  of  congratulation  was  issued  to  the  allied  German 
armies. 

The  most  important  result  of  this  capitulation  was,  that  it  set 
the  army  of  investment  free  for  use  where  its  presence  was  most 
urgently  required.  The  2d  corps,  under  General  Fransecky, 
marched  to  Paris  to  re-enforce  the  army  of  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Prussia.  Of  the  remaining  six  corps  two  armies  were  formed, 
the  first  under  General  Manteuffel,  and  the  second  under  Prince 
Frederic  Charles,  each  consisting  of  three  corps,  with  one  cavalry 
division.  On  the  2d  of  November  Prince  Frederic  Charles  set 
out  from  Metz  with  49,607  infantry,  5000  cavalry,  and  276  guns; 
and  on  the  14th  his  advance  guard  was  able  to  participate  in  the 
actions  on  the  Loire.  The  Grand-duke  of  Mecklenburg's  troops, 
some  detachments  of  which  had  in  the  mean  time  driven  back 
the  western  army,  under  Count  Keratry,  and  occupied  Dreux  and 
Chateauneuf,  united  with  those  of  the  prince  and  formed  his 
right  wing.  The  army  to  which  was  assigned  the  task  of  dis- 
lodging General  Aurelle  de  Paladines  and  his  200,000  men  from 
their  well-fortified  position  and  driving  them  across  the  Loire, 
numbered  altogether  105,275  men,  with  556  guns.  Gambetta, 
looking  at  the  relative  numbers  rather  than  the  quality  of  the 
respective  armies,  was  hopeful  of  victory,  and  incessantly  urged 
Aurelle  to  assume  the  offensive.  In  concert  with  the  aggressive 


450  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

movement  of  the  army  of  the  Loire,  on  the  30th  of  November  a 
sortie  on  a  grand  scale  was  to  be  undertaken  by  the  Parisian  gar- 
rison. Accordingly,  unsuccessful  attacks  were  made  on  the  Ger- 
man left  wing  on  the  24th  and  28th,  and  on  the  2d  of  Decem- 
ber a  similarly  unsuccessful  attack  was  made  on  the  right  wing. 
December  3d  Prince  Frederic  Charles  assumed  the  offensive,  and 
drove  back  the  enemy  in  a  general  assault.  On  the  4th  he  con- 
tinued the  attack,  taking  the  railroad  station  and  the  suburbs  of 
Orleans  by  storm ;  and  at  midnight  the  Grand-duke  of  Mecklen- 
burg marched  into  the  city,  part  of  the  French  army  retreating 
up  the  Loire,  and  part  down  the  same  stream.  More  than  12,000 
prisoners  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans,  as  well  as  sixty 
cannon  and  four  gun-boats.  Gambetta,  dissatisfied  with  Aurelle's 
generalship,  removed  him  from  the  command,  and  divided  the 
army  of  the  Loire  into  two  parts,  which  were  to  act  separately 
or  in  concert,  according  as  circumstances  might  dictate.  Of  these 
the  first  army  of  the  Loire,  consisting  of  three  corps,  was  station- 
ed at  Nevers,  under  the  command  of  General  Bourbaki ;  while  the 
second,  consisting  of  three  and  a  half  corps,  and  commanded  by 
General  Chanzy,  was  at  Blois. 

A  detachment  sent  down  the  Loire  in  pursuit  of  Chanzy  occu- 
pied Meung,  Beaugency,  Blois,  and  the  chateau  Chambord,  taking 
more  than  7000  prisoners,  and  capturing  several  cannon.  The 
government  at  Tours,  deeming  itself  no  longer  safe  in  that  city, 
removed  to  Bordeaux  on  the  10th  of  December.  General  Chan- 
zy retreated  to  Venddme,  and  from  there  still  farther  westward,  to 
Le  Mans.  Leaving  one  corps  in  Vendome  to  watch  Chanzy,  the 
prince,  toward  the  end  of  December,  allowed  the  rest  of  his  troops 
to  go  into  quarters  at  Orleans,  in  order  to  afford  them  an  oppor- 
tunity to  refresh  themselves  and  repair  their  outfit.  January  6th, 
1871,  in  accordance  with  orders  from  Versailles,  with  a  force  of 
57,000  infantry,  15,000  cavalry,  and  318  guns,  he  again  took  the 
field  against  Cbanzy.  The  latter  had  spent  the  intervening  time 
in  camp  at  Le  Mans.  Where  Bourbaki's  army  stood  and  what 
its  purpose  was — whether  it  would  march  toward  Le  Mans  to 
support  Chanzy,  or  advance  on  Paris  by  way  of  Fontainebleau, 
or  be  ordered  off  to  the  east  for  the  defence  of  Belfort — no  one 
knew.  To  be  prepared  for  all  contingencies,  the  Hessian  division 
remained  behind  at  Orleans;  Gien  and  Blois  were  occupied;  the 
2d  corps,  under  Fransecky.  took  up  a  position  at  Montargis  and 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  NORTH.  451 

to  the  cast  of  that  place ;  and  the  7th  corps,  under  Zaskrow,  was 
stationed  at  Auxerre.  The  prince's  inarch  through  the  Perche  was 
rendered  exceedingly  difficult  by  frost,  snow,  and  thaws.  Fight- 
ing their  way  step  by  step,  the  Germans  advanced  against  Le 
Mans  along  three  different  roads.  As  they  were  on  the  very 
point  of  cutting  off  Chanzy's  line  of  retreat,  he  hastily  withdrew 
to  Laval  and  Mayenne  on  the  morning  of  January  12th,  and  the 
same  evening  the  Hanoverians  entered  Le  Mans.  Taking  up  his 
head-quarters  in  that  city,  the  prince  sent  out  detachments  to 
pursue  the  foe  toward  Laval  and  Mayenne.  The  empty  camp  of 
Conlie  was  also  occupied,  and  large  stores  taken.  On  the  19th 
detachments  of  the  German  army  entered  Tours.  The  Grand- 
duke  of  Mecklenburg,  with  the  13th  corps,  marched  to  Rouen  by 
way  of  AlenQon,  in  order  to  give  the  German  northern  army  an 
opportunity  to  force  a  decisive  action  on  the  part  of  the  French. 
For  the  present  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  feared  from  Chan- 
zy,  who  had  retreated  into  Brittany,  incapacitated  from  any  far- 
ther operations.  Between  the  6th  and  12th  of  January  he  had 
lost  18,000  prisoners  and  twenty  guns,  while  his  loss  in  dead  and 
wounded  is  unknown.  In  the  same  time  Prince  Frederic  Charles 
had  lost  180  officers  and  3470  men  killed  or  wounded. 

The  French  army  of  the  north  met  with  the  same  fate  as  those 
of  the  south  and  west.  The  command  of  this  army  was  held  in 
succession  by  Farre,  Bourbaki,  and  Faidherbe,  the  latter  succeed- 
ing to  the  position  on  the  3d  of  December.  The  northern  for- 
tresses, Arras,  Carnbrai,  Douai,  and  Valenciennes,  offered  a  favor- 
able base  of  operations,  as  well  as  a  convenient  refuge  in  case  of 
defeat.  At  first  one  corps  only  was  put  in  the  field,  with  which 
General  Farre  took  up  his  position  south  of  Amiens.  General 
Mantenffel  was  to  operate  against  this  foe.  Of  his  army  one 
corps  had  to  be  left  behind  in  Metz  and  before  Diedenhofen 
(Thionville)  and  Montinedy,  and  of  the  remaining  two  corps, 
numbering  altogether  only  38,244  foot  and  4483  horse,  with  180 
guns,  several  detachments  were  drawn  off  for  the  siege  of  the 
northern  fortresses.  Leaving  Metz  on  the  7th  of  November,  Man- 
teiiffel  arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of  Compiegne  on  the  20th, 
and  on  the  27th  encountered  the  enemy  at  Moreuil.  The  French 
were  defeated,  Amiens  taken,  and  the  little  fortress  of  La  Fere 
forced  to  capitulate.  Manteuffel  now  turned  toward  Normandy. 
On  the  5th  his  soldiers  entered  Rouen,  and  on  the  9th  Dieppe, 


452  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

after  scattering  on  the  way  some  detachments  of  French  which 
attempted  to  make  a  stand  at  various  points  along  the  Seine.  In 
the  mean  time  Faidherbe,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  command, 
had  put  a  second  corps  in  the  field  and  begun  a  southward  move- 
ment, taking  the  little  fortress  of  Ham  on  the  way.  Manteuffel, 
turning  about,  attacked  the  enemy  on  the  23d  at  Querrieux,  and 
obliged  him  to  retreat  to  Douai.  On  the  9th  of  January  he  com- 
pelled the  fortress  of  Peronne  to  capitulate.  In  the  mean  time 
General  Bentheira,  who  had  been  left  behind  in  Normandy,  had 
driven  back  hostile  detachments  numbering  15,000  or  20,000 
men  toward  Havre,  taken  the  chateau  Robert  le  Diable  by  assault, 
and  barred  the  passage  of  the  Seine  against  some  ships  of  war 
which  attempted  to  ascend  the  river  from  Havre  by  sinking 
eleven  large  boats  at  Duclair.  Among  the  sunken  craft  were  six 
English  coal-ships,  whose  owners  had  to  be  compensated  for  their 
loss.  January  3d  Faidherbe,  again  assuming  the  offensive,  at- 
tacked a  division  of  the  8th  corps  at  Bapaume,  but  suffered  a 
repulse.  On  the  6th  of  January  General  Goben,  hitherto  com- 
mander of  the  8th  corps,  succeeded  General  Manteuffel  in  the 
command  of  the  first  army,  the  latter  being  transferred  to  the 
army  of  the  south.  Ordered  by  Gambetta  to  co-operate  with  the 
grand  attempt  to  break  out  of  Paris  which  had  been  planned  for 
the  19th,  Faidherbe  advanced  for  the  third  time,  and  took  up  his 
position  at  St.  Quentin  with  50,000  or  60,000  men.  With  about 
30,000  General  Goben  advanced  to  the  attack  on  the  19th,  and 
after  a  seven  hours'  fight  drove  the  French  out  of  all  their  posi- 
tions, taking  six  guns  and  10,000  prisoners.  The  enemy  fled  to 
Cambrai  in  a  state  of  utter  disorganization,  and  for  several  weeks 
Faidherbe  was  as  little  capable  of  any  farther  action  as  Chanzy. 

A  third  French  army  appeared  in  the  east.  There,  after  the 
capitulation  of  Strasburg,  General  Schmeling,  with  a  reserve  divi- 
sion, had  reduced  the  fortresses  of  Schlettstadt  and  Neu-Breisach 
on  the  24th  of  October  and  the  10th  Nof  November  respectively; 
and  on  the  3d  of  November  General  Tresckow,  with  another  re- 
serve division,  had  invested  the  strong  fortress  of  Belfort,  the  key 
to  the  southern  Vosges.  These  two  divisions,  with  a  third  which 
was  formed  later,  belonged  to  the  14th  corps,  commanded  by 
"Werder.  That  general  left  Strasburg  in  October  with  the  Badish 
division  and  the  troops  under  General  von  der  Goltz's  command, 
marched  across  the  Vosges  to  Epinal  and  Vesoul,  the  monotony 


THREE  DAYS'  BATTLE  AT  BELFORT.        453 

of  tlic  road  being  varied  by  daily  fights,  and  on  the  22d,  at  Etuz, 
defeated  Cambriels  and  drove  him  back  to  Besan§on.  Beyer,  the 
commander  of  the  Badish  division,  was  despatched  against  Dijon. 
After  a  sharp  fight  and  a  short  bombardment  the  city  capitulated 
on  the  31st,  and  in  November  the  whole  of  Werder's  corps  as- 
sembled at  that  place.  Garibaldi,  possessed  of  a  republican  devil, 
had  arrived  in  Tours  on  the  9th  of  October,  and  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  Gambetta  commander  of  the  volunteers  of  the  Vosges. 
With  a  motley  army  of  20,000  men  he  advanced  from  Autun 
against  Werder's  position  at  Dijon,  only  to  be  defeated  at  Pas- 
ques  on  the  26th  and  27th  of  November.  On  the  18th  of  Decem- 
ber General  Cremer's  division,  which  was  advancing  against  Dijon, 
was  put  to  flight  at  Nuits  by  a  part  of  the  Badish  troops  under 
General  Glumer,  while  General  von  der  Goltz  drove  some  other 
hostile  detachments  into  the  fortress  of  Langres.  On  the  30th 
of  December,  learning  that  large  bodies  of  troops  were  assembling 
between  Lyons  and  Besangon  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  pow- 
erful demonstration  in  the  direction  of  Belfort,  Werder  evacuated 
Dijon  and  took  up  a  position  at  Vesoul.  Against  his  little  army, 
consisting  of  33,278  infantry  and  4020  cavalry,  with  120  field- 
guns,  Bourbaki  was  advancing  with  about  150,000  men.  Com- 
missioned by  Gambetta  to  make  a  diversion  on  a  grand  scale  in 
the  rear  of  the  German  main  army,  in  the  middle  of  December 
he  had  brought  his  three  army  corps  from  Nevers  to  Besangon, 
and  added  to  these  a  fourth  corps  from  Lyons  and  the  division 
under  Cremer's  command.  His  plan  was  to  overwhelm  Werder's 
corps  by  force  of  numbers,  relieve  Belfort,  march  into  Alsace,  sever 
the  communications  of  the  German  armies  with  their  base  of  sup- 
plies, and  undertake  a  campaign  of  revenge  in  south  Germany. 
The  danger  for  the  besiegers  at  Belfort  and  for  the  communica- 
tions of  the  army  of  investment  before  Paris  was  no  small  one. 
Apprised  by  Werder  of  the  situation,  Moltke  at  once  ordered  the 
formation  of  a  southern  army,  consisting  of  the  2d,  7th,  and  14th 
corps,  and  conferred  the  command  on  Manteuffel,  who  received 
his  instructions  in  Versailles  by  word  of  mouth  on  the  10th  of 
January.  The  2d  and  7th  corps,  which  had  been  stationed  at 
Montargis  and  Auxerre,  at  once  left  those  positions,  and  met  at 
Chatillon,  on  the  Seine,  on  the  12th. 

As  soon  as  Werder  knew  that  Bourbaki's  immediate  aim  was 
Belfort  and  not  Vesoul,  he  evacuated  the  latter  place,  and,  delay- 


454  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

inp;  Bonrbaki's  march  by  an  attack  at  Villerscxel  on  the  9th,  suc- 
ceeded in  gaining  the  famous  defensive  position  south-west  of 
Belfort  before  the  arrival  of  the  French.  Here  he  strengthened 
his  forces  by  bringing  up  10,000  men  and  thirty- seven  siege  guns 
from  the  army  of  investment  before  the  fortress  of  Belfort.  His 
lines  of  defence,  strengthened  in  front  by  the  Lisaine  and  the 
swampy  valley  of  the  Allaine,  extended  from  Frahier  through 
Hericourt  and  Montbeliard  to  Delle,  on  the  Swiss  frontier.  To 
carry  this  position  and  force  a  passage  to  Belfort  it  would  be 
necessary  to  cut  down  Werder's  corps  to  a  man,  for  the  German 
soldiers,  appreciating  the  threatening  danger,  were  resolved  to 
frustrate  the  accomplishment  of  Bourbaki's  purpose  at  any  cost. 
Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  fourfold  numerical  superiority 
of  the  enemy,  the  external  difficulties  to  be  contended  with  were 
great,  for  the  supply  of  provisions  was  scanty,  and  the  cold 
reached  17°  R.  (10°  F.),  so  that  the  Lisaine  froze  over,  thus 
affording  the  enemy  a  natural  bridge ;  but  the  strong  sense  of 
duty  of  the  German  soldiers  surmounted  every  obstacle.  Bour- 
baki  did  not  understand  how  to  make  a  proper  use  of  his  supe- 
rior numbers,  and  either  break  through  the  German  centre  or 
turn  the  weak  right  wing.  In  the  three  days'  battle  of  Hericourt 
or  Belfort,  January  15th,  16th,  and  17th,  all  his  assaults  were  re- 
pulsed. He  only  succeeded  in  taking  the  weakly  garrisoned  vil- 
lage of  Chenebier,  which  he  was  obliged  to  evacuate  again  after 
a  few  hours.  On  the  18th,  learning  of  Manteuffel's  approach,  he 
beat  a  retreat.  The  losses  of  the  French  in  the  battle  and  on  the 
retreat  reached  six  or  eight  thousand,  in  addition  to  which  2000 
were  taken  prisoners.  On  the  19th  Werder  set  out  in  pursuit 
of  the  foe.  It  was  Bourbaki's  object  to  retreat  to  Besanc,on,  and 
thence  to  Lyons ;  but  there  was  need  of  considerable  haste,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  his  plans. 

General  Manteuffel,  who  had  assumed  the  command  of  the 
southern  army  in  Chatillon  on  the  12th  of  January,  set  out  by 
forced  marches  toward  Belfort  on  the  20th.  He  passed  through 
tlie  mountainous  region  of  the  Cote  d'Or,  and  from  there  between 
the  fortresses  of  Langres  and  Dijon,  without  any  interference  on 
the  part  of  Garibaldi,  who,  after  Werder's  departure,  had  taken 
possession  of  Dijon  with  25,000  men.  On  the  news  of  Bour- 
baki's retreat  he  turned  south-east,  in  order  with  his  two  corps 
(44,950  infantry  and  2866  cavalry,  with  168  guns)  to  block  the 


THE   EASTERN   ARMY   DRIVEN   INTO   SWITZERLAND.     455 

road  to  Lyons,  and  leave  the  French  general  no  other  choice  than 
to  venture  a  battle  with  his  demoralized  troops,  to  surrender  with- 
out a  battle,  or  to  take  refuge  in  Swiss  territory.  January  23d 
the  road  to  Lyons  was  occupied,  and  the  first  engagements  with 
Bourbaki's  troops  took  place,  the  2d  and  7th  corps  moving  up 
from  the  south  and  west,  and  the  14th  pressing  down  from  the 
north.  The  only  exit  was  toward  the  east.  In  Besan9on,  on  the 
26th,  Bourbaki  in  despair  made  an  attempt  at  suicide.  At  the 
same  time  a  telegram  arrived  from  Gambetta  removing  him  from 
the  command  of  the  eastern  army,  and  appointing  General  Clin- 
chant  in  his  stead.  But  he  also  was  unable  to  carry  out  Gambet- 
ta's  wish  that  the  army  should  retreat  southward,  and  was  obliged 
to  retire  to  Pontarlier.  Here  be  endeavored  to  save  himself  by 
means  of  the  armistice  which  had  been  concluded  in  Versailles, 
but  it  turned  out  that  the  eastern  armies  were  not  included.  The 
final  catastrophe  could  be  no  longer  postponed.  On  the  1st  of 
February  the  last  pass  toward  the  south  on  the  Swiss  frontier 
was  occupied,  Pontarlier  was  carried  by  assault,  and  the  French 
retreated  to  Neuchatel,  pursued  by  the  enemy  as  far  as  the  two 
border  forts  of  La  Cluse.  Ninety  thousand  three  hundred  and 
fourteen  men  and  11,787  horses  entered  Swiss  territory  at  the 
border  town  of  Verrieres,  where  the  men  were  disarmed  and  dis- 
tributed among  the  various  cantons.  In  the  last  few  days  the 
Germans  had  taken  15,000  prisoners,  and  captured  twenty-eight 
cannon  and  mitrailleuses,  together  with  a  large  quantity  of  wag- 
ons and  arms.  In  the  mean  time  Garibaldi  had  been  held  in 
check  by  General  Kettler  with  6000  men.  On  the  news  that 
larger  bodies  of  Germans  were  approaching,  he  evacuated  Dijon 
and  retired  southward.  Shortly  after  he  laid  down  his  command, 
and  returned  to  his  island  home  in  Caprera.  The  fortress  of  Bel- 
fort,  which  was  defended  by  Colonel  Denfert,  had  been  enabled 
to  hold  out  so  long  by  the  favorable  nature  of  the  country.  A 
former  attack  on  the  forts  of  upper  and  lower  Perche  had  failed; 
but  on  the  8th  of  February  they  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands,  ren- 
dering it  impossible  for  the  fortress  to  hold  out  much  longer; 
and,  King  William  consenting  to  an  extension  of  the  armistice 
only  on  condition  of  the  surrender  of  Belfort,  the  garrison,  still 
12,000  strong,  marched  out  on  the  18th  of  February  with  milita- 
ry honors,  and  Tresckow's  division  took  possession.  Other  for- 
tresses, like  Soissons,  Verdun,  Diedenhofeii  (Thionville),  Pfalz- 


456  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

burg,  and  Montmcdy,  had  surrendered  in  1870.  Only  the  fortress 
of  Bitsch  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  French  until  the  26th  of 
March,  1871. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Parisian  garrison  had  not  been  inactive. 
A  grand  attempt  to  break  through  the  lines  was  arranged  with 
Gambetta  for  the  30th  of  November.  General  Ducrot,  with  about 
50,000  men,  was  to  break  through  the  line  of  investment  on  the 
east,  march  to  Fontainebleau,  form  a  junction  there  with  the  army 
of  the  Loire,  and,  in  concert  with  that  army,  raise  the  siege  of 
Paris.  While  demonstrations  were  made  in  other  directions, 
Ducrot  directed  his  attack  against  Champigny  and  Brie,  on  the 
Marne,  driving  the  Wurtembergers  and  an  incomplete  Saxon  di- 
vision out  of  those  villages,  but  was  unable  to  advance  farther, 
owing  to  the  obstinate  resistance  of  the  German  troops.  Decem- 
ber 2d  the  Wurtemberg  and  Saxon  divisions,  supported  by  the  2d 
corps  and  one  brigade  of  the  6th,  under  the  command  of  Fran- 
secky,  again  advanced  to  the  attack,  and,  after  severe  fighting,  re- 
took one-half  of  Champigny.  In  the  night  of  the  3d  the  French 
evacuated  Brie  and  the  other  half  of  Champigny,  and  fell  back  to 
the  right  bank  of  the  Marne.  The  German  loss  in  the  two  bat- 
tles was  232  officers  and  4868  men,  while  the  French  lost  10,000 
men,  including  1600  prisoners.  The  sorties  of  December  21st 
and  22d  against  Stains  and  Le  Bourget  were  also  repulsed.  On 
the  29th,  after  a  two  days'  bombardment,  Mont  Avron,  with  its 
heavy  guns,  was  abandoned  by  the  French  and  occupied  by  the 
Saxons;  and  at  the  same  time  the  bombardment  of  the  eastern 
forts  began.  January  5th,  after  the  arrival  of  the  siege  park,  fire 
was  opened  against  the  southern  forts,  the  guns  of  which  were 
soon  silenced ;  and  on  the  8th  the  bombardment  of  the  city  be- 
gan. In  this  bombardment  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  suffered 
most,  though  even  there  the  damage  done  was  not  very  serious. 
The  restlessness  and  discontent  in  Paris  increased.  New  sorties 
were  demanded;  and  accordingly  unsuccessful  attacks  on  the 
German  lines  were  made  on  the  10th,  13th,  14th,  loth,  and  16th 
of  January.  It  was  thought  that  a  monster  sally  of  at  least 
100,000  men  directed  against  a  single  army  corps  must  succeed 
in  forcing  a  passage.  Such  a  sally  was  undertaken  on  the  19th 
of  January  on  the  side  toward  Versailles.  After  an  obstinate 
battle  with  the  5th  corps,  under  General  Kirchbach,  between 
Mont  Valerien  and  St.  Cloud — the  latter  of  which  had  been  set 


PARIS  CAPITULATES.  457 

on  fire  by  shells  from  the  defenders'  guns — the  French  were  ut- 
terly defeated,  with  a  loss  of  6000  men. 

The  destruction  of  the  various  armies  of  relief  left  Paris  noth- 
ing to  hope  from  without,  and  the  ill-success  of  the  various  sallies 
had  conclusively  demonstrated  the  inability  of  the  capital  to  raise 
the  siege  unassisted.  After  the  last  failure  Trochn,  who  had  long 
been  convinced  of  the  futility  of  such  attempts,  laid  down  his 
office,  and  was  succeeded  by  General  Vinoy.  A  new  uprising  of 
the  social-democrats  on  the  22d  of  January  was  put  down  with 
difficulty.  The  provisions,  consisting  of  bad  bread  and  horse- 
rlush,  were  sufficient  for  not  more  than  fourteen  days ;  after  that 
no  one  would  be  able  to  restrain  the  hungry  masses  from  acts  of 
desperation.  It  was  necessary  to  act  at  once,  and  so  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  23d  Favre  appeared  at  Versailles  to  offer  Count  Bis- 
marck the  capitulation  of  Paris,  on  condition  that  the  regular 
troops,  retaining  their  arms,  should  be  allowed  to  march  out  of 
the  city  and  retire  behind  the  Loire.  These  terms  were  not  ac- 
cepted, and  after  some  farther  negotiations  the  convention  of 
Paris  was  finally  concluded  on  the  28th  of  January.  This  granted 
an  armistice  of  three  weeks,  in  which  the  eastern  departments, 
where  Bourbaki's  army  was  at  that  very  moment  being  driven  to 
its  destruction,  were  not  included.  During  the  armistice  a  Na- 
tional Assembly  was  to  be  elected  to  decide  upon  the  question  of 
peace  or  war.  All  the  Parisian  forts  and  material  of  war  were 
surrendered  to  the  Germans ;  the  garrison  of  Paris  and  the  forts 
became  prisoners  of  war,  and  were  obliged  to  give  up  their  arms, 
but  remained  in  Paris,  and  were  maintained  at  the  expense  of 
the  authorities  there.  One  division  of  12,000  men,  however,  was 
to  retain  its  weapons  for  the  preservation  of  order,  and,  against 
Moitke's  will,  at  Favre's  urgent  wish  —  which  he  later  bitterly 
repented — a  similar  exception  was  made  in  the  case  of  the  Na- 
tional Guards.  The  city  of  Paris  was  to  pay  a  contribution  of 
200,000,000  francs  within  fourteen  days,  and  the  French  were 
allowed  to  provision  the  city.  On  the  29th  the  surrender  of  the 
twenty-five  larger  and  smaller  forts  to  the  Germans  took  place, 
and  the  black,  white,  and  red  colors  of  their  new  masters  were 
raised  in  triumph. 

This  convention  was  very  unwelcome  to  Gambetta;  neverthe- 
less he  had  hopes  that  the  respite  of  three  weeks  might  be  turned 
to  account  for  the  purpose  of  putting  new  armies  in  the  field,  and 
-  20 


458  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

lie  farther  hoped  by  influencing  the  elections  to  be  able  to  return 
a  radical  National  Assembly  resolved  on  a  war  a  outrance.  With 
this  end  in  view  he  published  on  the  31st  of  January  a  proscrip- 
tion list,  declaring  ineligible  for  election  all  who  had  accepted  any 
higher  office  at  the  hands  of  the  empire,  or  had  been  official  can- 
didates under  that  regime.  Both  Bismarck  and  the  government 
at  Paris  protested  energetically  against  such  despotism,  and  in- 
sisted upon  free  elections.  Finding  himself  unsupported  by  the 
other  members  of  the  Bordeaux  government,  Gambetta  resigned 
on  the  6th  of  February.  The  elections  took  place  everywhere  on 
the  8th,  and  on  the  12th  the  National  Assembly  was  opened  in 
Bordeaux.  On  the  17th  Thiers  was  elected  chief  of  the  executive 
department,  on  the  19th  he  formed  his  ministry,  and  on  the  21st, 
accompanied  by  ministers  Favre  and  Picard,  he  repaired  to  Ver- 
sailles, commissioned  by  the  National  Assembly  to  open  negotia- 
tions for  a  peace.  The  French  representatives  felt  that  they  must 
make  up  their  minds  to  the  loss  of  Alsace  with  Strasburg ;  but  the 
cession  of  Metz  and  Belfort  seemed  to  them,  with  their  weak 
memory  for  the  terms  Napoleon  had  been  wont  to  impose,  too 
severe  for  acceptance.  It  was  not  until  the  war  indemnity  had 
been  reduced  to  five  milliards,  and  the  restoration  of  Belfort  to 
France  agreed  upon,  that  the  negotiations  again  advanced.  On 
the  20th  of  February  the  preliminaries  of  peace  were  signed. 
Thiers  at  once  returned  to  Bordeaux,  and  laid  the  treaty  before 
the  Assembly,  which  adopted  it,  by  a  vote  of  546  to  107,  on  the 
1st  of  March.  Favre  then  brought  the  document  to  Versailles, 
where  it  "was  signed  by  King  William  on  the  2d. 

By  this  preliminary  treaty  France  ceded  to  the  German  em- 
pire Alsace  and  part  of  Lorraine,  with  Strasburg,  Metz,  and  Die- 
denhofen  (Thionville),  and  pledged  herself  to  pay  a  war  indem- 
nity of  five  milliard  francs,  of  which  at  least  one  milliard  was  to 
be  paid  in  1871,  and  the  rest  within  three  years.  The  evacuation 
of  French  territory  was  to  keep  even  pace  with  the  payment  of 
the  indemnity,  in  such  a  way  that  after  the  payment  of  two  mill- 
iards only  six  departments,  together  with  Belfort,  were  to  be  oc- 
cupied by  50,000  Germans,  as  security  for  the  remaining  three 
milliards.  The  western  part  of  Paris  was  to  be  occupied  by 
30,000  Germans  until  the  treaty  was  accepted  by  the  National 
Assembly.  The  Parisians  were  to  be  compelled  to  see  the  Ger- 
man soldiers  as  victors  within  their  walls  that  their  fantastic  no- 


STATISTICS  OF  THE  WAR.  459 

tions  of  the  inviolability  and  invincibility  of  their  "holy"  city 
might  be  dispelled.  March  1st  the  30,000  men  were  first  re- 
viewed by  King  William,  and  then  marched  into  Paris.  Seventy 
thousand  men  were  held  in  reserve,  and  the  cannons  of  the  forts 
were  all  trained  on  the  city.  Any  resistance  would  have  been 
punished  in  the  most  summary  manner.  On  the  2d  of  March 
thousands  of  soldiers,  armed  only  with  their  side-arms,  were  led 
into  the  city  by  their  officers  and  shown  a  few  points  of  interest. 
The  population  remained  quiet ;  but  after  the  withdrawal  of  the 
troops  on  the  following  day  the  pent-up  noise  and  abuse  broke 
out.  According  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Versailles,  the 
southern  forts  and  some  of  the  western  and  southern  departments 
were  at  once  vacated,  but  the  northern  and  eastern  forts  remained 
in  the  possession  of  the  Germans  until  the  payment  of  the  first 
half-milliard,  and  the  line  from  Rouen  to  Dijon  was  maintained 
unbroken.  The  head-quarters  at  Versailles  were  abandoned  on 
the  7th  of  March,  and  on  the  17th  the  King  of  Prussia  was  in 
his  own  capital  again.  From  the  actual  commencement  of  hos- 
tilities to  the  conclusion  of  the  armistice  the  war  had  lasted  180 
days.  During  that  time  the  German  armies  had  been  engaged 
in  159  actions  of  all  sorts,  had  won  fifteen  considerable  battles, 
taken  twenty-six  fortified  places,  shut  three  armies  up  in  for- 
tresses and  compelled  them  to  surrender,  forced  a  fourth  to  take 
refuge  in  Switzerland,  captured  and  carried  to  Germany  11,650 
officers  and  363,000  men,  and  held  100,000  more  prisoners  in 
Paris.  Besides  this,  there  had  fallen  into  their  hands  6700  can- 
non, 120  eagles  and  colors,  and  a  vast  amount  of  military  stores. 
The  total  loss  of  all  the  German  armies  had  been  4990  officers 
(1165  dead,  3795  wounded,  and  thirty  missing),  and  112,041 
non-commissioned  officers  and  private  soldiers  (18,132  dead, 
87,742  wounded,  and  6145  missing).  At  the  end  of  the  cam- 
paign a  German  force  of  569,875  foot  and  63,465  horse,  with 
1742  guns,  stood  on  French  soil.  If  officers,  officials,  pioneers, 
camp  followers,  and  the  like  be  reckoned  in,  it  may  be  estimated 
that  on  the  1st  of  March,  1871,  there  were  in  France  about 
1,000,000  Germans,  either  soldiers  or  in  some  way  connected 
with  the  army.  In  addition  to  this,  there  were  still  250,000 
troops  in  Germany  as  reserve  forces  or  in  garrison  service. 

The   negotiations  with  reference  to  a  definitive  peace  were 
opened  in  Brussels  on  the  28th  of  March.     The  French  rcpre- 


460  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

sentativcs,  however,  put  such  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  execu- 
tion of  the  treaty  of  Versailles,  especially  the  financial  articles, 
that  the  negotiations  finally  came  to  a  stand-still.  In  Berlin  there 
was  some  talk  of  reopening  hostilities ;  and  the  return  of  the 
French  prisoners,  who  were  so  necessary  for  the  suppression  of 
the  Commune,  was  stopped.  At  last  the  French  government  was 
brought  to  an  appreciation  of  the  serious  nature  of  the  situation. 
The  Brussels  conference  was  dissolved,  and  on  the  Cth  of  May 
the  French  ministers  Favre  and  Pouyer-Qucrtier  had  a  meeting 
with  Bismarck  in  Frankfort.  This  time  the  negotiations  pro- 
gressed favorably,  and  on  the  10th  of  May  the  treaty  of  peace  was 
signed.  This  provided  for  a  border-line  more  in  accordance  with 
the  nationality  of  the  inhabitants,  shortened  the  limits  of  payment 
for  the  first  two  milliards,  and  prolonged  the  time  of  occupation 
in  certain  districts.  An  additional  article  transferred  the  owner- 
ship of  the  French  eastern  railroad,  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  to 
Germany  on  payment  of  350,000,000  francs.  With  this  last  act, 
which  was  played  in  Bismarck's  temporary  head-quarters,  at  the 
sign  of  the  Swan,  in  Frankfort,  the  curtain  at  length  fell  on  the 
Franco-Prussian  war. 


§26. 

THE    GERMAN   EMPIRE    AND    THE    HOHENZOLLERN   IMPERIAL    HOUSE. 

NOT  least  among  the  motives  which  had  induced  French  states- 
men to  favor  the  unfortunate  war  of  1870  was  the  desire  to  pre- 
vent the  formation  of  a  strong  German  nation  through  the  union 
of  the  southern  states  with  the  North  German  Confederation. 
For  that  very  reason — because  a  foe  so  dreaded  that  union,  and 
sought  to  put  all  possible  hinderances  in  the  way  of  its  attain- 
ment— it  became  the  goal  of  each  true  Teuton's  efforts.  In  mili- 
tary matters  Germany  had  entered  upon  the  war  as  a  unit,  she 
must  come  out  of  it  a  unit  in  political  affairs.  This  was  the 
opinion  of  thousands  on  the  first  news  of  victory,  and  Sedan  con- 
firmed all  waverers.  August  30th,  1870,  a  popular  assembly  in 
Berlin  appealed  to  the  German  people  to  unite  in  an  address  to 
the  King  of  Prussia  demanding  rejection  of  all  interference  from 
foreign  countries,  and  the  formation  of  a  German  empire  includ- 


NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  BAVARIA.  461 

ing  in  its  limits  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  The  address  received  at 
once  thousands  of  signatures.  Popular  assemblies  in  Munich  and 
Stuttgart,  on  September  1st  and  3d,  gave  expression  to  the  same 
sentiment.  The  south  German  governments  were  unable  to  re- 
sist the  stream  of  public  opinion.  On  the  2d  of  September  the 
Baden  cabinet  addressed  a  communication  to  Bismarck  favoring 
the  accession  of  south  Germany  to  the  North  German  Confedera- 
tion, and  the  increase  of  the  powers  of  the  central  government  in 
regard  to  military  and  diplomatic  affairs.  In  their  answers  to  the 
addresses  which  had  been  presented  to  them,  the  Bavarian  and 
Wiirtemberg  governments  gave  assurances  of  the  speedy  conclu- 
sion of  a  constitutional  alliance.  At  the  wish  of  the  Bavarian 
ministry,  Bismarck  directed  Minister  Delbruck  to  return  from 
Versailles  to  Berlin  by  way  of  Munich.  He  arrived  in  the  Bava- 
rian capital  on  the  20th  of  September,  and  informed  the  ministers 
that,  while  he  had  no  proposals  of  his  own  to  make,  he  should 
be  glad  to  listen  to  any  wishes  or  propositions  they  might  have 
to  communicate.  They  accordingly  designated  eighty  points  in 
which  they  wished  for  alterations  in  the  existing  constitution  of 
the  North  German  Confederation,  and  an  exceptional  position 
for  Bavaria.  They  specially  insisted  upon  an  independent  ad- 
ministration of  the  army,  dispensation  from  contributing  toward 
the  maintenance  of  a  fleet,  their  own  special  legislation  with  re- 
gard to  the  administration  of  justice  in  Bavaria,  control  of  their 
own  railroads,  canals,  and  other  media  of  intercourse ;  peculiar 
privileges  in  the  JBundesrath,  right  of  absolute  veto  in  all  matters 
involving  a  change  of  the  constitution,  and  participation  in  the 
.direction  of  the  foreign  policy.  This  would  have  admitted,  it  is 
true,  of  a  sort  of  constitutional  alliance,  but  one  very  loosely 
bound  together.  Upon  what  Bavaria  could  found  her  claims  to 
such  a  privileged  and  exceptional  position  it  would  be  hard  to 
say.  The  Wiirtemberg  minister,  von  Mittnacht,  was  also  present 
at  these  conferences. 

It  became  evident  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  begin  the  work 
of  forming  a  satisfactory  constitution  for  all  Germany  with  states 
move  amenable  than  Bavaria.  Accordingly,  Bismarck  invited  the 
governments  of  Wiirtemberg,  Baden,  and  Hesse  to  send  plenipo- 
tentiaries to  Versailles,  communicating  the  fact  to  the  Bavarian 
ministers  and  leaving  it  to  their  own  discretion  whether  they 
would  themselves  take  part,  or  simply  await  the  result  in  the  case 


462  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

of  the  three  other  states,  and  after  that  resume  the  negotiations 
which  had  already  been  begun  at  Munich.  To  avoid  isolation, 
the  Bavarian  ministers  von  Bray,  von  Lutz,  and  von  Pranckh  set 
out  for  Versailles  on  the  20th  of  October.  Ministers  von  Mitt- 
nacht  and  von  Succow  appeared  from  Wiirtcmberg,  von  Jolly 
and  von  Freydorff  from  Baden,  and  von  Dalwigk  from  Hesse. 
The  Prussian  ministers  von  Delbriick  and  von  Koon,  who  had 
the  general  direction  of  the  negotiations,  refused  the  Bavarian 
demand  of  the  right  of  absolute  veto  in  matters  involving  a 
change  of  constitution,  although  ready  to  make  concessions  in 
other  directions.  A  conference  with  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
Wiirtemberg,  Baden,  and  Hesse  on  the  6th  of  November  seemed 
to  promise  a  speedy  settlement  with  those  states,  when,  on  the 
13th,  a  telegram  to  the  Wiirtemberg  delegates,  which  remains  a 
mystery  to  this  day,  disturbed  the  negotiations  and  led  to  the 
immediate  departure  of  the  Wiirtembcrgcrs  for  Stuttgart.  On 
the  15th  a  treaty  was  concluded  with  Baden  and  Hesse,  on  the 
23d  with  Bavaria,  and  on  the  25th,  in  Berlin,  with  Wiirtemberg. 
Baden  and  Hesse  reserved  no  rights,  accepting  the  constitution 
of  the  North  German  Confederation  unchanged.  According  to 
the  military  convention  with  Baden,  its  contingent  formed  a  con- 
stituent part  of  the  Prussian  army,  being  united  with  three  Prus- 
sian regiments  to  form  the  14th  army  corps  —  commanded  by 
General  Werder.  The  Hessian  division  was  incorporated  in  the 
llth  corps.  Wiirtemberg  retained  the  special  administration  of 
its  own  post,  telegraphs  and  railroads,  and,  like  Baden  and  Ba- 
varia, set  its  own  taxes,  regulated  at  its  own  pleasure,  on  beer  and 
distilled  liquors.  The  Wiirtemberg  contingent  was  to  be  de- 
veloped into  a  full  army  corps  and  enter  the  German  army  as 
corps  No.  13.  Bavaria  retained  her  own  diplomatic  service,  the 
administration  of  her  own  army,  postal  communications,  tele- 
graph lines  and  railroads,  and  was  not  affected  by  the  laws  of 
the  confederation  regulating  domiciliary  rights  and  the  like.  It- 
was  stipulated  that  the  Bavarian  members  of  the  Bandesrath,  in 
connection  with  the  plenipotentiaries  of  Saxony  and  Wiirtem- 
berg, should  form  a  "diplomatic  committee,"  under  Bavaria's 
presidency,  and  that  the  veto  of  fourteen  votes  —  which  is  the 
number  of  the  united  votes  of  Bavaria,  Wiirtemberg,  and  Sax- 
ony— should  render  any  change  of  constitution  impossible.  The 
Bavarian  army  was  to  be  organized  according  to  the  requirements 


STATES  OF  THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE. 


of  the  constitution  of  the  North  German  Confederation,  and  to 
the  commander-in-chief  of  the  confederation  was  given  the  right 
to  direct  the  mobilization  and  inspection  of  the  Bavarian  con- 
tingent.* 

*  By  the  constitution  of  April  16th,  1871,  the  following  states  were  united 
in  the  German  Empire : 


Status  of  States. 


Population  in  187». 


No.  of  votes  in 


Prussia,  with  Lanenburg 25,742,404 

Bavaria  (kingdom) 5,022,390 

Saxony  (kingdom) 2,760,580 

W&rtemberg  (kingdom) 1,881,505 

Baden  (grand-duchy) 1,507,179 

Hesse  (grand-duchy) 884,218 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin  (graud-duchy) 553,785 

Saxe-\Veimar  (grand-duchy) 292,933 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz  (grand-duchy) 95,673 

Oldenburg  (grand-duchy) 319,314 

Brunswick  (duchy) 327,493 

Saxe-Meiningen  (duchy) 194,494 

Saxe-Altenburg  (duchy) 145,844 

Saxe-Cobm-g-Gotha  (duchy) 182,599 

Anhalt  (duchy) 213,565 

Schwarzbnrg-Hndolstadt  (principality) 76,676 

Schwarzbiirg-Souclershanseu  (principality) 67,480 

Waldeck  (principality) 64,743 

Reuss,  older  line  (principality) 46,985 

Retiss,  younger  line  (principality) 92,375 

Schaumburg-Lippc  (principality) 33,133 

Lippe  (principality) 112,452 

Lubeck  (free  city) 56,912 

Bremen  (free  city) 142,200 

Hamburg  (free  city) 388,618 

Total 41,195,556 


58 


The  total  number  of  votes  in  the  Bundesrath  is  accordingly  fifty-eight,  ar- 
ranged, as  in  the  United  States  Senate,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  representa- 
tives of  an  actual  minority  may  outvote  the  majority.  The  delegates  to  the 
Bundesrath  represent  their  respective  governments,  and  not  the  people;  and, 
although  each  government  may,  if  it  so  desire,  have  as  many  delegates  as  it 
has  votes,  all  the  votes  of  each  government  must  be  cast  as  a  unit.  In  mat- 
ters which  do  not  concern  the  whole  empire  only  those  states  vote  which  are 
actually  affected.  In  general  the  Bundesrath  prepares  beforehand  the  work 
which  is  to  be  laid  before  the  RdcJistag  at  each  session,  and  in  laying  its 
measures  before  the  lower  house  it  may  explain  or  defend  them  upon  the 
floor  of  that  house.  Furthermore,  the  members  of  the  BnndesratJi,  as  repre- 
sentatives of  their  respective  governments,  may  at  any  time  claim  the  right 
to  be  heard  in  the  Reichstag.  The  members  of  the  latter  are  representatives 
of  the  people,  elected  by  direct  vote  on  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage.  By 
the  constitution  of  1871  the  Reiclislag  was  to  consist  of  382  members  (in  1874 
fifteen  were  added  from  Alsace  and  Lorraine) — forty-eight  from  Bavaria,  sev- 
enteen from  Wiirtemberg,  fourteen  from  Baden,  six  from  southern  Hesse,  and 
the  remainder  from  the  former  North  German  Confederation.  By  comparing 
these  numbers  with  the  numbers  of  the  delegates  to  the  former  customs'  par- 


464  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

Objectionable  as  were  many  of  the  provisions  of  the  Versailles 
treaties,  especially  the  concessions  to  Bavaria,  it  must  neverthe- 
less be  admitted  that  the  unity  of  Germany,  purchased  by  the 
sacrifice  of  a  few  paragraphs  in  the  constitution,  was  vastly  better 
than  the  integrity  of  the  constitution  at  the  expense  of  Bavaria's 
exclusion.  In  consideration  of  the  many  and  important  ties  which 
united  Bavaria  to  the  German  Empire,  the  comparatively  trivial 
matters  in  which  it  still  held  aloof  might  be  overlooked,  especial- 
ly as  it  was  to  be  expected  that  of  these  Bavarian  reserved  rights 
many  would,  in  course  of  time,  be  modified  or  altogether  done 
away  with  bv  the  attrition  of  the  Bundesrath  and  Heichstay.  It 
was  in  this  belief  that  the  Versailles  treaties  received  the  appro- 
bation of  the  North  German  Reichstag,  on  the  9th  of  December. 
Before  the  close  of  the  same  month  they  had  received  the  con- 
sent of  the  Badish,  Hessian,  and  Wiirtemberg  parliaments.  In 
the  last-named  state  the  ministry  had  taken  advantage  of  the  op- 
portunity to  rid  itself  of  the  troublesome  democratic  chamber  by 
a  dissolution  on  the  22d  of  October.  December  5th  new  elec- 
tions were  ordered,  which  resulted  for  the  most  part  in  favor  of 
the  national  parties.  The  situation  in  Bavaria  was  not  so  satis- 
factory, and  not  alone  was  a  decision  regarding  the  treaty  need- 
lessly and  unseemingly  delayed,  but  its  very  acceptance  seemed  a 
matter  of  serious  uncertainty.  If  the  Bavarian  ministers  had  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  their  Wurtcmberg  neighbors  and  dissolved 
the  lower  house,  with  its  anti-national  majority,  there  is  no  doubt, 
in  view  of  the  patriotic  sentiments  inspired  by  the  events  of  the 
war  and  its  successful  prosecution,  that  the  new  elections  would 
have  resulted  in  a  strong  majority  of  national  and  liberal  dele- 
gates ;  but  this  was  a  result  which  the  ministry  appeared  to  dread 
rather  than  to  wish  for.  The  upper  house  confirmed  the  Ver- 
sailles treaty,  on  the  30th  of  December,  by  a  majority  of  thirty- 
seven  to  three.  On  the  loth  of  the  same  month  the  lower  house 
had  consigned  the  matter  to  the  consideration  of  a  committee, 
which,  at  the  motion  of  its  chairman,  the  inevitable  Jorg,  resolved 

liament  it  will  be  seen  that  in  the  new  Bundesrath  and  Reichstag  we  have  the 
customs'  parliament  with  extended  powers.  In  the  new  constitution  the  right 
of  veto  exercised,  according  to  the  constitution  of  the  Xorth  German  Confed- 
eration, by  Prussia  as  presiding  power  against  a  majority  of  both  h< 
faror  of  the  maintenance  of  the  status  quo,  was  slightly  but  not  materially 
modified. —  Translator's  note. 


THE  EMPEROR  WILLIAM  I.  4G5 

to  recommend  the  rejection  of  the  treaty.  The  debate  on  this 
recommendation  began  on  the  1 1th  of  January,  and  lasted  through 
ten  sittings.  The  ministers  and  the  leaders  of  the  party  of  prog- 
ress exerted  all  their  powers  in  behalf  of  the  treaty,  and  even 
members  of  the  Patriot  party,  carried  along  by  the  national  cur- 
rent, spoke  on  the  same  side ;  nevertheless  it  was  a  matter  of 
great  difficulty  to  secure  the  requisite  two-thirds  majority.  The 
vote  resulted  in  102  voices  in  favor  of  acceptance  and  forty-eight 
against,  and  the  last  stone  in  the  structure  of  the  German  Empire 
was  finally  set  in  place.  At  Versailles  it  had  been  considered 
superfluous  to  await  the  result  of  the  Bavarian  vote,  and  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1871,  the  establishment  of  the  German  Empire 
had  already  been  officially  proclaimed. 

In  another  matter  Bavaria  took  the  initiative.  With  the  ap- 
probation of  all  the  German  governments,  King  Louis  II.  of  Ba- 
varia tendered  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  as  head  ruler  of  the  new 
German  state,  the  title  of  German  Emperor.  At  the  banquet  in 
Versailles,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1871,  the  Grand-duke  of  Baden 
reminded  King  William  of  the  now  prophetic  words  of  his  broth- 
er, Frederic  William  IV. :  "  An  imperial  throne  can  only  be  won 
on  the  battle-field."  The  solemn  proclamation  of  the  empire 
took  place  in  the  great  mirror-hall,  in  the  palace  at  Versailles,  at 
mid-day  of  the  18th  of  January.  Count  Bismarck  read  before 
the  numerous  royal  princes,  independent  potentates,  generals, 
ministers,  and  regimental  deputations  present  at  the  ceremony 
the  proclamation  of  Emperor  William  I.  to  the  German  people. 
The  victories  which  had  just  been  or  were  just  about  to  be  won 
— Le  Mans  on  the  12th,  Belfort  on  the  17th,  St.  Quentin  and 
Mont  Valerien  on  the  19th,  the  capitulation  of  Paris  on  the 
28th,  and  the  flight  of  Bourbaki's  army  into  Switzerland  on  the 
1st  of  February — surrounded  like  gigantic  monuments  the  day 
of  this  assumption  of  imperial  dignity,  and  never  was  an  em- 
peror created  under  circumstances  more  imposing. 

March  21st,  1871,  the  emperor  opened  the  first  German  Reichs- 
tag with  a  speech  from  the  throne  expressive  of  his  pleasure 
that  "  we  have  reached  that  which  since  the  time  of  our  fathers 
has  been  the  object  of  effort  for  Germany — unity  and  the  organic 
expression  of  that  unity,  the  security  of  our  boundaries,  and  the 
independent  development  of  our  laws."  At  the  same  time  he 
emphatically  affirmed  that  the  German  empire,  far  from  cherish- 

20* 


466  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

ing  any  love  of  conquest  or  any  lust  of  intervention,  would  form 
an  empire  of  peace  in  the  centre  of  Europe,  neither  interfering  in 
the  affairs  of  other  states  nor  enduring  any  interference  in  its 
own  ;  not  assuming  the  offensive  without  just  provocation,  but 
ready  on  all  occasions  to  defend  its  own  rights.  On  the  same 
day  Count  Bismarck,  the  imperial  chancellor,  to  whose  strong 
and  prudent  guidance  the  re-establishment  of  the  German  Empire 
\v,-is  principally  due,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  prince.  The  elec- 
tions for  the  Reichstag  had  taken  place  on  the  3d  of  March,  and 
an  exceptionally  large  number  of  votes  had  been  polled.  Even 
in  south  Germany  the  results  were  favorable  for  the  national 
party.  Of  the  382  delegates  the  government  could  count  on 
the  support  of  a  large  majority.  As  members  of  variously  desig- 
nated parties  —  National -liberals,  German  Reichs- party,  Liberal 
jReichs-Tparty — Germany's  best  men  stood  fast  for  the  policy  of 
Emperor  William  and  his  great  chancellor.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that  in  north  Germany,  which  had  sent  only  eight  Clerical  dele- 
gates to  the  last  Reichstag,  thirty -six  members  of  that  party  were 
elected  in  1871.  These,  with  the  twenty  Clericals  from  south 
Germany,  fifty-six  in  all — and  for  all  measures  of  disloyal  oppo- 
sition they  were  sure,  furthermore,  of  the  assistance  of  the  Polish 
irreconcilables  —  constituted  the  Roman  Catholic  centre.  Feb- 
ruary 17th  some  members  of  this  party  had  sent  the  emperor 
an  address  at  Versailles  praying  him  to  make  use  of  the  whole 
power  of  the  new  empire  for  the  restoration  of  the  temporal 
dominion  of  the  Pope,  and  offering  the  government  in  that  event 
the  support  of  the  Clericals.  It  was  astonishingly  naive  to  request 
the  Protestant  emperor  of  an  empire  for  the  most  part  Protestant 
to  break  a  diplomatic  lance  in  behalf  of  the  temporal  dominion 
of  the  Pope,  the  existence  of  which  in  Europe  had  been  no  less 
a  disgrace  than  the  existence  of  the  Turkish  empire ;  or,  in  case 
diplomacy  were  not  enough,  to  set  his  martial  spear  in  rest  and 
undertake  a  medieval  crusade  for  the  rescue  this  time  of  the 
"  eternal  city,"  to  drive  Victor  Emmanuel's  soldiers  out  of  Rome 
and  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  put  100,000  sentries  at  the 
Pope's  most  holy  disposal.  It  betrayed  on  the  part  of  the  Cleri- 
cals a  scornful  disregard  of  all  rational  politics,  to  offer  their  sup- 
port at  such  a  price  as  this ;  and  that  support,  furthermore,  was 
sure  sooner  or  later  to  lead  directly  to  Canossa.  That  the  gov- 
ernment rejected  all  such  crazy  fantasies,  and  sought  its  support- 


IMPERIAL  DICTATORSHIP  IN   ALSACE  AND  LORRAINE.  467 

ers  among  the  National-liberals  instead,  brought  upon  it  and  the 
national  policy  the  deadly  hostility  of  the  Clericals,  under  the  di- 
rection of  their  Jesuitic  leaders  in  the  Vatican,  and  we  shall  soon 
have  occasion  to  see  how  that  hostility  displayed  itself  in  attacks 
upon  every  measure  looking  toward  national  unity. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  members  of  the  national  parties 
in  the  Reichstag  deemed  it  advisable  to  insert  in  the  address  a 
distinct  declaration  to  the  effect  that  the  new  German  Empire  of 
1871  was  not  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  Middle  Ages.  "The 
days  of  interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  other  peoples  will 
not,  we  hope,  return  under  any  pretext  or  in  any  form."  Bennig- 
sen  defended  the  address  in  the  most  able  manner ;  and,  notwith- 
standing the  attacks  of  Reichenspcrger,  Windthorst,  and  Bishop 
Ketteler,  it  was  adopted,  on  the  30th  of  March,  by  a  vote  of  243 
to  63,  and  the  counter-address  rejected.  Thereupon  the  Clericals 
moved  the  adoption  into  the  imperial  constitution  of  the  so-called 
fundamental  rights  of  the  Prussian  constitution — freedom  of  the 
Press,  right  of  association,  and  complete  independence  of  the 
Church.  As  every  one  understood  that  their  object  was  to  ac- 
quire freedom  of  the  Press  only  for  the  benefit  of  the  Clerical 
Press,  the  right  of  association  only  for  the  use  of  religious  orders, 
and  ecclesiastical  independence  only  for  the  advantage  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  for  the  support  of  the  bishops  in 
their  disobedience  to  the  laws  of  the  state,  the  bill  was  rejected 
on  the  4th  of  April,  after  a  three  days'  debate,  by  a  vote  of  223 
to  54.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  government  240,000,000  thalers 
were  appropriated  from  the  war  indemnity  for  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers,  4,000,000  for  needy  members  of  the  reserve  and  land- 
wehr,  and  4,000,000  for  donations  to  deserving  generals  and  states- 
men. These  latter  were  divided  into  four  categories,  to  which 
were  assigned  sums  of  300,000,  200,000,  150,000,  and  100,000 
thalers  respectively.  Prince  Frederic  Charles,  Minister  of  War 
Roon,  and  General  Manteuffel  were  in  the  first,  and  Generals  Go- 
ben  and  Werder,  and  Minister  of  State  Delbriick  in  the  second. 
Prince  Bismarck  received  as  a  gift  from  the  emperor  estates  in 
Schwarzenbeck,  duchy  of  Lauenburg,  valued  at  1,000,000  thalers. 
The  regained  provinces  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  were  not  united 
with  Prussia,  as  some  wished,  but,  in  accordance  with  a  bill  brought 
in  by  the  government,  were  to  be  for  the  present  administered 
provisionally  as  special  territory  of  the  empire,  the  imperial  con- 


468  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

stitution  not  to  come  in  force  until  the  1st  of  January,  1874  ;  and 
in  the  mean  time  the  emperor  to  frame  the  laws  in  concert  with 
the  Bundesrath,  and  in  all  other  matters  the  government  to  be 
directed  by  the  emperor  alone.  This  bill  was  passed  on  the  3d 
of  June  by  a  large  majority,  only  so  far  amended  that  the  period 
of  probation  was  shortened  by  one  year ;  but  on  the  20th  of 
June,  1872,  the  imperial  dictatorship  was  prolonged  to  the  date 
originally  proposed,  the  majority  not  regarding  the  new  provinces 
as  yet  sufficiently  ripe  for  the  imperial  constitution.  On  the 
15th  of  June  the  Reichstag  was  closed,  and  on  the  16th  the  trium- 
phal entry  into  Berlin  of  a  part  of  the  returning  army  took  place. 
The  procession  consisted  of  40,000  men — the  Guards,  a  battalion 
of  the  royal  grenadier  regiment,  and  deputations  from  all  the  va- 
rious divisions  of  the  German  army — and  a  more  brilliant  pro- 
cession Berlin  has  never  seen.  On  the  same  day  Roon  was  made 
count,  and  Moltke  field-marshal-general. 


§  27. 

THE    COMMUNE    AND    FRANCE. 

As  soon  as  the  German  troops  had  evacuated  the  southern 
forts  the  National  Assembly  removed  from  Bordeaux  to  Ver- 
sailles, where  it  held  its  first  sitting  on  the  20th  of  March,  1871. 
The  Parisians  took  this  slight  to  the  capital  very  ill,  but  at  the 
same  time  felt  themselves  so  much  the  more  unrestrained  in  the 
execution  of  their  political  and  social  plans.  The  social-demo- 
crats, who  had  been  so  often  frustrated,  thought  that  their  oppor- 
tunity had  come  at  last,  and  allied  themselves  with  the  Interna- 
tioruile,  a  society  having  its  head-quarters  in  London,  which  rec- 
ognized no  marriage  and  no  right  of  inheritance,  seeking  to  pull 
down  all  the  pillars  of  human  society — family,  community,  state, 
religion,  property — and  remodel  the  whole  world  by  a  merciless 
system  of  levelling.  These  were  the  men  who  ruled  the  laboring 
classes  of  Paris  and  the  national  guards  of  the  faubourgs  Belle- 
ville, Montmartre,  Montrouge,  etc.  On  the  27th  of  February  the 
national  guards  had  carried  off  twenty-seven  cannon,  under  pre- 
tence of  rescuing  them  from  the  Prussians.  After  the  withdrawal 


ESTABLISHMENT   OF  THE   COMMUNE.  469 

of  the  German  troops  they  took  many  more — 417  in  all — and 
planted  them  on  Montmartre,  thus  converting  it  into  a  genuine 
fortress.  At  the  same  time  they  spoke  of  a  "  Central  Committee 
of  the  National  Guards,"  to  whose  commands  alone  they  rendered 
obedience.  They  demanded  the  continuance  of  the  payment  of 
the  one  and  a  half  francs  a  day  which  they  had  received  during 
the  siege,  and  the  right  to  choose  their  own  officers  and  their  own 
general.  Farther  than  this,  they  refused  to  tolerate  the  presence 
in  Paris  of  any  other  military  commanders  than  those  appointed 
by  the  municipality.  This  meant  the  abolition  of  the  national 
government,  the  erection  of  Paris  into  a  free  city,  and  the  aban- 
donment of  the  inhabitants  to  the  mercies  of  socialistic  and  com- 
munistic fanatics.  General  Vinoy,  wishing  first  of  all  to  settle 
the  "  cannon  question,"  occupied  Montmartre  in  the  night  of 
March  17th;  but  at  seven  o'clock  on  the  following  morning  the 
national  guards  advanced  against  him,  his  troops  fraternized 
with  the  rebels,  he  himself  was  forced  to  withdraw  to  Versailles, 
and  Generals  Lecomte  and  Clement  Thomas  were  captured  and 
shot.  The  central  committee  of  the  combined  national  guards, 
headed  by  Assy,  now  assumed  the  government  of  Paris,  and  re- 
duced the  respectable  portions  of  the  community  to  submission 
by  terrorism.  By  their  direction  elections  for  a  common  council 
or  commune  were  held  on  the  26th  of  March.  This  body  con- 
sisted of  eighty  members,  among  whom  were  Blanqui,  Pyat,  Flou- 
rens,  Assy,  and  Delesclnze.  The  Commune  formed  the  regular 
government,  but  in  addition  to  this  the  central  committee  still 
existed ;  while  above  both,  as  directing  power,  was  the  committee 
of  the  Internationale.  But  although  successful  in  Paris  the  at- 1 
tempt  to  set  up  the  Commune  in  the  other  large  cities  failed.! 
The  socialistic  insurrections  in  Lyons,  Marseilles,  and  other  places 
were  all  put  down ;  and  Blanqui,  who  was  acting  as  an  emissary  , 
of  the  Parisian  Commune,  was  arrested. 

The  Commune  elected  ten  commissions  for  the  administration 
of  the  various  ministries,  and  set  one  delegate  at  the  head  of  each. 
All  who  were  capable  of  bearing  arms  were  pressed  into  the  ranks 
of  the  national  guards,  the  pay  of  the  soldiers  was  raised,  their 
families  received  assistance,  and  in  case  of  death  pensions  were 
to  be  secured  to  the  survivors.  It  was  the  golden  age  of  the 
proletariat.  To  get  money  to  defray  these  expenses  the  Com- 
mune confiscated  all  church  property,  plundered  the  churches, 


470  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

obtained  from  the  Bank  advances  of  several  millions,  forced  loans 
from  the  insurance  companies,  and  levied  contributions  on  wealthy 
individuals.  Socialistic  sheets  provided  for  the  propagation  of 
communistic  principles  among  the  people.  Thiers  believed  that 
the  crater  would  soon  burn  itself  out,  but  the  eruption  proved 
more  permanent  than  he  had  expected.  The  Commune  on  its 
part  did  not  believe  in  the  permanence  of  the  Versailles  govern- 
ment, and  determined  to  pay  Versailles  a  visit  for  the  purpose  of 
dispersing  the  National  Assembly.  With  that  end  in  view  Cluse- 
ret  headed  two  expeditions  from  Paris  on  the  2d  and  3d  of  April, 
but  his  troops  were  repulsed  by  the  national  forces,  and  one  of 
the  leaders  of  the  Commune,  Flourens,  fell  in  the  fighting.  These 
defeats  increased  the  fury  of  the  rebels,  and  on  the  4th  Archbishop 
Darboy,  with  a  number  of  priests  and  other  prominent  men,  was 
arrested  and  sent  to  Mazas,  as  security  for  the  safety  of  the  na- 
tional guards  captured  in  the  recent  encounters.  Thiers's  house 
was  plundered  and  destroyed,  the  Column  of  Victory,  on  the  Place 
Vendome,  thrown  down,  and  an  appeal  issued  to  the  French  peo- 
ple to  inspire  them  with  enthusiasm  for  the  "  modern  revolution, 
the  most  comprehensive  and  fruitful  of  all,"  by  which  the  decen- 
tralization of  France  was  to  be  effected  through  the  separation  of 
the  united  state  into  a  number  of  municipal  republics  with  unlim- 
ited self-government.  [English  and  Americans,  bred  in  the  prac- 
tice of  local  self-government,  will  feel  in  some  degree  a  sympathy 
with  this  aspect  of  the  Commune.]  But  the  appeal  had  no  effect, 
especially  as  the  establishment  of  a  committee  of  safety,  consist- 
ing of  five  members,  recalled  the  worst  times  of  1793  and  1794. 
The  "Reign  of  Terror"  was  still  more  vividly  brought  to  mind 
by  the  rapidity  with  which  power  changed  hands  and  the  fate  of 
deposed  leaders.  The  whole  state  of  affairs  in  this  particular  was 
well  illustrated  by  the  words  of  Rossel,  the  third  or  fourth  minis- 
ter of  war,  offering  his  resignation  :  "  I  have  the  honor  to  beg  for 
a  cell  in  Mazas." 

In  April  the  Versailles  troops,  commanded  by  Marshal  Mac- 
Mahon,  with  Cissey,  Douay,  Vinoy,  Ladmirault,  and  Clinchant  as 
division  commanders,  advanced  against  Paris  on  the  west  and 
south.  After  several  of  the  outside  forts  had  been  taken  and 
the  Parisians  driven  behind  the  walls,  preparations  were  made 
for  a  combined  attack  upon  the  city.  On  the  side  of  the  insur- 
gents Delescluze  now  stood  at  the  head  of  the  war  department. 


FALL  OF  THE  COMMUNE.  471 

Incited  by  him,  the  Commune  resolved,  on  the  20th  of  May,  to 
drench  all  the  public  buildings  and  whole  districts  of  the  city  with 
petroleum  and  set  fire  to  them,  before  the  entrance  of  the  Ver- 
sailles troops,  that  they  might  leave  for  the  victors  nothing  but 
a  heap  of  ruins.  On  the  evening  of  May  21st  the  soldiers  en- 
tered the  city  at  an  unguarded  spot,  pointed  out  to  them  at  the 
risk  of  his  life  by  a  citizen  named  Jules  Ducatel.  The  plan  was 
to  drive  the  rebels  from  the  south-west  toward  the  northern 
heights  of  Montraartre  and  Belleville,  from  which  there  was  no 
mode  of  escape,  as  the  northern  forts  were  still  in  the  hands  of 
the  Germans.  The  desperate  struggle  lasted  from  the  22d  to  the 
28th,  even  women  taking  part  and  helping  to  kindle  the  petro- 
leum fires.  Numerous  prisoners,  including  Archbishop  Darboy, 
were  shot  by  the  communists.  With  the  capture  of  Chaumont 
(May  28th),  where  Delescluze  sought  and  found  death  on  a 
barricade,  the  last  post  of  the  Commune  was  carried,  and  the 
city  in  the  power  of  the  Versailles  government  and  its  angry  sol- 
diers. Thousands  of  prisoners  were  taken,  their  number  ultimate- 
ly rising  to  50,000.  MacMahon's  loss  was  7514  men.  Among 
the  public  buildings  burnt  by  the  Commune  were  the  Tuileries, 
Palais-Royal,  ministry  of  finance,  ministry  of  justice,  police  head- 
quarters, the  City  Hall,  and  several  theatres.  Some  other  build- 
ings in  which  the  combustibles  had  already  been  placed  were 
rescued.  Of  the  members  of  the  Commune  a  number  were 
taken,  including  Assy,  Cluserct,  Grousset,  Rossel,  and  Rochefort. 
The  trials  of  the  prisoners  lasted  several  months,  and  of  the  con- 
demned some  were  shot,  and  some  transported  to  New  Caledonia 
or  other  distant  places. 

Not  until  the  Commune  was  suppressed  could  the  French  gov- 
ernment provide  for  an  orderly  and  systematic  administration  of 
the  country.  It  had  before  it  at  the  outset  two  aims — to  rid  the 
land  as  soon  as  possible  of  the  German  troops,  and  to  improve 
the  army  according  to  the  Prussian  pattern.  As  large  sums  of 
money  were  necessary  for  the  attainment  of  both  these  aims,  a 
great  strain  was  put  upon  the  taxable  strength  of  the  country. 
The  result  to  be  achieved  by  the  increase  of  the  army  was,  not 
the  strengthening  of  the  defensive  power  of  the  country — for  a 
peaceful  France  had  no  assaults  to  fear — but  a  war  of  revenge 
against  Germany.  The  lost  military  glory  must  be  restored,  and 
the  ceded  provinces  regained,  or  compensation  taken  elsewhere — 


472  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

perhaps  in  Belgium.  All  parties  in  France,  monarchists  as  well 
as  the  most  ultra-republicans,  were  animated  by  the  same  spirit, 
and  voted  sum  after  sum  for  military  purposes,  even  offering  the 
government  more  than  it  required.  This  longing  for  revenge  was 
favorable  to  the  plans  of  the  Jesuits.  Their  hope  in  the  year 
1870  had  been,  by  the  help  of  the  French  empire,  to  overpower 
heretical  Prussia,  and  render  impossible  the  establishment  of  a 
united  Germany  under  a  Protestant  emperor.  Their  hope  now 
\vas  to  improve  the  national  misfortune  for  clerical  ends.  With 
this  aim  in  view,  religious  hymns  with  a  political  refrain  were 
composed,  in  order  to  inflame  the  people  against  the  Germans, 
while  the  possibility  of  revenge  was  made  dependent  on  strict 
devotion  and  punctual  observance  of  ordinary  and  extraordinary 
ecclesiastical  forms.  Shattered  France  was  to  be  brought  com- 
pletely under  the  sway  of  the  Jesuits ;  and  in  order  to  effect  this, 
national  and  religious  fanaticism  was  to  receive  constant  encour- 
agement, the  reorganization  of  the  army  was  to  be  completed 
with  lightning  rapidity,  and,  as  soon  as  the  general  political  con- 
dition of  Europe  afforded  a  favorable  opportunity,  a  national  and 
religious  crusade  against  Germany  undertaken.  To  attain  this 
high  result  the  Virgin  Mary  made  a  few  personal  appearances  in 
France,  the  wonder-working  springs  of  Lourdes  were  discovered, 
and  processions  of  ten  or  twenty  thousand  persons  organized, 
while  the  cultus  of  the  Holy  Heart  of  Jesus  was  carried  to  the 
verge  of  insanity.  In  the  name  of  republican  freedom  the  Jes- 
uits demanded  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  for  that 
alone,  freedom  of  instruction  and  the  right  to  establish  "free 
universities."  The  state  universities  were  to  be  completely  set 
aside,  and  all  who  sought  to  make  themselves  a  career  obliged  to 
pass  through  the  Jesuitic  institutions — and  in  1875  the  National 
Assembly  was  complaisant  enough  to  accord  the  clergy  these 
privileges. 

For  the  payment  of  the  first  two  milliards  of  the  war-fine 
Thiers — named  president  of  the  French  republic  by  the  National 
Assembly,  August  31st,  1871 — contracted  a  loan  of  2,500,000,000 
francs  in  June  of  1871,  and  for  the  payment  of  the  remainder  a 
farther  loan  of  more  than  three  milliards  was  contracted  in  July 
of  the  following  year.  When  the  subscription  for  the  first  of 
these  two  loans  was  opened  seven  and  a  half  milliards  were  sub- 
scribed (two  and  a  half  in  Paris),  instead  of  the  two  and  a  half 


PAYMENT   OF  THE  WAR  INDEMNITY.  473 

required ;  while  for  the  second  loan  subscriptions  of  forty-one 
milliards  were  offered.  Allowing  that  all  these  subscriptions  were 
not  genuine,  nevertheless  the  transaction  testified  in  the  most  fa- 
vorable way  to  the  high  credit  of  France.  Through  Thiers's  ef- 
forts the  German  occupation — which  had  been  in  so  far  advanta- 
geous that  it  had  forced  a  certain  moderation  upon  contending 
parties,  and  led  to  the  postponement  of  the  more  dangerous  ques- 
tions regarding  the  future  form  of  government  in  France — was 
brought  to  a  close  sooner  than  had  been  expected  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  peace.  According  to  an  arrangement  entered  into  on  the 
15th  of  March,  1873,  the  last  quarter  milliard  of  the  war-fine  was 
to  be  paid  on  the  5th  of  September  of  that  year,  and  its  payment 
was  to  be  at  once  followed  by  the  complete  evacuation  of  French 
territory  by  the  Germans.  Accordingly  on  that  day  the  remain- 
der of  the  war  indemnity  changed  hands,  and  the  evacuation  of 
Verdun,  the  last  city  in  the  possession  of  the  invaders,  began  at 
once.  On  the  16th  of  September,  1873,  the  last  German  soldier 
crossed  the  French  frontier.  The  army  of  occupation  had  won 
much  praise  by  its  exemplary  discipline,  as  a  reward  for  which 
General  Manteuffel  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  field-marshal-general 
on  the  19th  of  the  same  month. 

By  the  military  law  of  July  28th,  1872,  universal  compulsory 
service  was  introduced ;  each  Frenchman  was  to  be  liable  to  ac- 
tive service  for  five  years  ;  this  was  followed  by  four  years  in  the 
reserve,  five  years  in  the  "  territorial  army,"  and  six  years  in  its 
reserve.  It  amounted  in  practice  to  five  years'  active  service  for 
one  part  of  the  community,  and  six  months'  drill  for  the  other. 
This  law  was  complemented  by  the  army  organization  law  of  July 
24th,  1873,  fixing  the  number  of  regiments  and  distributing  them 
among  eighteen  army  corps,  and  by  the  cadre  law  of  March  13th, 
1875.  According  to  the  provisions  of  the  latter  the  companies 
were  increased  in  size  and  decreased  in  number,  the  battalion 
cadres  being  strengthened  in  such  a  way  that  for  every  three  al- 
ready existing  battalions  a  fourth  was  created,  so  that  while  pre- 
viously the  regiment  consisted  of  three  battalions,  with  a  maxi- 
mum strength  on  a  war  footing  of  3000  men,  regiments  of  four 
battalions  were  now  formed,  raising  the  maximum  strength  to 
4000.  The  object  of  this  measure  appeared  to  be  to  form  a 
frame  into  which  in  case  of  war  considerable  bodies  of  undrilled 
or  comparatively  undrilled  men  might  be  cast  for  immediate  ser- 


474  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

vice.  By  its  passage  the  French  infantry  was  made  to  consist  of 
641  battalions,  269  more  than  in  1870,  and,  on  a  peace  footing, 
171  more  than  the  German  army.  This  cadre  law,  together  with 
the  inflammatory  articles  in  the  Press  of  all  parties,  caused  such  a 
sensation,  that  in  the  spring  of  1875  it  was  generally  believed  that 
war  must  ensue,  and  many  held  that  Germany  should  declare  war 
before  these  colossal  preparations  were  completed ;  but  the  matter 
never  reached  in  reality  a  more  dangerous  stage  than  that  of  dip- 
lomatic inquiries. 

For  the  consolation  of  its  military  pride  France  sought  to  fasten 
the  whole  responsibility  for  the  disgrace  of  the  late  war  on  Mar- 
shal Bazaine,  who  certainly  had  signed  the  capitulation  of  Metz 
at  a  very  opportune  moment  for  the  Germans.  He  was  accord- 
ingly court-martialed,  and  condemned  to  death  on  the  10th  of 
December,  1873,  but  the  sentence  was  commuted  to  twenty  years' 
imprisonment.  December  26th  he  was  confined  in  a  fort  on  the 
island  of  St.  Marguerite,  but  escaped  on  the  10th  of  August,  1874, 
with  the  assistance  of  his  wife,  and  took  refuge  in  Spain. 

The  National  Assembly,  divided  into  parties  which  viewed  one 
another  with  the  most  bitter  hostility,  developed  very  little  legis- 
lative activity.  On  one  side  stood  the  three  monarchical  parties 
of  the  Legitimists,  Orleanists  (the  decree  of  banishment  against 
the  two  families  Bourbon  and  Orleans  had  been  repealed  by  the 
National  Assembly,  and  the  latter  reinstated  in  the  possession  of 
the  estates  which  had  been  confiscated  by  Napoleon  in  1851),  and 
Bonapartists,  each  one  of  which  had  its  pretender  to  the  throne ; 
on  the  other  the  republicans — among  whom  Gambetta's  influence 
was  constantly  on  the  increase — divided  into  a  moderate  and  an 
extreme  Left.  Between  the  two  stood  a  group  of  parliamenta- 
rians which  would  have  been  content  with  either  of  the  two  forms 
of  government,  provided  only  the  constitutional  system  were  ad- 
hered to.  This  was,  at  the  outset,  Thiers's  position  also.  The 
monarchists  were  in  the  majority,  but  in  the  course  of  the  next 
few  years  they  lost  considerable  ground  by  the  unfavorable  re- 
sult of  supplementary  elections;  while  they  were  so  disunited 
among  themselves  that  on  the  most  important  questions  it  several 
times  occurred  that  one  fraction  of  the  Right  voted  with  the 
Left,  thus  converting  the  majority  into  a  minority.  The  "fu- 
sion"— i.e.,  the  amalgamation  into  a  single  party  of  the  Legiti- 
mists and  Orleanists — did  not  succeed.  On  the  5th  of  August, 


THIERS  SUCCEEDED   BY   MACMAHON.  476 

1873,  the  Count  of  Paris  paid  Count  Chambord  a  visit  at  Frohs- 
dorf,  and  recognized  him  as  the  head  of  the  family  and  the  only 
representative  of  the  monarchical  principle  in  France  ;  but  as 
Count  Chambord,  in  his  letter  of  October  27th,  1873,  demanded 
an  unconditional  recall,  and  would  not  bind  himself  beforehand 
either  in  the  matter  of  the  flag  or  the  constitution,  the  Orleanists 
were  obliged  to  give  up  the  fusion,  and  the  Count  of  Paris  had 
compromised  himself  in  vain.  The  monarchists  became  the  more 
dissatisfied  with  Thiers  the  more  pronounced  the  latter  became 
in  his  preference  of  the  actual  republic  to  any  one  of  the  three 
possible  monarchies.  Thiers's  protectionist  leanings  had  already 
brought  on  a  crisis  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1872,  but  at  that 
time  the  Assembly  could  not  do  without  him ;  so  that  his  resig- 
nation was  not  accepted,  and  he  was  able  to  carry  out  his  own 
will  against  the  majority — undoing  about  the  only  good  work  Na- 
poleon had  done.  This  little  farce  of  resignation  was  re-enacted 
once  or  twice ;  but  finally,  in  the  reorganization  of  the  ministry 
on  the  18th  of  May,  1873,  he  disregarded  the  monarchical  major- 
ity altogether,  and  recruited  his  cabinet  only  from  the  ranks  of 
the  moderate  Left.  The  monarchists  moved  a  vote  of  censure, 
which  was  carried  on  the  24th  by  a  vote  of  360  to  344.  It  is 
possible  that  Thiers  would  have  done  his  country  a  service  by 
usurping  the  right  to  dissolve  the  Assembly  and  appeal  to  the 
people ;  but  he  was  not  the  man  to  resort  to  such  a  measure,  and 
he  and  his  ministers  handed  in  their  resignations.  Somewhat  to 
Thiers's  surprise  the  resignations  were  accepted,  and  in  the  same 
sitting  MacMahon  was  elected  president  of  the  republic.  In  or- 
der to  strengthen  the  "  Marshal-president's  "  position,  his  term  of 
office  was  fixed  at  seven  years  (the  Septennat).  The  Duke  de 
Broglie  was  the  head  of  the  first  ministry  formed  under  the  new 
president,  but  he  did  not  long  succeed  in  the  difficult  task  of 
steering  his  way  successfully  between  the  opposing  parties.  An 
unfavorable  vote  on  the  electoral  law  compelled  him  to  retire 
from  office  on  the  16th  of  May,  1874,  and  on  the  22d  he  was 
succeeded  by  Cissey,  the  minister  of  war.  As  the  new  cabinet 
seemed  too  favorably  disposed  toward  the  Bonapartists,  and  the 
only  choice  appeared  to  be  between  a  republic  and  the  third  em- 
pire, the  moderate  Orleanists  withdrew  their  support  from  the 
government,  and  a  new  majority  was  formed  by  a  combination 
of  the  Left  with  the  Right  centre.  Toward  the  end  of  18?2  a 


476  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

committee  of  thirty  had  been  appointed,  to  whom  various  ques- 
tions with  reference  to  a  constitution  were  from  time  to  time 
referred.  Early  in  the  year  1875  they  were  induced  by  MacMa- 
hon's  message  to  recommend  two  chambers  instead  of  one ;  and 
on  the  30th  of  January,  on  the  motion  of  Wallon,  who  was  sup- 
ported by  the  moderate  Orleanists  and  the  moderate  republicans, 
against  the  recommendation  of  the  committee  of  thirty,  the  Sep- 
tennat  was  changed  into  a  republic,  with  a  president  to  be  elected 
by  the  two  houses  in  joint  session.  On  the  10th  of  March  a  new 
ministry  was  formed,  with  Buffet  as  premier,  most  of  the  promi- 
nent members  of  which  belonged  to  the  Right  centre. 


§  28. 

THE    NEUTRAL    STATES. 

THE  completion  of  Italian  unity  was  a  direct  result  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  war.  A  French  despatch  of  August  2d,  1870, 
informed  the  Italian  government  that  France  would  withdraw  her 
troops  from  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  recur  to  the  September 
convention  of  1864;  to  which  the  Italian  cabinet  at  once  replied 
that  Italy  would  scrupulously  adhere  to  the  terms  of  that  treaty. 
In  Parliament  the  Left  stormed  the  ministry  with  appeals  to  dis- 
regard the  convention  and  occupy  Rome.  The  ministers  hesi- 
tated, but  at  the  same  time  diligently  prepared  for  action.  Then 
came  the  news  of  the  capitulation  of  Sedan  and  the  establishment 
of  the  republic  in  Paris,  and  the  government  found  itself  no  lon- 
ger able  to  hold  back.  On  the  6th  of  September  the  occupation 
of  Rome  was  decided  upon.  This  decision  was  duly  communi- 
cated to  foreign  governments,  and  King  Victor  Emmanuel  in- 
formed the  Pope  of  his  intentions  in  a  personal  letter.  Septem- 
ber llth  the  Italian  troops,  under  the  command  of  General  Ca- 
dorna,  entered  the  States  of  the  Church ;  on  the  16th  Civita  Vec- 
chia  was  occupied,  and  on  the  20th  the  invaders  stood  before 
Rome  itself.  As  the  Papal  general,  Kanzler,  refused  to  open  the 
gates,  a  breach  was  made  in  the  wall  at  Porta  Pia  by  the  cannon 
of  the  Italian  troops,  whereupon  the  Pope  commanded  the  resist- 
ance to  cease,  and  Cadorna  entered  the  city  amid  the  acclamations 


ITALY:   ANNEXATION   OF  ROME.  477 

of  the  delighted  populace.  The  so-called  Leonine  city,  together 
with  the  Vatican,  was  assigned  to  the  Pope,  and  his  troops  were 
disarmed  and  disbanded.  Pins  issued  letters  of  protestation,  and 
fulminated  excommunication  against  all  who  were  concerned  in 
the  "robbery."  On  the  22d  of  September,  at  his  special  wish,  in- 
asmuch as  he  did  not  feel  himself  safe  in  the  power  of  the  people, 
Cadorna  occupied  the  Leonine  city  also.  The  plebiscite  of  October 
22d  resulted  in  133,681  votes  in  favor  of  annexation  to  the  Ital- 
ian monarchy,  and  1507  against  it.  The  newly-elected  chamber 
confirmed  the  annexation,  and  decreed  the  transfer  to  Rome  of 
the  seat  of  government  on  the  30th  of  June.  A  guarantee  law, 
defining  the  prerogatives  of  the  Pope,  and  regulating  the  relations 
to  one  another  of  church  and  state,  was  passed  in  May  of  1871, 
before  Parliament  left  Florence.  In  accordance  with  this  law 
the  Pope  retained  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  sovereign,  and 
received  a  yearly  revenue  of  3,225,000  francs.  The  next  ques- 
tion is,  Who  will  assume  the  responsibility  in  case  the  Pope  com- 
mits any  hostilities  against  foreign  powers?  In  point  of  fact  he 
is  neither  sovereign  nor  subject,  but  he  cannot  be  brought  to  ac- 
count by  any  foreign  power;  while  inasmuch  as  the  Italian  gov- 
ernment affords  him  unlimited  protection,  and  does  not  restrain 
him  from  the  commission  of  hostilities,  it  is  constantly  in  danger 
of  becoming  involved  in  quarrels  on  his  account. 

By  the  1st  of  July,  1871,  Parliament  and  all  the  ministries 
were  in  Rome,  and  on  the  2d  the  king  made  his  entrance  into 
the  new  capital,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  Quirinal.  It 
was  a  proud  moment  for  him  when  he  saw  the  task  of  his  life- 
time accomplished,  and  all  Italy  finally  united  under  his  sceptre. 
Parliament  willingly  voted  the  money  required  to  reorganize  the 
army,  strengthen  the  navy,  and  build  fortifications.  In  1873  a 
government  measure  abolishing  cloisters,  but  assuring  a  revenue 
to  the  generals  or  heads  of  the  various  orders,  was  accepted  by 
both  houses.  In  July  of  the  same  year  the  Lanza-Sella  ministry 
fell  on  a  financial  question,  and  was  succeeded  by  that  of  Min- 
ghetti,  which  was  taken  from  the  ranks  of  the  Right.  The  new 
elections  of  1874  resulted  in  a  majority  for  the  government. 
Among  those  elected  was  Garibaldi,  to  whom  the  lower  house 
voted  a  donation.  He  took  part  in  the  session  of  1875,  interest- 
ing himself  especially  in  projects  of  general  usefulness — the  im- 
provement of  the  Campagna,  and  a  Tiber  canal  to  guard  against 


478  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

inundations.  The  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  King  Victor  Em- 
manuel's elevation  to  the  throne  was  celebrated  through  the  whole 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land  on  the  23d  of  March,  1874.  The 
great  achievements  of  his  reign  might  be  summed  up  in  the  words 
"  from  Novara  to  Rome  " — a  road  which  he  had  travelled  in  twen- 
ty-one years  in  the  face  of  no  common  obstacles.  Against  the 
bandits  in  Sicily — whose  operations,  under  the  invisible  guidance 
of  the  Maffia,  had  assumed  formidable  dimensions — the  govern- 
ment was  for  a  long  time  quite  helpless.  Severe  measures  raised 
a  storm  among  the  radical  members  of  Parliament,  and  clemency 
only  made  the  evil  worse.  In  1875  a  committee  of  investigation 
was  appointed  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  affairs  and  pro- 
pose to  king  and  parliament  a  remedy.  The  attitude  of  the  Pope 
was  also  unsatisfactory.  Having  protested  against  the  guarantee 
law  and  the  closing  of  the  cloisters,  and  refused  to  accept  the 
proffered  revenue,  he  persisted  in  representing  himself  to  the 
world  as  the  "  prisoner  of  the  Vatican."  On  his  account,  fur- 
thermore, Italy's  relations  to  France  were  somewhat  clouded  over. 
The  French  government  constantly  maintained  a  ship  of  war  at 
Civita  Vecchia  for  the  Pope's  use,  in  case  at  any  time  he  desired 
to  leave  the  eleven  thousand  rooms  of  his  gorgeous  prison. 

In  Spain  another  candidate  had  been  found  in  place  of  Prince 
Leopold  of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.  Marshal  Prim  persuaded 
the  second  son  of  the  Italian  sovereign,  Amadeo,  Duke  of  Aosta, 
to  accept  the  throne;  and  on  the  16th  of  November,  1870,  the 
Cortes  elected  him  king  by  a  vote  of  191  to  98.  January  2d, 
1871,  the  new  king  entered  Madrid  and  took  the  oath  to  the  con- 
stitution ;  but  the  king-maker,  Prim,  had  already  perished  at  the 
hands  of  assassins.  Amadeo's  government,  under  which  Serrano 
was  the  first  minister-president,  was  one  continued  scramble  for 
office  on  the  part  of  the  regular  monarchists,  while  the  Carlists 
and  republicans  busied  themselves  in  organizing  insurrections  in 
the  north  and  south  respectively.  Serrano  and  Topete,  Sagasta 
and  Zorilla,  gained  and  lost  office  with  confusing  rapidity.  The 
king  held  fast  to  the  constitution  of  1869,  but  was  bitterly  hated 
by  the  powerful  nobles  and  the  clergy  as  a  stranger  and  the  son 
of  Victor  Emmanuel.  lie  and  his  family  were  exposed  to  con- 
stant insults,  until  he  was  at  length  forced  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  house  of  Savoy,  Italy's  pride,  could  not  take  root  in  a  land 
where  parties  were  more  concerned  to  provide  for  their  own  in- 


SPAIN:  KING  AMADEO  SUCCEEDED  BY  A  REPUBLIC.    479 

terests  than  for  the  welfare  of  their  common  country.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  8th  of  February,  1873,  after  a  reign  of  two  years,  he 
communicated  to  Zorilla,  as  minister-president,  his  irrevocable  de- 
termination to  lay  down  the  crown.  On  the  llth  he  sent  to  the 
Cortes  a  message  announcing  his  abdication,  and  on  the  following 
day  left  Madrid  for  Italy,  where  he  was  reinstated  in  his  former 
position.  On  the  receipt  of  the  royal  message  of  abdication  the 
Cortes  declared  in  favor  of  a  republic ;  and  on  the  day  of  the  ex- 
king's  departure  a  ministry  was  chosen  to  carry  on  the  govern- 
ment, with  Figueras  as  president,  and  Castelar  as  minister  of  for- 
eign affairs.  The  programme  of  the  new  rulers  was :  a  federative 
republic  for  Spain,  with  self-government  of  the  individual  states, 
after  the  pattern  of  Switzerland  and  the  United  States ;  no  cen- 
tralization ;  abolition  of  the  standing  army ;  absolute  separation 
of  church  and  state;  proclamation  of  the  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual on  the  basis  of  a  democratic  constitution  and  under  the 
authority  of  the  law.  If  these  political  fantasies  were  adopted 
into  the  new  constitution  Spain  must  cease  to  exist,  and  be  re- 
placed by  a  quantity  of  cantons,  free  cities,  and  communes,  rent 
by  repeated  Parisian  rebellions.  The  Cortes  was  disbanded,  and 
a  constituent  Cortes  summoned  to  meet  on  the  1st  of  June.  On 
the  8th  of  June  this  body  declared  for  the  federative  republic,  and 
draughted  a  constitution  embodying  the  above  principles.  But 
even  this  did  not  satisfy  the  so-called  Intransigentes,  who  wished 
for  the  red  republic  and  a  social  revolution.  As  they  could  not 
gain  a  majority  for  their  views  they  seceded,  and  raised  the  red 
flag  in  the  southern  cities.  Ministries  and  presidents  followed 
one  another  in  rapid  succession.  September  7th  Castelar  was 
chosen  president  of  the  executive.  He  found  himself  face  to 
face  with  such  a  chaotic  condition  of  affairs  that  he  was  obliged 
to  condition  his  acceptance  on  the  surrender  to  him  of  full  power 
to  adopt  whatever  measures,  military  or  political,  he  deemed  nec- 
essary, among  which  was  included  the  declaration  of  a  state  of 
siege.  The  discussion  of  the  proposed  constitution  was  post- 
poned, and  the  Cortes  adjourned  from  the  18th  of  September  to 
the  2d  of  January,  1874.  Castelar,  the  enthusiastic  federative  re- 
publican— who  had  already,  however,  begun  to  understand  the  dif- 
ference between  theory  and  practice — had  become  a  full-fledged 
dictator.  A  strong  hand  was  needed ;  for  in  the  north  the  Car- 
lists —  whose  pretender,  Don  Carlos,  together  with  his  brother,  Don 


480  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF   RECEiNT   TIMES. 

Alonzo,  "had  appeared  in  person — were  making  alarming  progress, 
while  in  the  south  several  cities  had  set  up  communes  and  refused 
allegiance  to  the  government;  and,  to  enhance  the  difficulties  of 
the  situation,  shameful  insubordination  prevailed  in  the  army — 
soldiers  fired  on  their  own  officers,  and  generals  went  over  to  the 
rebels.  It  was  necessary  to  take  the  cities  of  Alcoy,  Seville,  Ca- 
diz, and  Valencia  by  force,  while  other  places  only  returned  to 
their  obedience  on  the  approach  of  the  governmental  troops. 
The  resistance  in  the  maritime  fortress  of  Cartagena  lasted  lon- 
gest. There  General  Contrcras,  at  the  head  of  a  committee  of 
safety,  transacted  diplomatic  business  with  the  foreign  consuls 
under  the  title  of  President  of  Murcia,  and  even  bombarded  the 
neighboring  ports  of  Almeria  and  Alicante,  and  laid  them  un- 
der contribution.  But  these  piratical  expeditions  brought  him 
into  conflict  with  foreign  war-vessels ;  and  an  energetic  German 
captain,  Werner,  supported  by  an  English  colleague,  took  away 
from  him  two  of  his  ships.  Cartagena  was  finally  beleaguered 
on  the  land  side,  and  bombarded  by  the  national  troops  under 
General  Lopez-Dominguez.  It  was  taken  on  the  12th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1874,  after  a  siege  of  four  months;  but  Contreras,  with  the 
revolutionary  junta  and  several  hundred  followers,  escaped  on  a 
war-steamer,  made  his  way  through  the  weak  blockading  squad- 
ron, and  reached  Algiers  in  safety. 

That  Castelar  had  brought  the  federative  republicans  to  reason 
with  powder  and  lead,  had  intrusted  conservative  generals  with 
commissions  in  the  army,  and  had  entered  into  negotiations  with 
the  Papal  stool  with  reference  to  vacant  bishoprics — all  these 
things  were  unpardonable  offences  in  the  eyes  of  his  former 
party  associates,  who  had  neither  forgotten  anything  nor  learned 
anything.  On  the  reassembling  of  the  Cortes,  January  2d,  1874, 
its  president,  Salmeron,  procured  a  vote  of  lack  of  confidence 
against  Castelar's  government,  and  Castelar  accordingly  resigned. 
Before  farther  action  could  be  had,  on  the  morning  of  the  3d, 
the  Cortes  was  dispersed  by  Pavia,  Captain-general  of  Madrid, 
and  a  military  dictatorship  set  up  under  Marshal  Serrano.  Re- 
publican insurrections  broke  out  in  several  cities,  but  were  quick- 
ly put  down,  and  larger  forces  were  put  in  the  field  against  the 
Carlists.  The  latter  held  the  important  fortress  of  Bilbao  closely 
invested,  and  had  made  themselves  masters  of  Porttigaleto,  the 
port  of  that  place.  Genera!  Moriones  had  escaped  annihilation 


THE   CORTES   DISPERSED,  AND  SERRANO   DICTATOR.     481 

at  their  hands  only  by  taking  refuge  on  board  ship,  and  when  he 
again  advanced  to  the  relief  of  Bilbao  from  the  west  he  was 
defeated  at  Somrnorostro  (February  24th,  1874),  and  obliged  to 
retreat.  Serrano,  who  bore  the  title  President  of  the  executive 
power  of  the  republic,  hurried  to  the  spot  in  person.  In  the  bat- 
tles of  March  25th  and  26th  he  was  unable  to  break  through  the 
strong  positions  of  the  Carlists  at  Sommorostro;  but  on  the  28th 
of  April,  having  in  the  mean  time  received  re-enforcements,  he  re- 
newed the  attack,  and  on  the  1st  of  May  the  enemy  was  obliged 
to  abandon  all  his  positions,  raise  the  siege  of  Bilbao,  and  evacu- 
ate Portugalete.  On  the  25th  of  June  General  Concha,  who  had 
been  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  north, 
attacked  Dorregaray,  whose  forces  occupied  a  strongly  fortified 
position  on  the  heights  of  Estella,  but  was  defeated  after  three 
days'  fighting,  and  himself  fell  on  the  field.  The  Carlists  neg- 
lected to  make  at  once  the  proper  strategical  use  of  their  victory, 
and  were,  furthermore,  barbarous  enough  to  shoot  a  number  of 
their  prisoners.  Don  Alonzo,  the  brother  of  the  pretender,  was 
no  more  civilized  in  his  operations  on  the  side  toward  Catalonia, 
where  he  captured  the  Castilian  city  of  Cuenca  on  the  15th  of 
July,  and  gave  it  over  to  plunder,  fire,  and  sword.  In  the  north 
the  Carlist  general  Mendiri  failed  to  take  the  fortress  of  Irun, 
and  was  defeated  by  Laserna  on  the  10th  of  November,  1874; 
but  on  the  9th  of  December  he  in  his  turn  defeated  General 
Loma  and  drove  him  back  to  San  Sebastian.  Serrano  hurried 
once  more  to  the  scene  of  action,  with  the  intention  of  putting 
himself  at  the  head  of  four  army  corps,  and  by  a  general  at- 
tack drive  the  enemy  back  to  the  French  frontier,  but  some 
time  elapsed  before  he  could  collect  a.  force  sufficient  for  the 
purpose. 

Don  Carlos's  disregard  of  the  laws  of  civilized  warfare  had 
raised  up  for  Marshal  Serrano  unexpected  allies.  June  30th, 
1874,  the  Spanish  pretender  had  caused  Schmidt,  a  quondam  Prus- 
sian captain,  who,  while  acting  as  correspondent  of  German  pa- 
pers in  Concha's  head-quarters  at  Estella,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Carlists,  to  be  shot,  although  he  was  not  a  combatant.  This 
action,  which  set  at  defiance  all  the  laws  of  civilized  warfare — 
and  in  general  their  barbarous  method  of  waging  war — led 
Prince  Bismarck  to  take  diplomatic  steps  against  the  Carlists. 
The  latter  were  supplied  with  funds  by  the  Legitimists  in  France, 

21 


482  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  KECEXT  TIMES. 

the  feudalists  in  Austria,  and  the  Jesuits  in  the  Vatican.  Bis- 
marck now  induced  the  other  powers  to  accord  Serrano  official 
recognition,  and  exerted  on  the  French  government,  which  was 
affording  the  Carlists  on  its  Pyrencan  border  every  possible  ad- 
vantage, an  indirect  pressure,  resulting  in  a  better  fulfilment  by 
the  latter  of  its  neutral  obligations.  All  the  powers  except  Rus- 
sia recognized  Serrano's  government  by  sending  ambassadors  to 
Madrid,  where  the  German  representative  was  received  with 
marked  attention  on  the  12th  of  September.  Two  German 
ships  were  also  despatched  to  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  to  protect  the 
interests  of  German  citizens,  and  prevent  the  smuggling  in  of  con- 
traband of  war.  But  the  insignificant  character  of  the  successes 
which  Serrano  was  able  to  win  against  the  Carlists  brought  about 
another  revolution  toward  the  close  of  the  year  1874.  In  Mur- 
viedro,  on  the  29th  day  of  December,  General  Martinez  Campos, 
who,  like  most  of  the  officers,  was  an  adherent  of  the  deposed 
Bourbon  dynasty,  proclaimed  the  son  of  ex-Queen  Isabella,  King 
Alphonso  XII.  of  Spain.  The  army  everywhere  forthwith  pro- 
nounced for  Alphonso,  Sagasta's  ministry  resigned,  Serrano  laid 
down  the  presidency  and  the  chief  command ;  a  ministerial 
regency  was  formed,  with  Canovas  del  Castillos  as  its  chief  (De- 
cember 81st),  and  Isabella,  who  was  in  Paris,  was  at  once  informed 
of  the  elevation  of  her  son  to  the  throne.  Alphonso  left  Paris 
on  the  6th  of  January,  1875,  landed  in  Barcelona,  entered  Madrid 
on  the  14th,  and,  although  not  quite  eighteen  years  of  age,  at 
once  assumed  the  reins  of  government.  The  inexperienced  sov- 
ereign had  a  difficult  position  to  maintain.  The  treasury  was  al- 
most empty,  while  the  war  with  the  Carlists  consumed  vast  sums 
with  very  small  results ;  the  intimate  relations  of  the  king  to  his 
god-father,  Pope  Pius,  necessitated  special  delicacy  of  manage- 
ment in  that  direction,  while  the  Papal  nuntius  demanded,  in  con- 
sideration of  his  support,  the  most  comprehensive  concessions, 
involving  the  restoration  of  the  old  intolerance  and  priestcraft, 
and,  if  possible,  the  Inquisition ;  at  the  same  time  the  ex-queen, 
Isabella,  whose  shameless  life  had  long  since  deprived  her  of  all 
claims  to  respect,  waited  eagerly  for  her  recall  to  Madrid.  On 
all  sides  appeared  dangerous  rocks  on  which  the  new  government 
threatened  to  go  to  shipwreck.  In  military  affairs  the  capitula- 
tion of  the  fortress  of  Seo  de  Ilrgel,  in  the  northern  part  of  Cata- 
lonia, where  the  Carlist  general  Lizzaraga  was  in  command  (An- 


AUSTRIAN  AUTONOMISTS.  483 

gust  27th,  1875),  was  the  most  important  success  of  the  first  year 
of  the  young  king's  reign. 

That  which  the  federative  republicans  were  endeavoring  to 
accomplish  in  Spain — the  separation  of  a  centralized  state  into 
the  greatest  possible  number  of  "  historico-political  individuali- 
ties"— Francis  Joseph  and  his  new  ministry  were  attempting  to 
effect  in  Austria.  The  political  vagaries  of  the  Czechish  Count 
Belcredi  had  scarcely  been  forgotten  when  another  count  was  in- 
trusted with  the  power  to  try  the  same  dangerous  experiments. 
February  4th,  1871,  Potocki's  ministry  was  dismissed,  and  Count 
Hohenwart  named  minister  of  the  interior,  and  commissioned 
with  the  formation  of  a  new  "  ministry  independent  of  parties." 
He  took  into  his  cabinet  two  Czechs,  members  of  the  party  of 
autonomy,  and  even  gave  one  of  them  the  portfolio  of  religion 
and  instruction — something  which  had  never  before  occurred  in 
Austria;  while  he  made  Schaffle  of  Wiirtemberg — professor  of 
political  economy  at  Vienna,  and  well  known  for  his  hatred  of 
Prussia — minister  of  commerce.  This  ministry  made  no  secret 
of  the  fact  that  it  proposed  to  grant  Galicia  and  Bohemia,  as  well 
as  the  Slovenians  and  other  nationalities,  an  independent  position 
with  relation  to  the  federal  state  similar  to  that  of  Hungary.  To 
carry  these  plans  through  the  JReichsrath,  Hohenwart  dissolved 
the  lower  house,  together  with  all  those  provincial  parliaments 
which  remained  faithful  to  the  constitution,  and,  in  concert  with 
the  Czechish  leaders,  Rieger  and  Clam-Martin itz,  drew  up  the  out- 
lines of  the  new  constitution  to  be  given  to  Bohemia.  Accord- 
ing to  his  plan  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  was  to  have  nothing  in 
common  with  the  rest  of  Cisleithania  but  its  relations  to  foreign 
powers,  and  a  part  of  its  military  and  financial  affairs,  which  were 
to  be  settled  by  delegations  from  the  different  states  in  common; 
everything  else — instruction,  justice,  taxation,  police  administra- 
tion, railroads,  and  the  like  —  was  to  be  exclusively  within  the 
competence  of  the  Bohemian  parliament,  and  the  separate  exist- 
ence of  the  kingdom  was  to  be  farther  manifested  by  the  corona- 
tion of  the  emperor  with  the  holy  crown  of  Wenceslaus.  If  this 
arrangement  had  been  actually  carried  out,  the  1,800,000  Ger- 
mans who  live  among  the  2,800,000  Czechs  in  Bohemia  would 
have  been  reduced  to  the  condition  of  pariahs.  The  excitement 
among  all  the  Germans  in  Austria  was  intense.  The  state  was 
again  tottering  on  the  verge  of  a  precipice.  Almost  too  late  the 


484  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

emperor's  eyes  were  opened  to  the  disastrous  consequences  of 
such  an  arrangement  by  his  friend  the  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony 
and  his  prime -minister,  Beust.  The  Hungarian  minister-presi- 
dent, Count  Andrassy,  who  saw  in  this  settlement  with  the  Czech- 
ish Slavs  nothing  but  danger  for  Hungary,  with  its  4,000,000 
Slavs,  opposed  it  in  the  council  of  ministers  on  the  20th  of  Octo- 
ber, and  it  was  at  last  rejected,  whereupon  Hohenwart  handed  in 
his  resignation.  Count  Beust,  who  had  warned  the  emperor  too 
late,  and  thus  compromised  his  position,  was  deprived  of  his  office 
on  the  8th  of  November  and  made  ambassador  in  London,  Count 
Andrassy  becoming  in  his  stead  minister  of  foreign  affairs  and 
president  of  the  common  council  of  ministers.  November  20th 
Prince  Adolph  Auersperg,  in  whose  hands  the  constitution  was 
perfectly  safe,  undertook  the  formation  of  a  Cisleithan  ministry. 
The  separatist  tendencies  of  the  Czechs  were  at  once  curbed. 
The  Bohemian  landtag,  where  the  Czechs  were  the  dominant 
element,  was  dissolved  on  the  13th  of  March,  1872,  and  the  new 
elections  resulted  in  a  majority  of  more  than  two-thirds  for  the 
German  party.  The  subsequent  withdrawal  of  the  Czechish  mem- 
bers admitted  of  a  more  rapid  despatch  of  business,  and  in  a  man- 
ner more  in  harmony  with  the  true  interests  of  the  country.  A 
bill  for  electoral  reform  was  laid  before  the  Reichsrath  of  1873, 
according  to  the  provisions  of  which  delegates  to  that  body  were 
no  longer  to  be  elected  by  the  provincial  parliaments,  but  direct!  v 
by  the  people.  The  bill  passed  both  houses,  and  in  October  of 
the  same  year  the  working  of  the  new  law  was  tested  for  the  first 
time.  At  those  elections  353  representatives  were  elected,  and  of 
these  233  belonged  to  the  constitutional  party.  Upon  them  de- 
volved the  task  of  considering  the  four  church  laws  which  were 
laid  before  the  Reichsrath  of  1874,  These  laws  concerned  the 
external  legal  status  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the  question 
of  cloisters,  the  contributions  to  the  fund  for  the  support  of  re- 
ligious ministrations,  and  the  recognition  of  the  not  yet  recog- 
nized religious  societies.  In  the  teeth  of  the  protests  of  the  Vat- 
ican, and  notwithstanding  the  declaration  of  the  bishops  that  they 
would  continue  to  adhere  to  the  concordat,  whether  done  away 
with  by  the  state  or  not,  the  first  three  laws  were  accepted  by  the 
Reichsrath  and  signed  by  the  emperor.  The  consideration  of  the 
fourth,  which  dealt  especially  with  the  position  of  the  Old  Catho- 
lics— who  were  treated  with  manifest  unfairness  by  the  Austrian 


ELECTORAL   REFORM  AND   CHURCH  LAWS.  485 

government — was  deferred.  But  the  passage  of  these  laws  did 
not  necessarily  imply  that  important  results  would  follow,  espe- 
cially as  their  execution  was  not  committed  to  the  courts,  but 
to  the  administrative  officers  of  the  government.  Even  now  the 
ministry  showed  an  unpardonable  weakness  in  its  dealings  with 
the  bishops ;  and  when  an  interpellation  on  that  subject  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  minister  of  religion  and  public  instruction,  he  made 
the  naive  confession  that  his  hands  were  tied,  and  he  could  not  do 
what  he  would.  In  the  midst  of  this  period  of  legislative  activi- 
ty (May  1st,  1873)  the  World  Exposition  at  Vienna  was  opened, 
which  was  visited  during  the  summer  by  almost  all  the  monarchs 
of  Europe.  About  the  same  time,  in  consequence  of  dishonest 
enterprises  and  excessive  speculation,  occurred  the  crisis  on  the 
Vienna  Borse,  which  ruined  so  many  banks  and  business  houses. 

Russia,  taking  advantage  of  the  political  situation  of  the  year 
1870,  declared,  in  a  note  of  October  31st  of  that  year,  that  it 
could  no  longer  be  bound  by  those  provisions  of  the  Peace  of 
Paris  of  1856  prescribing  the  size  and  number  of  the  war-vessels 
which  it  might  maintain  in  the  Black  Sea,  and  indicated  its  will- 
ingness to  enter  into  negotiations  upon  that  subject.  London 
and  Vienna  were  in  great  excitement  at  this  very  natural  step  on 
the  part  of  the  Russian  government,  while  Turkey,  which  should 
have  felt  the  most  concern,  treated  the  whole  matter  with  indif- 
ference. Bismarck's  opportunity  to  repay  Russia  for  her  neu- 
trality had  arrived,  and  he  at  once  proposed  a  congress  of  the 
signers  of  the  Peace  of  Paris,  to  meet  in  London,  for  the  settle- 
ment of  this  question.  Jules  Favre  endeavored  to  make  use  of 
the  opening  of  this  Pontus  conference  (January  17th,  1871)  for 
laying  before  the  powers  French  complaints  against  Germany, 
but  he  could  not  leave  Paris  without  a  pass  from  its  besiegers ; 
so  that  Bismarck  was  enabled  to  make  it  plain  to  him  that  he 
had  more  important  matters  to  attend  to  in  Paris  than  in  Lon- 
don, and  the  provisional  government  was  ultimately  represented 
by  the  Duke  de  Broglie.  The  treaty  drawn  up  by  the  confer- 
ence on  the  13th  of  March  was  quite  in  accord  with  Russia's 
wishes.  In  central  Asia  Russian  influence  was  greatly  increased 
during  the  period  under  consideration  by  the  well  prepared  and 
successfully  executed  expedition  against  Khiva,  in  Turkestan.  In 
1871  China,  having  lost  Kashgar  by  insurrection,  ceded  to  Russia 
for  temporary  occupation  Kulja,  in  the  south-eastern  corner  of 


486  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

Turkestan.  In  1873  Russia  was  at  length  ready  to  attack  Khi- 
va; and  General  Kaufraann,  with  14,000  men,  sixty  cannon,  and 
a  few  thousand  camels,  entered  the  capital,  Khiva,  after  some  in- 
significant fighting,  on  the  10th  of  June  of  that  year.  For  the 
present  the  khanate  was  not  directly  annexed  to  the  Russian  em- 
pire, but  converted  into  a  vassal  state,  the  exclusive  mercantile 
domain  of  the  Russians.  Kaufmann  deserves  to  be  held  up  to 
the  detestation  of  all  civilized  nations  for  the  barbarous  cruelty 
which  he  practised  toward  the  Turcomans  in  this  campaign.  An 
insurrection  against  the  Khan  of  Khokand  afforded  an  excellent 
opportunity  for  an  intervention  in  the  affairs  of  that  country, 
resulting  in  annexation.  Kaufmann  entered  the  capital  city  of 
Khokand  in  1875,  and  in  1876  the  country  became  part  of  the 
Russian  dominions,  under  its  old  name  of  Ferghana.  While  his 
soldiers  were  annexing  new  territory  to  the  unwieldy  Russian 
state,  the  emperor  was  endeavoring  to  improve  the  organization 
of  his  army  by  the  introduction  of  compulsory  military  service 
for  all  his  subjects  (January  13th,  1874).  As  Russia  in  Europe 
has  a  population  of  some  71,000,000,  this  must  result  in  raising 
its  military  strength  to  a  point  dangerous  for  the  neighboring 
states.  At  the  same  time  that  Russian  generals  were  commit- 
ting the  most  fearful  atrocities  in  central  Asia  a  conference  was 
opened  in  Brussels,  at  the  call  of  the  Czar  (July  27th,  1874),  to 
establish  for  all  future  wars  an  international  rule  in  the  interests 
of  humanity,  which,  however  desirable  it  may  be,  is  scarcely  prac- 
ticable at  present. 

During  the  years  1870— '75  the  position  of  the  Turkish  gov- 
ernment toward  its  vassal  states  was  becoming  constantly  more 
untenable.  By  a  judicious  use  of  money  Ismail  Pasha,  Khedive 
of  Egypt,  procured  for  himself  more  and  more  privileges  from 
the  Porte,  until  he  had  almost  acquired  full  and  independent  sov- 
ereignty. In  the  year  1874  he  rounded  out  his  territory  toward 
the  south  by  the  annexation  of  Darfur,  the  occasion  for  which 
was  presented  by  an  inroad  of  the  Sultan  of  that  state  into  Cor- 
dofan,  an  Egyptian  dependency.  The  princes  of  Roumania  and 
Servia,  on  their  part,  found  it  almost  difficult  not  to  renounce  all 
allegiance  to  Abdul  Aziz,  the  Turkish  Sultan.  In  1874  a  demon- 
strative friendship  sprung  up  between  the  two  princes,  making  it 
appear  as  though  they  were  preparing,  in  a  certain  event,  for  com- 
mon action.  In  1871  one  of  the  two,  Prince  Charles  of  Rouma- 


TURKEY,  THE   VASSAL  STATES,  AND  GREECE.  487 

nia,  had  been  on  the  point  of  abdicating.  The  radicals  had  long 
been  anxious  for  his  overthrow,  and  Minister  Joan  Ghika,  a  mem- 
ber of  that  party,  thought  that  he  could  make  use  of  the  riot  oc- 
casioned by  the  celebration  by  the  Germans  resident  in  Bucha- 
rest of  the  triumph  of  Germany  over  France  (March  22d,  1871) 
to  bring  about  the  desired  result ;  but  the  insurrection  was  put 
down,  the  compromised  ministry  obliged  to  resign,  and  the  new 
conservative  ministry  of  Catargiu  induced  the  prince  to  remain. 
In  August  of  1875  disturbances  broke  out  in  Herzegovina,  hav- 
ing for  their  object  the  separation  of  that  province  from  Turkey, 
or,  at  the  least,  its  erection  into  a  semi-independent  vassal  state. 
The  relations  of  Greece  to  Turkey  assumed,  on  the  whole,  a  better 
shape,  but  the  interior  development  of  the  little  kingdom  was 
crippled  by  partisan  strife  and  incessant  changes  of  ministry. 
The  only  question  that  brought  Greece  before  the  political  world 
in  the  six  years  under  consideration  was  one  that  does  not  re- 
dound to  her  credit.  A  French  and  Italian  company  had  received 
a  concession  of  the  worked-out  Laurion  silver-mines,  from  which 
their  improved  processes  soon  enabled  them  to  derive  considera- 
ble profit.  This  unexpected  result  awakened  Greek  avarice,  and 
in  May  of  1871  a  law  was  passed  declaring  the  Laurion  Moun- 
tains national  property,  and  dispossessing  the  enterprising  for- 
eigners. The  French  and  Italian  ministers  took  the  matter  up, 
and  negotiations  were  carried  on  with  four  rapidly  changing 
ministries — Comunduros,  Zaimis,  Bulgaris,  Deligcorgis — resulting 
finally  in  the  purchase  of  the  mines  by  the  government  in  1873. 
England  during  this  period  was  involved  in  one  of  those  petty 
wars  which  are  partly  the  inevitable  result  of  her  contact  with 
barbaric  tribes,  and  partly  the  reprehensible  result  of  an  insolent 
and  overbearing  habit  of  the  English  mind,  especially  toward 
weaker  states.  She  had  ceded  her  claims  in  Sumatra  to  Holland 
in  partial  payment  for  the  Dutch -possessions  on  the  Gold  Coast. 
The  result  of  the  transfer  was  that  Holland  became  involved  in 
a  war  with  Atchin,  and  England  with  Ash  an  tee.  The  Ashantec 
king  disputed  with  the  English  the  possession  of  the  city  of  El- 
mina — which  was  included  in  the  ceded  territory — made  inroads 
into  the  district  under  English  protection,  and  carried  off  German 
missionaries  to  his  capital,  Coomassie.  On  the  13th  of  June, 
1873,  the  English  bombarded  Elmina  and  reduced  it  to  a  heap 
of  ashes.  September  12th,  in  order  to  chastise  the  enemy  in  his 


488  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  HECENT  TIMES. 

own  country,  the  government  sent  a  larger  force  to  the  scene  of 
war  under  General  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley.  December  27th,  after 
driving  the  enemy  out  of  the  protectorate,  the  English  forces  set 
out  on  their  inarch  to  Coomassie — whereupon  the  imprisoned  mis- 
sionaries were  at  once  released — and,  after  defeating  the  Ashan- 
tees  in  several  encounters,  entered  the  capital  on  the  4th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1874.  As  the  negotiations  with  reference  to  a  peace  led 
to  no  result,  Wolseley  burnt  Coomassie  and  returned  to  the  pro- 
tectorate, destroying  on  the  way  as  many  of  the  enemy's  villages 
as  he  could  reach.  This  brought  Kalkalli  to  reason,  and  a  peace 
was  concluded,  by  which  he  agreed  to  pay  a  fine,  his  sovereignty 
was  limited,  human  sacrifices  were  abolished,  and  certain  commer- 
cial concessions  were  made.  The  English  government  now  united 
into  one  colony  its  various  possessions  on  the  west  coast — Gold 
Coast,  Slave  Coast,  and  the  district  of  Lagos — under  the  name  of 
the  Gold  Coast  Colony,  and  committed  the  administration  of  the 
whole  colony  to  two  governors.  At  the  same  time  it  exacted 
from  the  various  native  chiefs  the  abolition  of  slavery.  In  the 
same  year  (1874)  occurred  the  occupation  of  the  Fiji  Islands, 
which  were  offered  to  England  by  the  inhabitants  themselves. 
The  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  in  Zanzibar  was  extorted  from 
the  Sultan  of  that  place  by  the  mission  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  whose 
representations  were  supported  by  a  few  men-of-war,  the  treaty 
being  signed  on  the  5th  of  June,  1873.  In  home  affairs  the  prin- 
cipal measures  of  Gladstone's  administration  had  been  an  Irish 
land  bill — which  made  a  beginning  in  the  right  direction — the 
abolition  of  purchase  in  the  army  by  an  exercise  of  royal  prerog- 
ative, the  introduction  of  secret  voting  by  means  of  the  ballot, 
the  removal  of  the  remaining  religious  tests  at  the  Universities  of 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  the  establishment  of  a  uniform  and 
national  school  system.  The  ministry  had  come  in  on  an  Irish 
question,  and  it  was  an  Irish  question  on  which  it  went  out.  Mr. 
Gladstone's  Irish  university  bill  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  287  to 
284,  in  the  spring  of  1873,  and  he  at  once  resigned;  but,  as  Dis- 
raeli declined  to  undertake  the  task  of  forming  a  new  ministry, 
he  withdrew  his  resignation  and  remained  in  office.  In  January 
of  1874  he  dissolved  Parliament  and  appealed  to  the  country. 
The  elections  resulted  in  a  large  majority  for  the  conservatives, 
and  on  the  20th  of  February  Disraeli  took  office  with  a  conserv- 
ative cabinet.  The  Irish  home-rulers  in  the  new  house  brought 


HOLLAND  AND  BELGIUM.  489 

forward  a  measure  for  the  establishment  of  an  Irish  parliament, 
which  would  have  brought  Ireland  into  a  position  toward  Eng- 
land similar  to  that  of  Hungary  toward  Austria;  but  the  bill 
was,  of  course,  defeated  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  Far  more 
hopeless  even  had  been  Sir  Charles  Dilke's  republican  agitation 
in  the  year  1872.  This  had  culminated  in  a  scene  in  Parliament, 
on  occasion  of  Sir  Charles  Dilke's  motion  to  inquire  into  the 
manner  in  which  the  income  and  allowances  of  the  Crown  were 
spent,  which,  although  in  itself  more  becoming  Hottentot  rioters 
than  English  statesmen,  at  least  demonstrated  the  intensity  and 
universality  of  royalist  sentiment.  Whatever  success,  too,  Dilke 
had  at  first  acquired  in  his  tour  through  the  country  had  been 
before  that  time  more  than  neutralized  by  the  dangerous  illness 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  intensely  loyal  sentiment  that  ill- 
ness had  called  forth. 

Holland,  which  claimed  a  protectorate  over  all  Sumatra,  and 
had  (as  has  just  been  narrated)  added  the  claims  of  England  to 
its  own,  made  war,  in  1873,  upon  the  independent  Malay  state  of 
Atchin,  in  the  extreme  north-west  corner  of  the  island,  under  pre- 
tence of  putting  a  stop  to  the  piracy  and  slave-trade  which  were 
the  chief  industry  of  its  Sultan,  but  in  reality  in  order  to  annex 
his  territory.  The  first  expedition,  in  March  of  1873,  failed  ut- 
terly. In  December  of  the  same  year  a  second  expeditionary 
corps,  consisting  of  about  12,000  men,  under  the  command  of 
General  van  Swieten,  landed  at  Atchin,  defeated  the  enemy  in 
several  encounters,  besieged  the  Sultan's  fortified  palace,  the  Cra 
ton,  and  began  a  bombardment.  Thereupon  the  Sultan  evacuated 
the  palace  and  fled  into  the  interior,  and  on  the  24th  of  January, 
1874,  van  Swieten's  troops  marched  in.  The  vassal  states  were 
compelled  to  submit  to  Dutch  supremacy,  Atchin  itself  was  incor- 
porated with  the  Dutch  possessions,  and,  on  the  return  of  the  ex- 
pedition, a  strong  garrison  was  left  behind.  The  influence  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  war  made  itself  visible  in  Holland  in  the  intro- 
duction of  compulsory  and  universal  military  service,  a  bill  to 
this  effect  having  finally  been  carried  through  the  chambers  to- 
ward the  close  of  1873.  In  Belgium  the  necessity  for  such  a 
measure  was  universally  recognized  among  military  men,  but  the 
clergy  opposed  it,  on  account  of  the  educational  advances  which 
it  would  involve.  After  a  thirteen  years'  lease  of  office,  the  lib- 
eral ministry  in  that  country  had  been  obliged  to  resign  on  the 

21* 


490  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

2d  of  July,  1870,  in  consequence  of  the  results  of  the  supple- 
mentary elections.  The  enormous  increase  of  the  influence  of 
the  clergy — who  have  in  their  hands  not  merely  the  common 
school  system  and  girls'  schools  of  all  sorts,  but  also  for  the  most 
part  the  higher  educational  institutions,  and  whose  effort  it  is  to 
make  even  capital  dependent  upon  their  will — has  been  a  serious 
drawback  in  the  way  of  national  development.  As  far  back  as 
the  year  1866  there  were  in  Belgium  1314  cloisters,  inhabited  by 
18,162  monks  and  nuns.  The  root  of  this  evil  must  be  sought 
in  the  constitution  so  long  held  up  as  a  pattern,  which,  by  adopt- 
ing the  principle  of  the  independence  of  the  church  and  its  com- 
plete separation  from  the  state,  has  apparently  strengthened  the 
hands  of  the  Jesuits  instead  of  producing  liberal  citizens.  In 
1875  the  supplementary  elections  resulted  in  favor  of  the  liberals, 
without,  however,  giving  them  the  majority  in  the  chamber. 

The  Scandinavian  countries  are  almost  forgotten  in  European 
history,  as  they  have  of  late  come  so  little  into  the  sphere  of 
its  politics.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war  great 
hopes  were  entertained  in  Denmark  of  the  restoration  of  Schles- 
wig  and  Holstein ;  but  it  soon  became  evident  that  these  hopes 
were  illusory.  Internal  affairs  were  nothing  but  a  struggle  be- 
tween the  king  and  a  conservative  Landsthing  on  the  one  side, 
and  a  democratical  Folkething  on  the  other.  In  Sweden  and 
Norway  the  king  made  vain  attempts  to  effect  a  union  of  the 
two  kingdoms  into  one.  In  1872  Sweden  followed  the  general 
European  current  by  adopting  the  principle  of  compulsory  mili- 
tary service.  On  the  18th  of  September  of  that  year  Charles 
XV.  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Oscar  II.  The  Left,  which 
was  in  the  majority  in  the  Swedish  parliament,  reduced  the  civil 
list  of  the  new  king  from  900,000  to  800,000  thalers,  and  ob- 
jected so  strongly  to  the  expense  of  a  coronation  that  the  king 
ultimately  defrayed  the  costs  of  his  Swedish  coronation  from  his 
own  income.  Norway  still  persisted  in  her  resistance  to  union, 
and  even  refused  to  join  in  a  coinage  convention  with  Sweden 
and  Denmark,  although  consenting  to  a  postal  union  with  those 
two  countries. 

It  was  hard  for  republican  Switzerland  to  see  France,  which 
had  so  long  been  the  object  of  its  admiration,  humbled,  and  Ger- 
many, which  it  had  despised  and  scorned,  raised  to  a  place  among 
the  leading  states.  In  Zurich  the  attack  by  a  uniformed  and  un- 


SWITZERLAND:  REVISION   OF  CONSTITUTION.  491 

uniformed  mob  on  the  Germans  at  their  celebration  of  the  vic- 
tory over  France,  March  9th,  1871,  was  a  manifestation  of  a  sen- 
timent similar  to  that  in  Bucharest,  and  in  general  it  may  be  said 
that  the  sympathies  of  Europe  were  with  France  and  against  Ger- 
many. The  cantonal  government  proved  remiss  in  dealing  with 
the  rioters,  but  the  federal  authorities  did  all  they  could  to  atone 
for  the  outrage.  The  efforts  of  liberal  Switzerland  were  directed 
at  this  time  toward  a  revision  of  the  constitution,  and  thorough 
reforms  in  the  army,  the  church,  the  school,  the  social  laws,  and 
the  system  of  roads,  railroads,  and  intercourse  in  general.  In  the 
sessions  of  1871  and  1872  both  houses  of  the  federal  congress 
took  up  the  matter  of  constitutional  revision,  and  by  the  5th  of 
March,  1872,  had  reached  an  agreement  on  all  points.  The  re- 
vision was  next  submitted  to  a  double  vote,  that  of  the  cantonal 
governments  and  that  of  the  people.  The  result  of  this  was 
(May  12th,  1872)  that  of  the  twenty-two  cantons  thirteen  voted 
to  reject  the  revised  constitution,  while  the  popular  vote  stood 
252,816  in  favor  of  its  acceptance,  and  261,106  against  it.  This 
result  was  due  to  the  hatred  felt  by  the  non-German  cantons 
toward  a  work  which  had  been  branded  as  German,  fear  on  the 
part  of  the  priests  of  a  decrease  of  their  influence  in  church  and 
school,  and  the  particularism  of  the  so-called  Cantonese.  The 
liberals  did  not  lose  heart,  however,  and  in  the  session  of  1873 
the  federal  House  of  Representatives  resolved  to  take  up  the  re- 
vision once  more.  A  few  points  were  changed  in  the  interests  of 
cantonal  sovereignty,  while  others,  like  the  article  defining  the  re- 
lations of  church  and  state,  received  a  more  pronounced  form. 
The  new  revision  had  again  to  pass  through  the  ordeal  of  a 
double  vote.  April  19th,  1874,  fourteen  and  a  half  cantons  pro- 
nounced in  favor  of  its  acceptance,  and  seven  and  a  half  against, 
while  in  the  popular  vote  340,186  ballots  were  cast  for  it  to 
198,182  against.  The  revised  constitution  accordingly  became 
law.  The  cause  of  this  change  in  public  sentiment  between  the 
years  1872  and  1874  must  be  sought  in  the  intervening  ecclesias- 
tical troubles  by  which  the  French  cantons  had  been  driven  into 
the  liberal  camp.  Contrary  to  existing  treaties,  the  Pope  sep- 
arated Geneva  from  the  diocese  of  Freiburg,  formed  it  into  an 
independent  bishopric,  and  appointed  Mermillod,  a  pastor  in  Ge- 
neva, bishop  of  the  new  diocese.  In  spite  of  the  prohibition  of 
both  federal  and  cantonal  authorities  Mermillod  proceeded  to  ex- 


492  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

ercise  his  episcopal  functions,  for  which  he  was  arrested,  Febru- 
ary 17th,  1873,  and  sent  across  the  French  frontier.  The  adop- 
tion of  liberal  church  laws  and  the  formation  of  an  Old  Catholic 
congregation  in  Geneva  were  the  immediate  results  of  this  ill-ad- 
vised action  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  Curia,  Almost  at  the 
same  time  steps  were  taken  against  Lachat,  Bishop  of  Basel, 
whose  episcopal  residence  was  at  Solothurn.  As  lie  had  without 
authorization  proclaimed  the  dogma  of  Papal  infallibility,  and 
removed  and  excommunicated  pastors  who  refused  to  recognize 
it,  and  as  he  had  answered  with  a  refusal  the  demands  of  the 
diocesan  representatives  that  he  should  withdraw  the  decrees  of 
removal  and  excommunication  —  which  he  was  not  entitled  to 
issue  independently — the  diocesan  conference  of  January  28th? 
1873,  resolved  by  a  majority  of  five  to  three  to  depose  him  from 
his  office.  This  obliged  him  to  give  up  his  official  residence,  and 
on  the  17th  he  left  Solothurn  for  Lucerne.  As  the  cathedral 
chapter  obstinately  refused  to  appoint  an  administrator  of  the 
diocese,  the  diocesan  conference  decided  (December  21st,  1874) 
to  disband  the  chapter  and  liquidate  the  episcopal  property.  The 
protest  of  several  priests  in  the  Bernese  Jura  against  Lachat's  de- 
position was  answered  by  their  removal  by  the  Bernese  govern- 
ment, which  sent  troops  to  put  down  their  agitation,  and  finally 
expelled  them  from  the  Jura.  This  last  measure,  however,  was 
adjudged  unconstitutional  by  the  federal  senate  and  repealed. 
In  other  cas-s  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  gave  their 
firm  support  in  spite  of  all  protests  to  the  anti-clerical  measures 
of  the  cantonal  governments.  In  his  Encyclica  of  November 
21st,  1873,  the  Pope  condemned  these  measures  in  the  most  em- 
phatic manner,  and  threatened  the  perpetrators  with  excommuni- 
cation ;  whereupon  Agnozzi,  the  Papal  nuntius,  received  his  pass- 
port. Switzerland  had  thus  stepped  into  the  foremost  rank  of  the 
states  which  were  doing  battle  against  Romish  ambition.  January 
17th,  1874,  the  people  of  Berne  accepted  with  an  overwhelming 
majority  the  liberal  church  law  submitted  to  them  by  the  great 
council  of  the  canton,  and  at  the  university  of  Berne  an  Old 
Catholic  theological  faculty  was  set  up,  while  the  assembly  of 
delegates  of  the  Swiss  Old  Catholics  on  their  part  pronounced 
in  favor  of  a  national  church  and  national  episcopate. 

During  the  years  under  consideration  the  United  States  had 
once  narrowly  escaped  becoming  involved  in  war  with  a  Euro- 


CASE   OF  THE   "  VIRGINIUS."— SOUTH   AMERICA.         493 

pcan  power.  October  31st,  1873,  the  Viryinius  was  captured  by 
Spanish  vessels,  and  the  major  portion  of  the  crew  shot,  their 
offence  being  that,  under  cover  of  the  American  flag,  they  were 
conveying  men  and  arms  to  the  rebels  in  Cuba.  This  almost 
gave  rise  to  a  conflict  between  the  United  States  and  the  Span- 
ish republic ;  but  Castelar's  government,  which  found  complica- 
tions enough  to  attend  to  at  home,  considered  it  wiser  to  yield 
und  make  whatever  reparation  was  required.  In  Mexico,  after  the 
death  of  Juarez  (July  18th,  1872),  Lerdo  do  Tejada  was  chosen 
president.  Under  him  the  authority  of  the  state  over  the  Cath- 
olic hierarchy  was  successfully  maintained,  and  all  monastic  or- 
ders abolished.  Among  the  republics  of  South  America  bloody 
partisan  struggles  took  place  in  Peru,  La  Plata,  and  Uruguay ;  in 
Venezuela  and  Chili  recalcitrant  bishops  had  to  be  recalled  to  their 
obedience ;  in  Ecuador  the  president  himself  inaugurated  unlim- 
ited sway  of  the  Jesuits.  In  the  empire  of  Brazil  the  Bishop  of 
Olinda — who,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  published  the 
Papal  brief  excommunicating  the  Free-masons — was  tried  before 
the  supreme  court  (February  22d,  1874),  and  condemned  to  four 
years'  imprisonment,  with  hard  labor — a  sentence  which  the  em- 
peror, Pedro  II.,  commuted  into  simple  imprisonment.  Almost 
everywhere,  after  the  proclamation  of  the  dogma  of  Papal  infal- 
libility, the  state  either  slavishly  submitted  to  the  Roman  Curia 
or  became  involved  in  open  conflict  with  it ;  but  the  arena  where 
the  battle  waged  fiercest  was  in  the  very  centre  of  Europe. 


§  29. 

THE    GERMAN    EMPIRE    AND    THE    CULTURKAMPF. 

THE  relations  of  Germany  to  foreign  powers  were  everywhere 
Minicable.  Although  she  had  nowhere  gained  in  affection,  she 
had  won  increased  respect  on  all  sides.  By  Bismarck's  despatch 
«f  December  14th,  1870,  the  way  had  been  prepared  for  friendly 
intercourse  with  Austria;  and  the  meeting  of  Emperor  William 
with  Francis  Joseph,  in  Ischl  and  Salzburg,  in  1871,  was  attended 
with  such  favorable  results  that  the  year  1866  seemed  quite  for- 
gotten. The  meeting  of  the  three  emperors,  William,  Alexander, 


494  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

and  Francis  Joseph,  in  Berlin,  in  September  of  the  next  year,  was 
a  triumph  of  the  Bismarck  policy.  Each  of  the  three  sovereigns 
was  attended  by  his  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  and  political  con- 
ferences divided  the  time  with  court  festivities.  Formal  alliances 
were  not  concluded,  but  unity  of  sentiment  was  manifested  to  the 
world.  The  meeting  signified  that  the  three  sovereigns  of  the 
three  eastern  empires  were  and  would  remain  united,  and  that 
Russia  and  Austria  approved  of  the  German  victory,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  German  empire,  Germany's  claims  to  a  great  his- 
torical future,  and,  in  general,  the  ways  and  aims  of  the  German 
imperial  policy.  All  this  was  no  threat  against  France,  but  it 
was,  nevertheless,  an  indirect  warning  against  all  attempts  at  re- 
venge. This  meeting,  which  was  followed  by  return  visits  from 
the  German  emperor  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Vienna,  was  comple- 
mented by  a  visit  from  Victor  Emmanuel,  attended  by  two  of 
his  ministers,  in  Vienna  and  Berlin,  toward  the  close  of  the  year 
18V3.  His  journey  was  one  of  considerable  political  signifi- 
cance, for  no  one  had  more  to  fear  than  he  from  a  Clerical 
France,  whether  guided  by  Charabord  or  MacMahon ;  and  if  he 
looked  about  for  future  allies  to  strengthen  him  against  this  foe, 
none  could  be  found  from  whom  so  much  was  to  be  expected  as 
from  the  German  empire,  the  mighty  adversary  of  France  and 
the  Vatican.  Even  princes  who  for  decades  had  had  no  direct 
personal  intercourse  with  the  Berlin  court  now  visited  the  Ger- 
man emperor.  In  1872  he  received  a  visit  from  the  King  of 
Holland  in  Ems,  and  in  1875  King  Oscar  of  Sweden  visited  Ber- 
lin. With  France  diplomatic  relations  had  already  been  resumed 
before  the  end  of  1871.  Count  Arnim  was  the  first  representa- 
tive of  the  German  empire  in  Paris.  In  1874  he  came  into  con- 
flict with  Bismarck,  toward  whom  he  displayed  an  intractability 
resulting  in  open  insubordination.  This  led  to  his  removal,  and 
the  appointment  in  his  stead  of  Prince  Hohenlohe-Schillingsfiirst. 
It  was  then  ascertained  that  Arnim  had  abstracted  important 
political  documents  from  the  archives  of  the  German  embassy 
in  Paris.  As  all  demands  for  their  surrender  were  answered 
with  refusal,  he  was  arrested  on  the  4th  of  October,  1874 — but, 
on  account  of  his  feeble  state  of  health,  was  again  allowed  his 
freedom  —  and  cited  to  appear  before  the  criminal  court.  All 
Europe  was  interested  in  the  trial.  The  most  weighty  despatches 
were  read  and  published,  and  the  world  had  another  opportunity 


COUNT   ARNIM'S  TRIAL.  495 

to  admire  the  consistency  and  far-sightedness  of  Bismarck's  na- 
tional policy.  The  despatches  concerning  Germany's  position 
toward  France,  the  French  republic  and  the  French  pretenders, 
a  contingent  conflict  between  France  and  Italy,  and  the  future 
choice  of  a  Pope,  attracted  great  attention.  The  trial  ended,  on 
the  19th  of  December,  1874,  in  Arnim's  condemnation  to  three 
months'  imprisonment ;  but  both  accuser  and  accused  appealed 
from  this  decision.  The  appeal  of  the  latter  against  the  validity 
of  the  proceedings  in  the  lower  court  was  rejected  by  the  court 
of  third  instance  on  the  20th  of  October,  1875. 

The  internal  union  of  the  German  empire  was  completed  in  its 
essential  features  by  the  legislative  action  of  the  Reichstag.  The 
laws  regarding  imperial  mints,  imperial  notes,  and  a  common 
banking  system  brought  unity  out  of  intolerable  confusion  in  the 
department  of  finance.  Lasker  introduced  a  bill  looking  to  the 
same  unity  in  the  matter  of  civil  rights,  and  in  1874  a  judiciary 
committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  a  law  with  that  end  in  view. 
In  the  session  of  1874  an  imperial  military  law  was  laid  before,, 
the  house.  The  first  paragraph  of  this  bill  ordained  that  the 
strength  of  the  army  on  a  peace  footing,  exclusive  of  commis- 
sioned officers,  should  be  401,659  men.  The  debate  turned  on 
the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  this  paragraph.  Not  merely  the 
Clericals  and  other  malcontents,  but  also  the  Party  of  Progress 
and  the  left  wing  of  the  National  Liberals,  opposed  it.  While 
the  Social-democrats  were  in  favor  of  reducing  the  time  of  ser- 
vice to  one  year,  and  the  Clericals  would  have  limited  it  to 
two,  the  parliamentarians  saw  in  the  permanent  settlement  of 
the  strength  of  the  army  an  interference  with  their  rights,  and 
claimed  the  power  to  determine  the  peace  footing  year  by  year 
in  the  annual  budget.  Moltke,  in  a  long  speech,  passed  in  review 
the  political  condition  of  Europe  and  the  military  arrangements 
of  Germany  and  the  other  powers,  especially  France,  and  urged 
the  unconditional  acceptance  of  the  bill  in  the  name  of  public 
safety.  Great  excitement  and  disquiet  prevailed ;  meetings  were 
held,  addresses  drawn  up,  and  instructions  sent  to  the  delegates 
to  vote  according  to  Moltke's  wishes.  After  protracted  discus- 
sions in  committee,  it  became  apparent  that  the  government 
measure  could  not  obtain  a  majority  in  the  Reichstag.  A  se- 
rious illness  prevented  Bismarck  from  throwing  the  weight  of 
his  presence  and  eloquence  into  the  scales.  The  offer  of  the 


496  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

clerical  party  to  vote  for  the  paragraph  on  condition  of  a  change 
in  the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  the  government  was  rejected,  and 
the  plan  of  dissolving  the  Reichstag  abandoned,  on  account  of 
the  great  uncertainty  as  to  the  result  of  new  elections.  Finally 
a  compromise  was  concluded  between  the  government  and  the 
majority  of  the  committee,  by  which  the  proposed  peace-footing 
was  to  be  adopted  for  seven  years,  from  the  1st  of  January,  1875, 
to  the  31st  of  December,  1881.  This  compromise  was  accepted 
by  the  Reichstag,  with  a  majority  of  224  to  146,  and  the  bill 
finally  became  law.  Not  unjustly,  some  compared  this  iron 
seven-years'  measure  with  the  MacMahon  scptennate. 

A  complete  and  successful  development  of  the  imperial  consti- 
tution was  only  possible  in  case  the  Bundesrath  and  Reichstag 
were  clothed  with  the  power  to  undertake,  with  the  consent  of 
the  individual  governments,  expressed  through  their  plenipoten- 
tiaries in  the  Bundesrath,  necessary  constitutional  changes,  to 
increase  the  competence  of  the  central  government,  and  to  ac- 
•>cept  on  the  part  of  privileged  states  the  renunciation  of  their 
reserved  rights,  without  being  obliged  to  obtain  in  these  matters 
the  additional  consent  of  the  people  of  the  various  states  through 
their  parliaments.  The  Democrats  in  the  Wiirtemberg  and  the 
Patriots  in  the  Bavarian  parliament  opposed  any  such  plan,  and 
declaimed  about  mediatization  of  the  secondary  states ;  but  the 
ministers  in  both  those  countries  favored  the  views  of  the  impe- 
rial government,  and  a  majority  in  both  parliaments  rejected  the 
bills  brought  forward  by  the  anti-nationalists.  In  November  of 
18*73  the  Saxon  government  won  universal  disapproval  by  taking 
quite  the  opposite  position.  In  the  matter  of  separate  ambassa- 
dors, which  was  a  sort  of  open  question,  Baden  set  a  good  exam- 
ple, as  she  had  always  done  in  national  affairs,  by  abolishing  all 
her  embassies  (October  24th,  1871).  TVurtcmberg  retained  her 
embassies  at  Vienna  and  Munich,  in  addition  to  those  in  Berlin 
and  St.  Petersburg,  but  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  a  parlia- 
mentary majority  was  obtained  for  the  first  two.  Bavaria  went 
somewhat  farther  in  the  assertion  of  her  sovereign  rights,  and 
allowed  herself  the  luxury  of  special  representatives  in  Dresden, 
Berne,  and  Rome.  She  also  maintained  an  ambassador  at  the 
Vatican;  and  on  the  30th  of  January,  1875,  a  new  nuntius, 
Bianchi,  was  received  in  Munich.  In  view  of  all  that  had  passed 
between  Germany  and  the  Vatican  in  the  years  187l-'74,  this 


EMBASSIES.— ALSACE-LORRAINE.  497 

action  was  calculated  to  arouse  considerable  indignation.  The 
change  in  Hesse — where  the  un-German  minister,  von  Dalwigk, 
was  dismissed  in  1871,  to  be  followed  first  by  a  different  minis- 
try, with  the  same  policy,  and  finally,  in  1872,  by  the  national 
ministry  of  Hofmann  —  made  itself  chiefly  felt  in  the  matter  of 
ecclesiastical  legislation.  In  Alsace  and  Lorraine  the  anti-Ger- 
man feeling  of  the  major  part  of  the  population  was  maintained 
at  white -heat  by  French  and  clerical  agitation.  The  imperial 
government  occupied  a  difficult  position,  but  it  displayed  great 
prudence  and  energy  in  the  measures  which  it  adopted  for  the 
establishment  of  its  authority.  Vicar-general  liapp  of  Strasburg 
was  expelled  from  Alsace-Lorraine  on  the  17th  of  March,  1873, 
as  the  head  of  a  central  committee  which  had  for  its  object  the 
organization  of  opposition  to  the  government.  Lauth,  the  burgo- 
master of  Strasburg,  expressed  in  his  official  capacity  the  hope 
that  the  French  would  soon  regain  possession,  and  was  removed 
from  office  in  consequence  on  the  7th  of  April,  1873.  The  com- 
mon council  protested  against  his  removal,  and  was  suspended  for 
two  years,  and  police-superintendent  Back,  as  coiwnissioner  extra- 
ordinary, clothed  with  the  rights  and  duties  of  both  burgomaster 
and  common  council.  The  school  system  in  the  new  provinces 
was  an  object  of  special  solicitude  to  the  imperial  government. 
It  was  provided  that  the  inspection  and  direction  of  the  schools 
should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  state  authorities ;  that  only  the 
government  should  be  consulted  regarding  the  examination  and 
appointment  of  teachers,  the  organization  of  the  schools,  and  the 
course  of  instruction  there  given  ;  that  those  schools  which  did  not 
conform  to  the  state  regulations  should  be  closed,  and  that  in 
German-speaking  communities  only  the  German  language  should 
be  taught  in  elementary  schools  after  the  1st  of  October,  1873. 
Notwithstanding  the  expressed  determination  of  the  French  and 
Clericals  either  to  elect  only  men  of  the  party  of  protest  against 
German  occupation  or  not  to  elect  at  all,  district  assemblies  were 
introduced  in  1873  for  the  management  of  the  local  affairs  of  the 
districts.  By  an  imperial  decree  of  October  29th,  1874,  a  terri- 
torial committee,  with  limited  powers,  was  to  be  chosen  from 
these  district  assemblies  as  long  as  the  establishment  of  a  parlia- 
ment for  Alsace  and  Lorraine  seemed  impracticable.  This  com- 
mittee came  into  existence  in  1875,  with  beneficial  results. 

In  opposition  to  the  existing  anti-German  parties  a  third  party 


498  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

was  formed  in  1873,  calling  itself  Alsatian.  The  programme  of 
this  party,  which  had  its  head-quarters  in  Strasburg,  was,  while 
recognizing  existing  facts,  to  remain  Alsatian,  to  withdraw  into 
the  shell  of  Alsatian  particularism,  and  work  exclusively  for  the 
promotion  of  the  industrial  interests  of  Alsace.  Although  hav- 
ing slight  prospect  of  success,  this  party  took  an  active  part  in 
the  election  for  members  of  the  Reichstag.  These  elections  took 
place  in  other  parts  of  the  empire  on  the  10th  of  January,  1874, 
and  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine  on  the  1st  of  February,  and  were  every- 
where attended  with  great  excitement.  The  Clericals  achieved 
successes  in  the  Prussian  departments  of  Cologne,  Munster, 
Aachen,  and  Oppeln,  as  well  as  in  Bavaria,  chiefly  at  the  expense 
of  the  Conservatives.  The  Social-democrats  were  successful  in 
nine  electoral  districts,  six  of  which  were  Saxon.  The  total  re- 
sult was  that  135  enemies  of  the  empire  were  chosen,  and  240 
friends,  including  in  the  latter  category  the  Party  of  Progress, 
and  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  Conservative  party,  which 
had  dwindled  to  twenty-two  members.  In  the  ranks  of  the  op- 
position the  strongest  contingent  was  that  of  the  Clericals,  who 
numbered  101,  and  to  these  on  the  side  of  the  government  were 
opposed  155  National  Liberals.  In  Alsace-Lorraine  ten  Clericals 
were  chosen,  including  the  bishops  of  Metz  and  Strasburg,  and 
five  members  of  the  party  of  protest.  February  16th,  1874, 
these  fifteen  delegates  entered  the  Reichstag  in  procession ;  but 
they  soon  deserted  it  again  for  the  most  part.  Their  time  was 
chiefly  spent  in  hollow  declamations  about  the  oppressive  burden 
laid  upon  their  country,  although  it  was  capable  of  proof  that  it 
had  never  been  better  administered  than  under  the  imperial  gov- 
ernment Their  bills  for  abolition  of  the  law  giving  the  first 
president  in  case  of  danger  a  sort  of  dictatorship  for  the  main- 
tenance of  public  safety,  and  for  the  repeal  of  the  educational 
law  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  were  rejected  by  the  Reichstag.  The 
greatest  sensation  was  caused  by  the  introduction  of  a  bill  sub- 
mitting to  the  population  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  the  question 
whether  they  approved  of  the  incorporation  of  their  country  in 
the  German  Empire.  This  measure,  which  broke  the  point  of 
the  Bishop  of  Strasburg' s  assertion  that  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  the  annexed  provinces  had  accepted  the  Peace  of  Frankfort, 
was  rejected  by  the  Reichstag  without  debate,  only  twenty-three 
votes  being  cast  in  its  favor. 


STATE  LAW  AND  CANON  LAW.  499 

Of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  present  and  the  future  were 
those  measures  which  were  directed,  not  against  the  Catholic 
Church  and  Catholic  confession,  but  against  the  ambitious  de- 
signs of  the  Vatican  and  its  creatures.  The  existence  of  the 
modern  state  is  totally  incompatible  with  the  dogma  of  infalli- 
bility. No  law  of  the  state  is  of  any  validity  against  the  infalli- 
ble principles  and  ecclesiastical  laws  of  Rome,  for  if  a  state  law 
is  not  in  harmony  with  the  arbitrary  decrees  of  the  demigod  of 
the  Vatican,  the  latter  forthwith  enjoins  upon  all  Roman  Catho- 
lics disobedience  to  the  godless  and  invalid  rules  of  the  temporal 
state,  and  obedience  to  his  own  inspired  mandates.  Hence  the 
imperial  government,  if  it  did  not  wish  to  pronounce  its  own  de- 
struction, could  neither  recognize  the  dogma  of  infallibility  nor 
permit  the  removal  of  those  clergy  who  were  excommunicated 
by  their  bishops  for  refusing  to  accept  it.  The  government  must 
in  self-defence  protect  such  clergy  in  the  exercise  of  their  func- 
tions and  the  enjoyment  of  their  privileges.  This  was  the  course 
pursued  by  the  Prussian  government  toward  Bishop  Krementz 
of  Ermland,  in  1871,  on  occasion  of  his  excommunicating  a  relig- 
ious instructor  in  Braunsberg  for  refusing  to  be  bound  by  the 
obnoxious  dogma.  The  arrogant  demeanor  of  the  bishop  made 
it  clear  to  the  government  in  what  a  sorry  position  it  had  been 
placed  by  the  legislation  of  1850,  aided  by  the  short-sightedness 
and  weakness  of  previous  ministries.  The  paragraph  assuring 
independence  to  each  religious  society  had  been  attended  with 
the  result  that,  under  King  Frederic  William  IV.,  the  bishops 
had  done  what  they  pleased,  getting  into  their  power  the  instruc- 
tion in  the  public  schools,  committing  the  education  of  the  chil- 
dren to  the  future  clergy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  found- 
ing more  cloisters  every  year,  and  holding  the  lower  clergy  in 
blind  obedience.  Consequently  there  existed  not  merely  a  state 
within  a  state,  but  an  ecclesiastical  state  above  as  well  as  within 
the  temporal.  This  state  of  things  could  not  continue  after  the 
victories  of  Sedan  and  Paris  and  the  establishment  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire.  Germany  had  not  won  on  French  battle-fields 
freedom  to  order  its  internal  affairs  according  to  its  own  pleas- 
ure, merely  to  let  itself  be  reduced  to  slavery  by  the  bloodless 
victories  of  the  Vatican.  It  had  not  freed  itself  from  the  dicta- 
tion of  Paris  to  bow  its  neck  beneath  the  crook  of  Rome.  No 
German  could  for  a  moment  admit  the  possibility  of  such  a  con 


500  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

dition  of  affairs ;  and  as  the  Pope  and  his  bishops  held  and  sought 
to  enforce  the  opposite  view,  a  conflict  between  them  could  not 
be  long  delayed. 

July  8th,  1871,  the  Prussian  government  decreed  the  abolition 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  department  in  the  ministry  of  public  wor- 
ship and  education  (cultus-mimstry),  which  had  existed  since  the 
year  1841,  and  had  proved  a  safeguard,  not  for  the  interests  of 
the  state,  but  for  those  of  the  Roman  Curia.  December  14th  it 
laid  before  the  Prussian  parliament  the  school  inspection  law,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  inspection  of  all  public  and  private  educa- 
tional institutions  was  to  be  confided  to  the  state.  The  House, 
unwilling  to  trust  the  execution  of  such  a  law  to  the  then  cultus- 
minister,  Miihler,  who  had  made  himself  notorious  by  his  bigoted 
orthodoxy  and  unevangelical  intolerance,  threw  out  the  bill.  This 
led  to  Miihler' s  dismissal,  January  17th,  1872,  and  in  his  suc- 
cessor, Falk,  Bismarck  found  the  ally  he  needed.  The  school 
inspection  law  was  again  brought  forward,  and  carried  through 
both  houses.  In  the  mean  time  the  Reichstag  had  expressed  its 
opinion  on  the  question  under  controversy.  At  the  motion  of 
the  Bavarian  cw^ws-minister,  Lutz,  whose  power  was  no  longer 
adequate  to  the  task  of  curbing  the  episcopal  Hotspurs  in  Ba- 
varia, the  "pulpit  paragraph"  was  passed  on  the  28th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1871,  and  thus  a  weapon  against  the  seditious  agitation  of 
the  ultramontane  clergy  put  in  the  hands  of  the  various  govern- 
ments. The  quarrel  assumed  a  still  more  aggravated  form  when 
the  Pope  declined  (May  2d,  1872)  to  receive  Cardinal  Hohen- 
lohe  as  the  German  ambassador  at  the  Vatican;  and  on  the  19th 
of  June  in  the  same  year  fresh  fuel  was  added  to  the  flame  by 
the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  with  their  affiliated  orders  and  congre- 
gations, from  the  German  empire.  In  1873  the  Bundesrath  decided 
that  this  included  the  Redemptorists,  Lazarists,  Priests  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  the  Society  of  the  Holy  Heart  of  Jesus — all  of 
which  were  accordingly  compelled  to  evacuate  German  territory. 
May  14th,  1872,  in  the  debate  regarding  the  post  of  ambassador 
at  the  Vatican,  the  imperial  chancellor  said,  "  Of  this  you  may  be 
sure,  that  we  will  not  go  to  Canossa,  either  in  our  ecclesiastical  or 
political  relations."  In  an  address  to  the  German  Roman  Catho- 
lic reading  club,  in  Rome,  June  25th,  1872,  the  Pope  expressed 
himself  as  follows :  "  Be  trustful  and  united,  for  some  stone  will 
surely  fall  to  shatter  the  heel  of  this  colossus."  And  in  his  allo- 


THE   MAY   LAWS.  501 

cution  of  December  23d  he  spoke  of  the  cruel  persecutions  in 
Germany,  and  of  the  "presumption"  and  "  shamelessness "  of 
the  imperial  government.  Thereupon  the  Prussian  secretary  of 
legation,  Stumm,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  Prussian  embassy  in 
Rome,  received  orders  from  Berlin  to  take  an  indefinite  leave  of 
absence  at  once. 

These  were  skirmishes  with  advanced  guards  and  small  arms, 
but  the  heavy  guns  were  soon  brought  into  action.  The  Prus- 
sian government  had  much  ground  to  conquer  in  order  to  reach 
the  point  where  it  had  stood  before  the  accession  of  Frederic 
William  IV.  It  was  necessary  to  get  into  its  hands  once  more 
the  education  of  the  clergy,  to  do  away  with  the  unconditional 
dependence  of  the  lower  clergy  on  the  bishops,  to  bring  contu- 
macious bishops  before  the  temporal  courts,  and,  in  case  of  need, 
to  render  them  harmless,  by  lessening  the  moral  and  material 
means  at  their  disposal  for  the  prosecution  of  the  strife,  freeing 
congregations  and  individual  citizens  from  clerical  oppression, 
and  giving  them  more  freedom  and  independence  with  reference 
to  the  management  of  their  religious  concerns.  For  this  purpose 
the  government  laid  four  church  laws  before  the  Prussian  parlia- 
ment of  1873,  which  were  accepted  and  promulgated  as  laws  of 
the  state  in  the  month  of  May,  and  are  hence  commonly  known 
as  the  "  May  laws."  The  first  of  these  was  intended  to  prevent 
the  conversion  of  religious  punishment  inflicted  by  ecclesiastical 
authorities  on  religious  grounds  into  a  social  and  civil  penalty ; 
the  second  concerned  clerical  education,  requiring  as  a  prerequi- 
•site  to  clerical  office  a  gymnasium  and  university  education ;  the 
third  dealt  with  the  matter  of  leaving  the  church ;  and  the  fourth 
established  a  royal  court  for  the  settlement  of  ecclesiastical  ques- 
tions. These  laws  were  supplemented  in  1874  by  three  addi- 
tional acts.  The  Prussian  parliament  accepted  the  laws  laid  be- 
fore it  by  the  government  regarding  the  administration  of  vacant 
Roman  Catholic  bishoprics,  and  requiring  fuller  specifications  in 
case  of  the  appointment  of  ecclesiastical  functionaries  ;  and  on  the 
25th  of  April  the  Reichstag  passed  the  law  forbidding  the  unau- 
thorized discharge  of  ecclesiastical  office,  by  which  the  govern- 
ment acquired  the  right  to  expel  from  certain  specified  districts 
or  from  the  empire  at  large,  to  imprison,  and  to  deprive  of  civil 
rights  ecclesiastical  functionaries  who,  having  been  removed  from 
any  office,  still  persisted  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  that 


502  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

office.  The  most  important  step  of  all  was  the  passage  (January 
25th,  1875),  after  severe  conflicts  with  the  Clericals,  of  the  impe- 
rial law  introducing  obligatory  civil  marriage,  and  registration  of 
births,  marriages,  divorces,  deaths,  and  the  like,  into  which  was 
inserted  the  provision  that  Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastics  and 
members  of  religious  orders  could  contract  legal  marriage. 

The  Pope  did  not  let  these  measures  pass  in  silence.  Impolitic 
advisers  persuaded  him  that  Emperor  William  had  given  a  very 
unwilling  consent  to  the  May  laws,  and  would  be  glad  to  cause 
those  laws  to  be  carried  out  with  as  little  strictness  as  possible, 
provided  only  he  were  applied  to  directly  by  letter  from  the 
Pope.  Accordingly  the  exceedingly  malapropos  missive -of  Au- 
gust 7th,  1873,  was  despatched,  in  which  the  Pope  endeavored  to 
persuade  the  emperor  to  part  with  his  ministers  and  express  his 
disapproval  of  the  measures  of  his  chancellor  toward  the  Church, 
and  even  ventured  the  assertion  that  the  emperor,  like  every  bap- 
tized Christian,  stood  in  a  certain  relation  to  the  Pope.  In  his 
answer  of  September  3d  the  emperor  designated  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic clergy  as  the  originators  of  the  quarrel,  inasmuch  as  they  had 
refused  to  render  constitutional  obedience  to  their  temporal  supe- 
riors, affirmed  the  unity  existing  between  himself  and  his  chan- 
cellor in  the  matter  of  ecclesiastical  policy,  and  rejected  as  un- 
evangelical  the  assumption  that  he  could  in  any  way  regard  the 
Pope  as  a  mediator  in  his  relations  to  God.  This  correspondence 
was  shortly  published  in  the  JReichsanzciger,  and  from  all  sides, 
from  foreign  lands  as  well  as  from  Germany,  addresses  of  thanks 
and  approval  poured  in  upon  the  emperor.  In  England,  where 
Roman  Catholicism  had  been  making  considerable  progress,  a 
meeting  of  sympathy  was  held  on  the  27th  of  January,  1874, 
and  resolutions  drawn  up  approving  of  the  German  imperial  pol- 
icy, while  Gladstone  came  out  in  a  pamphlet  against  the  Vatican 
decrees  and  their  political  consequences.  The  Papal  letter  to  the 
emperor  had  proved  a  complete  fiasco.  This  only  increased  the 
hatred  of  the  Clericals  against  the  chancellor,  who  was  made  re- 
sponsible for  all  the  defeats  of  the  party  and  held  up  as  the 
deadly  foe  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  arrest  of  several  bishops 
who  obstinately  disregarded  the  May  laws  and  refused  obedience 
to  the  state,  the  removal  of  Archbishop  Ledochowski  in  1874, 
and  that  of  Bishop  Martin  of  Paderborn,  shortly  after,  only  in- 
creased the  anger  of  the  Clericals.  l?y  their  Press  and  by  means 


ATTEMPT  ON  BISMARCK'S  LIFE.  503 

of  associations  the  people  were  systematically  stirred  up  against 
the  government,  and  the  leaders  themselves  did  not  scruple  at 
alliance  with  the  Social -democrats.  One  result  of  this  intem- 
perate agitation  was  the  attempt  of  a  Magdeburger  cooper,  Kull- 
mann,  on  Prince  Bismarck's  life,  at  Kissingen,  July  13th,  1874. 
For  this  Kullmann  was  tried  at  Wurzburg,  and  condemned  to 
fourteen  years'  imprisonment,  with  hard  labor ;  while  the  Clericals 
were  tried  before  the  tribunal  of  public  sentiment  throughout  the 
world  and  adjudged  guilty  of  the  crime.  "  Shake  off  the  man 
(Kullmann)  as  you  will,  he  still  holds  fast  to  your  skirts,"  were  t 
the  words  Bismarck  addressed  to  the  fraction  of  the  Centre,  in 
the  Reichstag,  December  4th,  1874;  and  on  the  following  day, 
when  a  debate  had  arisen  with  the  Clericals  regarding  the  pro- 
posed abolition  of  the  embassy  to  the  Vatican,  to  their  dismay 
he  made  public  a  statement  of  Meglia,  the  former  nuntius  in 
Munich,  to  the  effect  that  only  a  revolution  could  help  the 
Church. 

This  was  the  end  of  the  Pope's  private  letters ;  now  began  a 
period  of  infallible  thunder  and  lightning.  French  bishops,  who 
had  a  natural  interest  in  protracting  and  intensifying  the  ecclesi- 
astical conflict  in  Prussia,  agitated  with  all  their  energies.  In 
his  Encyclica  of  February  5th,  1875,  the  Pope  declared  invalid 
the  new  Church  laws,  which  had  been  accepted  by  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  signed  by  the  emperor,  and  published  as  laws 
of  the  state ;  forbade  all  Roman  Catholics  to  render  obedience  to 
them ;  and  pronounced  sentence  of  excommunication  against  the 
whole  body  of  the  Old  Catholic  clergy.  A  few  days  later  he 
named  the  imprisoned  Archbishop  Ledochowski  cardinal.  It 
was  evident  that  the  imperial  government  must  prepare  to  meet 
with  an  obstinate  resistance  to  the  new  laws  along  the  whole  line 
from  Posen  to  Aachen.  It  had  to  consider  whether  a  clergy 
which  held  valid  only  those  laws  that  met  with  the  approval  of 
the  Pope  should  any  longer  live  at  the  expense  of  the  state. 
March  4th,  1875,  Minister  Falk  laid  before  the  Prussian  landtag 
the  so-called  sperrgesetz  (interdict),  by  which  all  payments  on  the 
part  of  the  state  to  the  bishops  and  other  clergy  were  interdicted 
in  all  cases  where  the  latter  were  unwilling  to  pledge  themselves 
in  writing  to  obey  the  laws  of  the  state.  After  some  excited  de- 
bates the  measure  finally  passed  both  houses.  In  addition  to  this 
a  la«  was  passed  abolishing  religious  orders  and  kindred  organi- 


504  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

zations ;  another  affecting  the  administration  of  property  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  churches ;  still  another  providing  for  a  revision 
of  that  part  of  the  constitution  dealing  with  church  affairs;  and 
finally,  at  the  motion  of  Petri,  a  bill  was  passed  regulating  the 
rights  of  the  Old  Catholics,  which  was  in  its  essential  points  the 
same  which  had  been  adopted  in  Baden  in  the  previous  year. 

There  was  no  lack  of  protests  against  these  laws  on  the  part  of 
the  German  bishops,  nor  of  intervention  on  the  part  of  the  French 
and  Belgian  bishops  in  the  shape  of  pastoral  letters  expressing 
their  sympathy  and  abusing  the  German  government.  Toward 
its  own  clergy  the  latter  maintained  its  position  with  unchange- 
able determination,  at  the  same  time  addressing  remonstrances  to 
the  governments  of  France  and  Belgium  regarding  the  offensive 
pastoral  letters  of  bishops  in  those  countries.  The  Clerical  cause 
seemed  on  the  decline,  nor  was  this  altered  by'  the  result  of  the 
elections  for  the  Bavarian  parliament  in  July  of  1875,  although 
the  Clericals  then  acquired  a  majority  of  two  votes  in  the  House. 
An  address  was  adopted  in  which  the  dismissal  of  the  existing 
ministry  and  the  formation  of  a  Clerical  cabinet  were  demanded, 
but  the  king  refused  to  receive  the  address,  expressed  his  surprise 
at  the  language  adopted  by  some  of  the  participants  in  the  de- 
bate, assured  the  whole  ministry  in  a  letter  of  October  19th  of 
their  possession  of  his  full  confidence,  and  called  on  all  moderate 
men  for  their  energetic  support  at  the  present  moment.  Parlia- 
ment was  then  prorogued.  The  unexampled  participation  of  all 
classes  in  the  celebration  of  the  chancellor's  birthday,  and  the  en- 
thusiastic reception  which  Falk  met  with  on  his  visit  to  the  Rhine, 
showed  very  plainly  on  which  side  all  the  intelligence  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire  was  arrayed.  Nor  was  the  feeling  confined  to  Ger- 
many. On  his  return  visit  to  Victor  Emmanuel,  in  October  of 
1875,  Emperor  William  was  received  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm. 
The  Italian  people,  whose  newly-won  unity  is  constantly  threat- 
ened by  plans  for  restoration  of  the  Papal  power,  felt  themselves 
drawn  with  bonds  of  sympathy  to  the  man  who  had  founded  the 
German  Empire  and  was  at  that  moment  engaged  in  deadly 
struggle  with  the  Vatican,  believing  that,  search  where  they 
would,  they  could  find  no  more  reliable  and  powerful  allies  than 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  and  the  German  Empire. 


MASSACRE  OF  MONTENEGRINS  AT  PODGORITZA.        505 


SIXTH    PERIOD.     1876-1881.* 


§  30. 

TURKEY    AND    THE    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

IN  October  of  1874  a  collision  between  Montenegrins  and 
Turks,  resulting  in  a  massacre,  had  taken  place  in  Podgoritza. 
For  this,  in  January  of  1875,  five  Turks  were  condemned  to 
death  and  twenty  to  imprisonment;  but  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment refused  to  permit  the  execution  of  the  sentence,  unless  the 
Montenegrins  implicated  in  the  disturbance  were  surrendered,  to 
be  tried  by  Turkish  courts  on  Turkish  soil.  Prince  Nikita  insist- 
ed on  the  unconditional  punishment  of  the  culprits,  and  prepared 
for  war ;  but  finally,  through  the  mediation  of  the  consuls  of 
the  three  empires,  the  Porte  was  induced  to  recede  from  its  de- 
mands, and  orders  were  issued  to  the  Governor  of  Scutari,  in 
whose  jurisdiction  the  Turkish  prisoners  had  been  tried,  to  exe- 
cute the  sentence  of  the  court.  In  the  mean  time  the  prisoners 
had  been  allowed  to  escape,  which  did  not  prevent  the  Turkish 
government,  however,  from  reporting  the  sentence  executed.  The 
whole  affair  aroused  such  indignation  in  Montenegro  that  an  in- 
formal kind  of  war  might  be  said  to  have  already  begun,  and 
events  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  soon  fanned  this  hidden  fire 
into  an  open  conflagration. 

Great  distress  prevailed  in  the  last-named  provinces  on  account 
of  the  bad  harvest  of  1874  ;  but  the  tax-gatherers,  instead  of  tak- 
ing this  into  consideration,  carried  off  everything  they  could  lay 
their  hands  on.  According  to  the  Turkish  system,  a  tenth  of  all 
produce  belonged  to  the  government,  but  this  was  at  times  raised 

*  Condensed  from  Professor  Miillcr's  Geschickte  der  Gegenwart. 

22 


506  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

to  an  eighth  or  seventh.  As  the  farmer  of  the  taxes  must  also 
make  his  percentage,  it  not  unfrequently  came  about  that  one- 
third  of  the  produce  was  levied  instead  of  one-tenth.  To  this 
must  be  added  house,  land,  cattle,  tobacco,  and  pasturage  taxes; 
while,  besides  all  these,  the  Christian  population,  not  admitted 
to  military  service,  were  taxed  for  this  involuntary  dispensation. 
All  these  taxes,  rendered  doubly  burdensome  by  the  oppressive 
and  unjust  mode  of  their  collection,  were  liable  at  any  time  to 
arbitrary  increase  on  the  part  of  the  government.  (For  example, 
the  house  tax  had  been  suddenly  raised  from  four  dollars  and  a 
half  to  thirteen  dollars  and  a  half.)  Some  of  the  peasants,  driven 
to  desperation,  offered  resistance  to  the  tax-collectors,  and  were 
beaten  or  thrown  into  prison ;  others  sent  a  fruitless  deputation 
to  the  governor,  Dervish  Pasha.  Hundreds  of  families  fled  with 
what  they  could  collect  to  Croatia,  Daltnatia,  Montenegro,  and 
Scrvia.  In  consequence  of  Prince  Xikita's  intercession,  amnesty 
was  promised  to  all  those  fugitives  who  would  return ;  but  no 
sooner  did  some  of  them  venture  back  than  the  promise  was 
broken.  About  this  time  occurred  the  Austrian  emperor's  trip 
to  Dalmatia,  and  the  report  spread  that  the  object  of  his  visit 
was  the  acquisition  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  by  purchase. 
This  report,  together  with  the  outspoken  sympathy  of  Servia 
and  Montenegro,  increased  the  excitement,  and  on  the  6th  of 
July,  1875,  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Herzegovina.  Orders 
had  been  given  to  collect  the  taxes  in  the  village  of  Drashego, 
on  the  plateau  of  Nevesinye,  by  force.  The  revenue  collectors 
and  a  mob  of  Mussulmans  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to 
plunder  the  inhabitants.  The  latter  flew  to  arms  and  shot  ten 
of  the  robbers  dead.  The  news  that  a  number  of  tax-payers  had 
been  shut  into  a  house  and  burnt  alive  added  fuel  to  the  flame. 
The  women  and  children  were  at  once  despatched  to  Dalmatia, 
and  in  a  few  days  those  parts  of  Herzegovina  bordering  on  that 
province  and  on  Montenegro  were  in  open  rebellion.  The  war 
was  prosecuted  with  the  greatest  cruelty  on  both  sides.  The 
Turkish  forces  were  small  and  poorly  equipped.  The  mountain- 
ous character  of  the  country  afforded  great  advantages  for  the 
prosecution  of  an  irregular  warfare,  and  Dalmatia  and  Montene- 
gro assisted  the  insurgents  with  men  and  arms,  so  that  at  the 
outset  the  balance  of  success  was  in  favor  of  the  latter.  This 
induced  Dervish  Pasha  to  accept  the  proffered  mediation  of  the 


STRENGTH  OF  THE  INSURGENTS.         507 

Roman  Catholic  bishop  of  Mostar  and  open  negotiations.  The 
demands  put  forward  by  the  rebels  as  the  condition  of  laying 
down  their  arms  were :  a  thorough  reform  of  the  system  of  taxa- 
tion, the  substitution  of  native  for  Turkish  officials,  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  native  militia  for  the  maintenance  of  public  or- 
der in  the  province,  and  these  demands  the  Porte  was  certain  not 
to  grant,  except,  perhaps,  on  paper. 

According  to  the  census  of  1868,  the  Greek  Catholics  in  Bos- 
nia, including  Herzegovina,  numbered  431,200,  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics 171,764,  and  the  Mohammedans  418,315.  A  large  part 
of  the  Mohammedan  population  consisted  of  the  territorial  no- 
bility (the  oldest  in  Europe),  who,  although  of  Slavic  origin, 
were  yet  fanatical  adherents  of  Islam,  having  found  it  to  their 
interest  to  change  their  religion  after  the  conquest  of  the  country 
by  the  Turks.  These  took  no  part  in  the  rebellion,  and  even 
the  Christian  population  did  not  rise  in  a  body.  The  success  of 
the  insurrection  seemed  to  depend  upon  the  attitude  of  Servia 
and  Montenegro,  and  at  the  outset  those  two  countries  were  in- 
duced by  the  consuls  of  the  three  empires  to  profess  a  strict  neu- 
trality. Nevertheless,  the  Herzegovinians  did  not  lose  heart,  and 
by  the  beginning  of  August  they  had  put  into  the  field  against 
the  Turks  a  force  of  twelve  to  fourteen  thousand  men.  The  lat- 
ter made  great  exertions  to  suppress  the  rebellion  before  it  should 
give  rise  to  diplomatic  intervention  of  too  serious  a  character,  or 
involve  the  Porte  in  a  war  with  the  principalities.  Dervish  Pasha 
was  succeeded  by  Reouf  Pasha,  and  30,000  or  40,000  soldiers 
were  gradually  collected  in  Herzegovina.  Against  such  a  force 
the  insurgents  could  not  hope  to  maintain  the  field ;  but  by  means 
of  a  guerilla  warfare  they  harassed  the  Turks  at  every  point,  and 
when  winter  brought  about  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  the  latter 
had  made  no  real  advance  toward  the  suppression  of  the  revolt. 

In  the  mean  time  the  three  empires,  fearing  that  the  insurrec- 
tion, if  not  speedily  suppressed,  might  result  in  an  Oriental  war, 
had  been  making  efforts  to  bring  about  an  understanding  between 
the  Porte  and  its  revolted  subjects.  Of  the  three,  Germany  was 
a  comparatively  disinterested  observer;  but,  while  Russia  found 
the  insurrection  to  her  advantage,  Austria  was  seriously  embar- 
rassed by  a  disturbance  threatening  to  shake  the  status  quo  ;  and 
indeed,  in  order  to  understand  Austria's  attitude  through  this 
whole  period,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Austro-Hunga- 


508  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES, 

rian  empire  is  not  one  firmly  consolidated  state,  but  merely  a  sort 
of  agreement  on  the  part  of  a  parcel  of  states  and  provinces  of 
differing  nationalities  and  conflicting  interests  to  maintain  the 
status  quo.  August  18th,  the  ambassadors  of  these  three  pow- 
ers tendered  their  good  offices  for  the  pacification  of  the  revolt, 
and  after  considerable  hesitation  the  Sultan  accepted  the  offer. 
Server  Pasha  was  sent  as  a  commissioner  to  examine  into  the 
grievances  of  the  insurgents,  while  the  consuls  of  the  six  Great 
Powers  undertook  to  induce  the  rebels  to  lay  down  their  arms 
and  present  their  complaints  before  the  commissioner.  Server 
Pasha  went  to  Mostar  and  made  promises ;  the  consuls  travelled 
through  the  disaffected  districts  —  Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy 
along  the  Austrian  border,  England,  Russia,  and  France  through 
the  interior.  By  their  interviews  with  the  leaders  of  the  insur- 
rection the  consuls  ascertained  that  the  latter  would  not  lay  down 
their  anus,  unless  guarantees  of  the  most  tangible  description  were 
given  for  the  execution  of  the  desired  reforms. 

On  the  2d  of  October  the  Sultan  issued  an  irade  full  of  prom- 
ises, and  on  the  12th  of  December  a  firman  of  similar  character 
appeared.  Members  of  the  courts  and  of  administrative  councils 
were  to  be  chosen  by  the  people,  without  distinction  of  religious 
belief;  suits  between  Mussulmans  and  Giaours  were  to  be  de- 
cided by  the  civil  tribunals ;  arbitrary  imprisonment  was  forbid- 
den ;  tax-gatherers  were  made  elective ;  the  lights  of  property  were 
secured ;  socage  was  abolished ;  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion 
was  guaranteed  to  the  patriarchs  and  all  other  spiritual  superiors ; 
the  right  of  holding  public  office  and  acquiring  land  was  bestow- 
ed upon  non-Mohammedans.  All  these  blessings  the  indulgent 
Sultan  promised  to  those  who  fulfilled  their  duties  as  true  and 
loyal  subjects,  a  permission  seemingly  intended  to  exclude  the 
Bosnians  and  Herzegovinians  from  this  glowing  paradise  of  im- 
aginary justice  and  good  government. 

These  reforms  were  not  worth  the  paper  on  which  they  were 
written,  unless  their  execution  was  guaranteed  and  supervised  by 
the  Great  Powers,  a  responsibility  which  the  latter  were  unwill- 
ing to  assume.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  they  were  able 
to  unite  in  a  joint  note.  This  was  drawn  up  on  behalf  of  the 
three  empires  by  Andrassy,  and,  after  having  received  the  ap- 
proval of  the  three  remaining  Great  Powers,  was  presented  to  the 
Porte  in  an  apologetic  and  inoffensive  manner  on  the  31st  of 


THE  ANDRASSY  NOTE.  509 

January,  1876.  Five  points  were  insisted  on  as  essential  to  the 
pacification  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina — unlimited  religious  free- 
dom ;  abolition  of  the  system  of  farming  the  taxes ;  the  applica- 
tion of  the  direct  revenue  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  for  the  bene- 
fit of  those  provinces ;  establishment  of  a  special  commission, 
consisting,  in  equal  parts,  of  Moslems  and  Christians,  to  watch 
over  the  execution  of  the  reforms ;  and  improvement  of  the  indus- 
trial condition  of  the  country  population.  Mahmoud  Pasha  and 
his  master  went  through  the  solemn  farce  of  laying  the  proposi- 
tions of  the  powers  before  a  ministerial  council,  after  which  they 
were  accepted,  with  some  modifications  of  the  third  proposition, 
and  published  in  an  imperial  irade  of  the  13th  of  February.  A 
second  irade  on  the  23d  of  the  same  month  offered  full  amnesty 
to  the  rebels,  safe  return  to  the  fugitives,  protection  against  all 
oppression,  a  free  gift  of  the  necessary  materials  for  rebuilding 
their  houses,  and  corn  for  sowing  their  fields,  together  with  re- 
mission of  the  tenth  for  one  year,  and  all  other  taxes  for  two. 
By  these  poetical  decrees  the  Porte  was  for  the  moment  relieved 
from  all  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Great  Powers,  and  at  the 
same  time  furnished  with  an  excuse  for  carrying  out  no  reforms 
of  any  description  whatever — for  it  took  no  prophet  to  foresee 
that  the  rebels,  mindful  of  the  way  in  which  the  hatti-sherif  of 
1839  and  the  hat-hiimayun  of  1856  had  been  executed,  would 
not  submit  unless  the  promised  reforms  were  guaranteed  and 
supervised  by  the  Great  Powers. 

The  Andrassy  note  had  become  waste -paper,  and  the  utter- 
ances of  the  Russian  Press — for  when  the  Russian  Press  ventures 
to  speak  on  any  political  topic  its  utterances  may  be  regarded  as 
inspired,  or  at  least  approved,  by  the  government — showed  that 
Russia  appreciated  the  necessity  of  armed  interference,  and  chafed 
at  the  restraint  put  upon  her  by  the  other  powers.  The  powers 
which  specially  exercised  this  restraint  were  England  and  Austro- 
Hungary.  The  latter  shared  with  Russia  the  position  of  the  most 
interested  country  ;  but,  as  already  stated,  its  interests  were  ultra- 
conservative,  inasmuch  as  any  disturbance  in  the  Balkan  penin- 
sula endangered  the  unsteady  equilibrium  of  the  composite  em- 
pire. Both  Germans  and  Hungarians  were  opposed  to  annexa- 
tion, as  that  would  increase  the  strength  of  the  Slavic  element, 
which  both  of  them  already  found  too  strong.  The  increase  of 
Servia  or  the  erection  of  a  new  Slavic  state  would  make  Russian 


510  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF  KECEXT   TIMES. 

influence  in  the  Balkan  peninsula  too  powerful.  Furthermore, 
the  Magyars  (5,500,000  in  number,  ruling  over  2,500,000  Rou- 
manians, 1,500,000  Germans,  and  5,000,000  Slavs),  in  their  hatred 
of  the  Slavs  in  general,  and  the  Russians  in  particular,  actually 
sympathized  with  the  Turks.  Consequently,  Austria  could  not 
venture  to  advance  her  own  frontier,  except  under  pressure  of 
actual  necessity,  neither  could  she  allow  the  erection  of  any  new 
Slavonic  states,  or  the  increase  of  those  already  existing.  Her 
natural  policy  was  the  maintenance,  so  far  as  possible,  of  the  sta- 
tus quo,  and  for  this  purpose  she  sought  the  alliance  of  England, 
and  showed  herself  willing  to  follow  any  plan  the  latter  might 
propose.  But  England  adopted  a  simple  policy  of  obstruction, 
encouraging  the  Porte  in  its  opposition  to  all  reform,  rejecting 
the  plans  proposed  by  other  powers,  and  refusing  to  present  any 
of  her  own  ;  recognizing  the  principle  of  European  concert,  but 
doing  all  in  her  power  to  prevent  the  fact.  At  the  outset  she 
urged  the  Turk  to  put  down  the  Herzegovinian  insurrection  with 
all  speed,  and  used  her  whole  power  to  bring  about  that  result. 
It  was  English  representations  which  led  Austria,  in  the  early 
spring  of  1876,  to  guard  her  frontiers  more  carefully  against  the 
insurgents,  and  finally  to  withdraw  all  support  from  the  refugees 
within  her  borders.  One  other  stroke  of  English  policy,  Oriental 
in  more  senses  than  one,  calls  for  mention  here — namely,  the  pur- 
chase from  the  Khedive  of  Egypt,  on  the  25th  of  November,  1875, 
of  176,602  shares  of  the  Suez  Canal  for  £4,000,000. 

In  accordance  with  England's  advice  to  suppress  the  revolt  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  thus  avoid  all  foreign  interference,  the  Sul- 
tan raised  Achmed  Mukhtar  Pasha  to  the  chief  command,  and 
despatched  him  to  the  seat  of  the  disturbance  with  fresh  forces, 
toward  the  close  of  December,  1875.  But  the  Andrassy  note  (not 
yet  formally  presented)  led  to  a  change  of  policy,  in  so  far  that 
on  the  24th  of  January  Ali  Pasha,  formerly  ambassador  at  Paris, 
appeared  in  Mostar  as  governor-general  of  Herzegovina,  commis- 
sioned by  the  Porte  to  appease  the  insurgents  with  promises.  In 
addition  to  this  two  special  commissioners  arrived,  supplied  with 
a  small  sum  of  money — enough  to  make  a  pretence,  but  nothing 
more — for  the  assistance  of  returning  fugitives.  The  Austrian 
government,  acting  under  English  influence,  put  a  more  effectual 
guard  upon  its  frontiers  toward  Herzegovina  and  Montenegro,  as 
has  already  been  narrated ;  and  Baron  Rodich,  the  stadtholdet 


VESSELITZKY'S  MISSION.— REVOLT  IN   BOSNIA.  511 

and  military  commander  of  Dalmatia,  was  directed  to  attempt  me- 
diation. His  attempts  were  ineffectual,  because  the  insurgents 
refused  to  put  any  faith  in  Turkish  promises  unsupported  by  for- 
eign guarantees.  After  conferring  with  Rodich  in  Zara,  Achmed 
Mukhtar  and  AH  Pasha  published  a  proclamation  on  the  28th 
of  March,  1876,  promising  special  favors  to  all  fugitives  who 
would  return  and  lay  down  their  arms,  but  threatening  the  re- 
calcitrant with  confiscation  of  their  property,  and  exclusion  from 
the  benefit  of  the  reforms.  At  the  same  time  a  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities was  proclaimed  from  the  29th  of  March  to  the  10th  of 
April. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  up  to  this  point  the  Russian  govern- 
ment had  been  acting  in  good  faith  for  the  pacification  of  the  dis- 
turbed districts.  It  was  Russia  which  had  prevented  Montenegro 
from  declaring  war,  and  induced  Prince  Nikita,  whose  land  was  bur- 
dened with  the  support  of  30,000  Herzegovinian  fugitives,  to  use 
his  influence,  at  least  ostensibly,  for  the  restoration  of  peace.  But 
while  England,  and,  following  her  lead,  Austria  were  throwing  all 
their  influence  into  the  scale  against  the  insurgents,  Russia  stood 
forth  as  in  a  sense  the  champion  of  their  just  claims.  On  the 
5th  of  April  Vesselitzky,  a  private  agent  of  Prince  Gortchakoff, 
arrived  in  the  Suttorina,  and  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
insurgents.  They  demanded,  as  before,  some  guarantee  for  the 
execution  of  the  promised  reforms.  -  Vesselitzky  constituted  him- 
self their  plenipotentiary,  and  after  a  conference  with  Rodich  in 
Zara,  and  another  with  Prince  Nikita  in  Chettinyc,  set  out  for 
Berlin,  in  order  to  present  in  person  the  address  of  the  insurgents 
at  the  conference  about  to  be  held  there. 

Before  the  close  of  the  armistice  in  the  south  an  insurrection 
broke  out  in  the  north-west,  in  Turkish  Croatia,  the  centre  of  the 
movement  being  the  little  garrison  town  of  Bisca.  This  new  re- 
volt was  liberally  supplied  with  men  and  arms  from  Servia,  and 
a  force  of  10,000  rebels,  some  of  them  Mohammedans,  was  soon 
brought  together.  Ibrahim  Pasha,  the  governor-general  of  Bos- 
nia, found  the  force  of  15,000  men  at  his  disposal  entirely  inade- 
quate for  the  suppression  of  the  revolt.  On  the  1st  and  6th  of 
April,  at  Palanka  and  Yagrcnitza,  his  troops  were  defeated  by  the 
insurgents,  the  latter  fighting  under  the  battle-cry,  "Long  live  the 
Emperor  of  Austria !" 

In  the  south,  on  the  close  of  the  armistice,  Mukhtar  Pasha  set 


512  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

out  from  Gacko,  through  the  Duga  pass,  to  provision  the  hard- 
pressed  fortress  of  Niksich,  but  was  defeated  and  driven  back 
with  great  loss.  Undoubtedly  the  insurgents  along  the  Montene- 
grin borders  were  assisted  by  Montenegrin  volunteers.  Mukhtar 
represented  to  his  government  that  7000  Montenegrins  took  part 
in  the  battle  in  the  Duga  pass,  and  orders  were  thereupon  issued 
to  establish  a  camp  at  Scutari,  with  a  view  to  an  invasion  of  Mon- 
tenegro. Russia,  whose  protege  Prince  Nikita  was,  called  upon 
the  other  Great  Powers  to  assist  her  in  averting  war,  and  General 
Ignatieff  and  Count  Zichy,  the  Russian  and  Austrian  ambassadors 
at  Constantinople,  denied  absolutely  the  credibility  of  Mukh tar's 
report.  The  Sultan  finally  yielded  to  their  representations,  and 
professedly  countermanded  his  orders.  The  same  pressure  was 
not  brought  to  bear  on  behalf  of  Servia,  and  before  the  close  of 
April  40,000  men  were  assembled  in  the  Turkish  camp  at  Nish, 
on  the  southern  border  of  that  principality. 

The  situation  was  daily  growing  more  critical.  Austria  and 
England  had  accomplished  nothing,  and  Russia  was  becoming 
tired  of  delays  and  promises.  On  the  10th  of  May  Gortchakoff 
had  a  meeting  with  Bismarck  and  Andrassy  in  Berlin,  and  laid 
before  them  a  memorandum  based  upon  the  Andrassy  note.  A 
truce  of  two  months  was  to  be  proclaimed  in  order  to  settle  the 
points  in  dispute  with  the  insurgents,  the  execution  of  the  prom- 
ised reforms  was  to  be  supervised  by  the  consuls  of  the  Great 
Powers,  and  an  international  fleet  was  to  be  despatched  to  the 
support  of  the  consuls.  "  More  effectual "  measures  were  held  in 
view,  in  case  nothing  had  been  accomplished  before  the  expiration 
of  the  two  months.  This  memorandum  was  adopted  by  the  three 
emperors,  and  communicated  to  the  other  three  Great  Powers. 
France  and  Italy  accepted  it  without  reserve,  but  England  refused 
her  assent,  on  the  ground  that  the  Porte  had  not  yet  had  sufficient 
time  in  which  to  carry  out  the  reforms,  and  that  the  suggestion 
of  "more  effectual"  measures  would  lead  the  rebels  to  persist  in 
their  rebellion,  while  the  supervision  by  foreign  consuls  was  an 
inadmissible  interference  with  the  sovereign  rights  of  the  Sultan. 
The  English  cabinet  even  went  so  far  as  to  communicate  the  con- 
tents of  the  memorandum  to  the  Porte,  and  in  effect  advised  re- 
sistance to  the  will  of  Europe  by  means  of  a  dilatory  policy — add- 
ing, however,  that  Turkey  could  rely  on  nothing  more  than  moral 
support  from  England.  The  memorandum  itself  was  never  pre- 


THE  SALONIKA  OUTRAGE.  513 

senteol  to  the  Turkish  government,  the  course  of  events  rendering 
it  for  the  moment  superfluous. 

In  the  mean  time  an  event  had  occurred  at  Salonika  which 
involved  the  Porte  in  threatening  complications  with  two  of  the 
neutral  or  disinterested  Great  Powers.  A  mob  of  Turkish  fanat- 
ics murdered  the  German  and  French  consuls,  on  the  6th  of  May, 
by  the  command  or  at  the  instigation  of  the  chief  of  police,  the 
disturbance  which  led  to  their  interference  having  originated  in  an 
attempt  on  his  part  to  carry  off  a  Bulgarian  maiden  for  his  harem. 
Germany  and  France  at  once  demanded  satisfaction,  and  French, 
German,  Italian,  Russian,  Austrian,  and  Greek  ships  of  war  ap- 
peared in  the  harbor  of  Salonika  to  protect  the  foreign  residents  ; 
whereupon  England  despatched  twelve  iron-clads  to  Besika  Bay, 
to  guard  the  mouth  of  the  Dardanelles.  The  peremptory  attitude 
of  the  injured  powers  compelled  the  Porte,  after  some  shambling 
and  delay,  to  punish,  not  merely,  according  to  its  usual  custom, 
ignorant  tools  and  inoffensive  lookers-on,  but  even  pashas  and  a 
chief  of  police. 

Great  embarrassment  was  occasioned  at  Constantinople  by  the 
German  demand  of  300,000  francs  for  the  widow  of  the  mur- 
dered consul.  Turkish  finances  were  in  such  a  condition  that  it 
was  difficult  to  procure  even  this  small  sum.  On  the  5th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1875,  the  Porte  had  declared  itself  unable  to  pay  more 
than  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  interest  on  the  debt,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  that  portion  guaranteed  by  England  and  France.  On  the 
1st  of  April,  1876,  payment  of  the  coupons  due  on  that  day  was 
postponed  until  the  1st  of  July.  Officials  had  received  no  pay 
for  months,  and  been  obliged  to  rely  wholly  on  bribes,  while  the 
soldiers  were  left  to  subsist  on  plunder.  But  with  all  that  the 
foolish  extravagance  of  the  Sultan  continued  unchecked.  The 
lack  of  money  made  itself  sorely  felt  everywhere,  and  rumor  said 
that  there  was  an  abundance  stored  up  in  the  vaults  of  the  pal- 
ace. The  murder  in  Salonika,  and  the  military  fiasco  in  Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina,  were  used  by  the  reform  party  to  increase  the 
dissatisfaction.  That  party  was  hostile  to  Russia,  and  hence 
anxious  for  the  downfall  of  the  grand  vizier,  Mahmoud  Pasha, 
and  the  Sheik-ul-Islam,  both  of  whom  were  under  Russian  influ- 
ence. Of  a  sudden  great  excitement  displayed  itself  among  the 
Softas,  or  students,  of  whom  there  were  about  10,000  at  various 
mosques  in  Constantinople.  Providing  themselves  with  arms, 

22* 


514  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

they  marched  in  crowds  through  the  city,  and  drew  up  a  pro- 
gramme, in  which  they  demanded,  among  other  things,  an  assem- 
bly of  notables,  and  the  recall  of  Ignatieff  by  the  Russian  govern- 
ment. They  likewise  clamored  for  the  annihilation  of  the  revolt 
in  Herzegovina,  and  for  war  with  Montenegro.  On  the  llth  of 
Mav  they  presented  themselves  before  the  palace  with  arms  in 
their  hands,  and  demanded  the  removal  of  Mahmoud  Pasha  and 
the  Sheik-ul-Islam.  Their  demands  were  granted ;  but,  instead  of 
Midhat  Pasha,  the  man  of  their  choice,  Mehemed  Rushdi  Pasha 
was  made  grand  vizier.  This  was  counterbalanced,  however,  by 
the  appointment  of  Hussein  Avni  Pasha,  the  soul  of  the  move- 
ment, as  minister  of  war  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  army. 
This  was  only  a  beginning.  Abdul  Aziz  was  not  the  man  for  the 
energetic  policy  required  by  his  new  counsellors.  His  greed,  his 
extravagance,  his  leanings  toward  Russia,  had  long  since  deprived 
him  of  all  respect.  On  the  29th  of  May  the  grand  vizier,  the 
Sheik-ul-Islam,  Midhat  Pasha,  and  the  minister  of  war  resolved 
to  dethrone  this  worthless  and  dissipated  Sultan,  and  place  the 
legitimate  heir,  Murad,  eldest  son  of  the  deceased  Sultan,  Abdul 
Medjid,  on  the  throne  in  his  stead.  Their  plan  was  successfully 
carried  out,  and  the  deposed  monarch  was  forthwith  removed  to 
the  kiosk  Top-Capu,  and  thence  to  the  Palace  of  Therragan, 
where  he  seems  to  have  committed  suicide  a  few  days  later. 

But  before  Abdul  Aziz  ceased  to  reign,  one  of  the  cruellest 
tragedies  which  modern  history  records  had  been  enacted  in 
Bulgaria.  Ever  since  the  Crimean  war  it  had  been  the  policy 
of  the  Turkish  government  to  eradicate  the  Bulgarians,  and  set- 
tle Tartars  and  Circassians  in  the  provinces  south  of  the  Danube, 
in  order  to  form  a  strong  bulwark  against  Slavic  aggression  from 
the  north.  The  Tartars  remained  almost  exclusively  in  the  Do- 
brudsha ;  the  Circassians  spread  through  the  mountainous  regions 
of  Bulgaria.  Bravely  though  the  latter  had  fought  against  the 
Russians  in  their  native  mountains,  in  Bulgaria  they  proved  noth- 
ing more  than  lazy  robbers.  Work  they  would  not ;  they  lived  by 
plundering  the  unfortunate  natives.  At  length,  inspired  by  the 
example  of  Herzegovina  and  Bosnia,  and  incited  in  all  probabili- 
ty by  Russian  and  Servian  agents,  after  vain  complaints  and  peti- 
tions, on  the  1st  of  May,  1876,  some  young  men  raised  the  stand- 
ard of  revok  against  such  shameless  oppression  at  Drenovo,  near 
Tirnova.  Almost  at  the  same  time  an  insurrection  broke  out  in 


BULGARIAN  MASSACRES.  515 

the  region  between  Philippopolis  and  Sofia,  and  soon  the  insur- 
gents numbered  about  10,000  men.  Abdul  Kerim,  commander 
of  the  army  in  Roumelia  and  Bulgaria,  could  not  muster  more 
than  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  regular  troops,  and  so  recourse  was 
had  to  the  expedient  of  commissioning  Bashi-Bazouks — volunteers 
without  uniform — or,  in  other  words,  arming  the  Mohammedan 
population  to  suppress  the  revolt.  Even  the  prisons  were  emp- 
tied, and  murderers  were  enrolled  to  put  down  the  rebellion.  Such 
a  course  could  not  fail  to  result  in  massacres  of  the  most  atrocious 
description.  The  insurrection  was  soon  suppressed,  but  still  the 
massacres  continued.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  intention  of  the 
Turkish  government  to  break  the  spirit  of  the  Bulgarian  people 
finally  and  completely,  and  thus  render  any  future  revolt  an  im- 
possibility. The  number  of  the  luckless  victims  of  this  barbarous 
policy  has  been  variously  estimated  at  from  three  to  one  hundred 
thousand. 

Batak  was  the  place  which  suffered  most  severely,  as  it  is  also 
the  name  best  known  in  connection  with  the  massacres.  All  the 
Bulgarian  villages  in  the  neighborhood  had  already  been  destroy- 
ed before  the  Bashi-Bazouks  appeared  at  Batak,  on  the  12th  of 
May.  Hitherto  the  villagers  of  Batak  had  enjoyed  immunity,  and 
as  they  were  under  the  special  protection  of  Achmed  Aga,  the  lead- 
er of  the  Bashi-Bazouks,  they  were  in  hopes  that  the  storm  might 
leave  them  untouched.  Achmed  Aga,  as  chief  of  the  police  of 
the  district,  called  upon  the  inhabitants  to  surrender  their  arms. 
His  demand  was  at  once  complied  with.  One  of  the  men  who 
brought  the  weapons  was  shot  dead,  and  the  rest  were  sent  back 
with  orders  to  bring  all  the  gold  and  jewellery  in  the  place.  But, 
without  awaiting  their  return,  the  Bashi-Bazouks  fell  upon  the 
hapless  village,  proclaiming  themselves  commissioned  by  the  Sul- 
tan to  rob  and  murder  all  the  inhabitants.  The  headman  of  the 
village  was  impaled  upon  a  spit  and  roasted  alive.  Of  the  women, 
some  were  stripped  naked,  robbed  of  their  jewellery,  outraged,  and 
then  murdered — others  were  carried  off  to  grace  the  harems  of 
neighboring  Turkish  magnates.  A  correspondent,  describing  the 
appearance  of  the  village  a  few  weeks  later,  says :  "  The  path  was 
strewn  with  bones  and  children's  skulls  ;  on  the  hill  lay  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  whitened  skeletons,  still  half  covered  with  clothes. 
When  the  sack  of  the  village  was  completed,  the  girls  and  women 
were  brought  to  this  spot,  where,  after  the  most  terrible  abuse, 


516  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

they  were  slaughtered  like  cattle.  .  .  .  Before  the  church  a  hide- 
ous odor  greeted  us.  The  church-yard  is  surrounded  by  a  wall 
six  feet  high.  The  space  between  this  wall  and  the  church  was 
filled  in  three  feet  deep  with  corpses,  which  were  covered  with 
nothing  but  stone  slabs.  The  church  itself  was  full  of  moulder- 
ing pieces  of  flesh,  half-burnt  bones,  and  bloody  garments.  Op- 
posite the  church  stood  the  school-house,  where  three  hundred 
women  and  children  sought  refuge,  and  were  burnt  alive  by  the 
Bashi-Bazouks.  ...  At  the  lowest  estimate,  4000  corpses  were 
lying  unburied  in  the  village.  Before  the  massacre  Batak  num- 
bered 13,000  inhabitants,  it  now  numbers  1200.  If  we  estimate 
the  missing  at  1000,  there  still  remains  a  difference  of  more  than 
11,000  to  be  ascribed  to  the  bloody  account  of  the  Turks." 

The  number  of  Bulgarian  maidens  offered  for  sale  after  the 
massacres  was  so  great  that  in  Plulippopolis  they  were  to  be  had 
for  three  or  four  lire  apiece.  A  correspondent  writing  from  that 
place  on  the  15th  of  August,  says:  "The  actual  participants  in 
the  May  insurrection  were  long  ago  sent  to  their  last  account ; 
since  then  the  authorities  have  been  casting  into  prison  chiefly 
innocent  men,  who  never  thought  of  rising  against  the  govern- 
ment. Of  1028  Bulgarians  who  were  imprisoned  at  Tirnova, 
only  four  had  been  guilty  of  any  acts  of  insubordination;  the 
rest  were  prominent  merchants,  clergymen,  teachers,  and  peasants. 
About  eight  hundred  unoffending  clergymen  and  teachers  have 
been  put  to  death.  The  rich  merchants  in  Grabrovo,  Tirnova, 
Lovatz,  and  other  places  were  seized  in  their  shops,  and  killed 
almost  without  exception ;  their  property  fell  to  the  treasury,  or 
rather  to  the  officials,  who  shared  it  among  themselves.  The 
poorer  prisoners  were  for  the  most  part  allowed  to  live.  So  far 
5628  persons  have  been  released  from  prison.  The  poor  creat- 
ures are  most  of  them  thoroughly  broken  down,  owing  to  the 
miserable  provision  made  for  them  during  their  imprisonment. 
Many  did  not  see  the  sun's  rays  for  months,  and  were  allowed  no 
clean  garments  whatever.  In  addition  to  this,  all  of  them  wore 
heavy  fetters  on  their  hands  and  feet." 

The  American  consul-general,  Mr.  Eugene  Schuyler,  who  visited 
Bulgaria  in  person,  reported  that  these  atrocities  were  wholly 
unnecessary  for  the  suppression  of  the  revolt,  and  that  they  were 
not  provoked  by  any  similar  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Bulga- 
rians. On  the  news  of  the  Bulgarian  disorders,  the  government 


SERVIA  AND  MONTENEGRO  DECLARE  WAR.      517 

in  Constantinople  was  earnestly  requested  to  send  regular  troops 
to  the  disturbed  districts  for  the  preservation  of  the  public  peace. 
This  request  was  not  attended  to,  and  the  beys  of  Adrianople 
and  Philippopolis  acted  in  complete  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  the  government  in  arming  the  Mussulman  population,  the 
weapons  being  supplied  from  Constantinople.  The  outrages  were 
attributable  no  less  to  the  regular  troops  than  to  the  Bashi-Ba- 
zouks.  All  doubt  as  to  the  complicity  of  the  government  is  dis- 
pelled when  it  is  remembered  that  the  worst  offenders  were 
rewarded  —  the  commander  of  Pestuvizza  with  a  silver  medal, 
T ussoum  Bey  of  Klissura  with  the  Medjidi  order,  and  Achmed 
Aga  of  Batak  with  promotion  to  the  Yuzbashi. 

The  Bulgarian  massacre  could  not  fail  to  excite  the  greatest 
indignation  in  all  Europe,  but  more  especially  in  Servia  and  Mon- 
tenegro. Servia  had  long  hesitated  between  peace  and  war.  She 
had  to  fear,  not  alone  the  superior  strength  of  the  Turks,  but  also 
the  jealousy  of  Austria,  or  rather  Hungary,  which  had  no  desire 
to  encourage  the  dream  of  a  great  Servia.  In  February  of  1876 
the  war  party  at  length  gained  the  upper  hand,  and  made  such 
open  preparations  for  a  campaign  against  Turkey  that  Austria 
and  Russia  united  in  a  joint  note,  urging  the  Servian  government 
to  refrain  from  hostilities.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
Russia's  efforts  to  maintain  the  peace  were  at  the  last  merely  os- 
tensible both  in  Servia  and  Montenegro.  In  view  of  their  inti- 
mate relations  with  Russia,  it  is  scarcely  credible  that  either  of 
those  states,  but  more  especially  the  latter,  should  have  ventured 
upon  a  war  with  the  Porte  without  a  reasonable  assurance  of  the 
Czar's  approval.  In  Belgrade  Austria  was  looked  upon  as  the 
only  obstacle ;  and  popular  indignation  ran  so  high  that  on  the 
9th  of  April,  the  national  festival,  stones  were  thrown  at  the  Aus- 
trian consulate.  Austrian  influence  did  not  prove  strong  enough 
to  hold  the  Servians  back.  On  the  5th  of  May  an  unmistakable 
war  ministry  was  formed,  with  Ristic  as  minister  of  foreign  af- 
fairs; and  on  the  22d  a  national  loan  of  12,000,000  francs  was 
decreed.  The  overthrow  of  Abdul  Aziz  was  regarded,  both  in 
Belgrade  and  Chettinye,  as  a  sure  sign  of  war.  Prince  Nikita  at 
once  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Herzegovinian  movement, 
and  issued  orders  to  the  insurgents.  On  the  26th  of  June  the 
latter  proclaimed  him  as  their  prince,  and  two  days  later  the  Bos- 
nian insurgents,  imitating  their  example,  proclaimed  Prince  Milan 


518  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

prince  of  Bosnia.  The  Servian  army  had  already  been  for  some 
time  assembled  on  the  border,  while  the  Turks  had  also  collected 
a  considerable  force  on  their  side  of  the  line.  After  some  diplo- 
matic correspondence  the  Servian  government  despatched  an  ulti- 
matum on  the  27th  of  June,  demanding  the  "removal  from  the 
Servian  frontier  of  the  Turkish  army,  together  with  the  wild 
hordes  of  Bashi-Bazouks,  Circassians,  Arnauts  (Albanians),  and 
Kurds,"  the  appointment  of  Prince  Milan  as  viceroy  of  Bosnia, 
and  the  occupation  of  the  disturbed  provinces  by  the  Servian 
army.  The  union  of  Bosnia  with  Servia,  and  Herzegovina  with 
Montenegro,  seemed  to  the  Porte  too  high  a  price  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  peace ;  accordingly,  on  the  2d  of  July,  the  Servian  army 
crossed  the  Turkish  border ;  and  at  the  same  time  Prince  Nikita, 
who  had  already  called  into  the  field  the  whole  able-bodied  popu- 
lation between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and  sixty,  announced  to  the 
Porte  that  he  preferred  open  war  to  the  state  of  virtual  siege 
in  which  his  principality  was  kept  by  the  Turkish  forces  on  the 
border. 

The  Servian  field  army  numbered  about  80,000  men ;  but  of 
these  only  3000  were  regular  troops,  while  there  was,  further- 
more, no  reserve  from  which  to  supply  the  losses  of  battle.  This 
force  was  unwisely  divided :  the  main  army,  under  the  Russian 
general  Chernayeff,  was  stationed  in  the  south-east,  at  Alexinatz, 
opposite  the  fortress  of  Nish ;  a  small  force,  under  Colonel  Les- 
hyanin,  on  the  Timok,  opposite  Viddin;  another  small  force  on 
the  Ibar,  opposite  Novibazar ;  and  a  fourth  in  the  north-west,  on 
the  Drina.  Russia  manifested  the  liveliest  sympathy  for  the 
Servians.  Of  the  six  to  eight  thousand  foreign  volunteers  in  the 
Servian  army  fully  three  thousand  were  Russians,  and  many  of  the 
officers  were  of  the  same  nationality.  Money  and  hospital  stores 
were  freely  supplied  from  the  Northern  empire ;  the  empress  put 
herself  at  the  head  of  the  benevolent  societies  organized  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Servians  and  Montenegrins ;  collections  were  taken 
up  from  house  to  house ;  and  numerous  ladies  and  physicians 
hastened  to  offer  their  services  at  the  seat  of  war.  The  emperor 
maintained  an  attitude  of  reserve,  but  the  whole  nation  saluted 
the  Servians  and  Montenegrins  as  brothers  fighting  in  the  com- 
mon quarrel  of  the  Slavonic  race.  The  Montenegrin  army,  con- 
sisting almost  exclusively  of  militia,  numbered  15,000  men,  di- 
vided into  two  parts,  in  order  to  make  head  at  the  same  time 


FIRST  SERVIAN   CAMPAIGN.  519 

toward  the  north  and  south.  The  insurgents  in  Herzegovina 
were'  under  the  command  of  the  Prince  of  Montenegro,  while 
those  in  Bosnia  fought  independently ;  and  it  is  rather  a  signifi- 
cant fact  that  the  activity  in  those  provinces  decreased  in  propor- 
tion as  that  of  Servia  and  Montenegro  increased.  The  Turkish 
army  at  the  outset  of  the  campaign  numbered  150,000  men,  un- 
der the  command  of  Abdul  Kerim  ;  but  this  force  was  constantly 
increased  by  fresh  troops  from  Asia  and  Africa,  who  were  paid 
by  means  of  Abdul  Aziz's  confiscated  treasures.  The  Turks  were 
seriously  impeded,  however,  in  their  prosecution  of  the  war  by 
the  fact  that  they  were  compelled  to  recognize  the  neutrality  of 
the  Danube;  in  addition  to  which  the  harbor  of  Kick,  where  re- 
enforcements  were  to  have  been  disembarked  for  Mukhtar  Pasha, 
was  closed  by  the  Anstrians. 

On  the  2d  of  July  Chernayeff  crossed  the  Turkish  frontier, 
and  severed  the  communications  between  Abdul  Kerim  at  Nish, 
and  Osman  Pasha  at  Viddin.  But  be  was  unable  to  maintain  his 
position,  and  on  the  14th  Abdul  Kerim  became  in  his  turn  the 
invader.  On  the  4th  and  5th  of  August  the  Servians  were  de- 
feated at  Knyazebac ;  but  Abdul  Kerim  did  not  know  how  to 
improve  his  victory,  and  Chernayeff  was  allowed  to  fortify  him- 
self at  Bania  and  Alexinatz.  This  position  was  attacked  by  the 
Turks  on  the  19th  of  August,  but  after  six  days'  fighting  they 
were  repulsed.  The  attack  was  renewed  on  the  28th,  but  with 
the  same  result.  An  attack  on  the  1st  of  September  was  more 
successful,  and  after  eleven  hours'  fighting  the  Turks  carried  the 
Servian  position  before  Alexinatz ;  but  again  they  failed  to  im- 
prove their  victory,  and  Chernayeff  was  allowed  to  intrench  him- 
self between  Alexinatz  and  Deligrad.  On  the  llth  and  16th  the 
Servians  assumed  the  offensive,  but  were  repulsed.  The  cam- 
paign had  lasted  ten  weeks,  and  had  resulted  slightly  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  Servians;  their  main  army,  together  with  the 
army  of  the  Timok,  had  been  worsted,  and  the  smaller  forces  op- 
erating in  the  north-west  and  south-west  had  proved  too  weak  to 
accomplish  anything.  For  the  rest,  although  the  Montenegrins 
had  been  victorious  both  in  the  north  and  south,  all  the  other 
allies  on  whom  Servia  had  counted  had  failed  her  utterly.  Nei- 
ther Roumania  nor  Greece  had  moved ;  Bulgaria  was  crushed,  and 
the  Bosnians  were  held  in  check  by  the  Turkish  troops  which 
had  been  sent  thither.  Russia  offered  nothing  more  than  private 


520  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

assistance  and  serai  -official  encouragement.  Servia  and  Monte- 
negro were  left  alone  to  carry  on  an  unequal  struggle  with  the 
Turkish  empire.  It  was  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  demand 
for  peace  should  make  itself  heard  in  Belgrade,  and  on  the  16th 
of  September  a  ten  days'  armistice  was  concluded.  • 

This  armistice  was  the  direct  work  of  the  Great  Powers.  The 
Gortchakoff  memorandum  had  never  been  presented  to  the  Porte, 
on  account  of  the  revolution  of  May  30th.  The  leaders  of  that 
revolution,  Hussein  Avni  Pasha  and  Midhat  Pasha,  while  agreed 
in  their  hostility  to  Russia,  differed  radically  in  regard  to  internal 
policy.  The  former  belonged  to  the  old  Turks,  and  clung  to  an- 
cient forms  and  customs ;  the  latter  believed  in  pretending  to  rule 
according  to  European  methods.  Although  hostility  to  Russia 
and  a  desire  for  change  led  them  to  sink  their  differences  for  a 
time,  it  is  doubtful  how  long  this  agreement  would  have  lasted. 
But  fate  solved  the  difficulty.  On  the  15th  of  June  Hussein 
Avni  Pasha  and  Rashid  Pasha  were  murdered  by  a  dissatisfied 
Circassian  officer  named  Hassan.  Their  places  in  the  cabinet 
were  supplied  by  Abdul  Kerim  and  Savfet  Pasha,  the  former 
minister  of  justice.  The  whole  revolution,  of  which  this  was 
the  closing  episode,  was  a  defeat  for  Russian  diplomacy,  and  had 
the  effect  of  replacing  Count  Ignatieff  by  Sir  Henry  Elliot  as  the 
confidential  adviser  of  the  Porte.  On  the  9th  of  June,  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  Disraeli  expressed  himself  full  of  hope  and 
confidence  in  reference  to  the  new  Turkish  era  thus  inaugurated. 
Perhaps  it  was  unwillingness  to  hamper  the  new  government  in 
its  work  of  reform  which  led  the  English  ambassador  at  Constan- 
tinople, or  the  English  government,  or  both,  to  suppress  the  in- 
formation in  their  hands  regarding  the  atrocities  in  Bulgaria. 
As  indicating  the  sentiment  of  a  large  body  of  the  English  peo- 
ple at  this  juncture,  it  may  be  worth  recording  that  the  London 
Times  also  suppressed  the  communications  of  its  correspondent 
regarding  the  massacres,  so  that  the  first  information  which  reach- 
ed the  English  people  came  through  the  columns  of  the  Daily 
News,  on  the  26th  of  June.  The  same  information  had  been 
for  some  time  in  the  possession  of  Sir  Henry  Elliot ;  but  the 
ministry,  when  questioned  in  Parliament,  denied  all  knowledge  of 
such  events.  Ultimately,  however,  they  were  forced  to  send  a 
commissioner  to  investigate  the  alleged  outrages.  As  fuller  news 
arrived  a  revulsion  in  public  opinion  set  in,  and  the  government 


AUSTRIA'S  DIFFICULT  POSITION.  521 

finally  saw  itself  obliged  to  instruct  the  English  ambassador  in 
Constantinople  (September  5th)  that  so  much  public  indignation 
had  been  aroused  by  the  late  events  in  Bulgaria  that,  even  in  the 
extreme  case  of  a  war  with  Russia,  England  would  not  be  able  to 
interfere  for  the  protection  of  the  Ottoman  empire.  On  the  21st 
of  September  Elliot  was  directed  to  request  an  audience  with  the 
Sultan,  and  demand  compensation  for  the  sufferers,  punishment . 
of  the  offenders  of  high  rank,  and  the  appointment  of  an  efficient 
commissioner,  either  himself  a  Christian  or  surrounded  by  Chris- 
tian counsellors,  to  whom  should  be  intrusted  the  temporary  ad- 
ministration of  Bulgaria.  The  Turkish  government  did  none  of 
these  things ;  the  ringleaders  in  the  massacres,  such  as  Achmed 
Aga,  were  rewarded,  and  only  a  few  underlings  punished. 

England's  pro-Turkish  attitude  naturally  excited  the  greatest 
indignation  in  Russia,  where  all  classes  of  the  population  were 
clamorous  for  war  with  Turkey.  The  emperor,  as  has  already 
been  narrated,  preserved  an  attitude  of  reserve,  and  dissuaded 
Servia  and  Montenegro  from  war,  at  the  same  time  that  he  made 
no  effort  to  restrain  his  subjects  from  rendering  assistance  to 
those  states,  and  permitted  Russian  officers  to  take  service  in  the 
Servian  army.  The  alliance  of  the  three  emperors  compelled  him 
to  consider  Austrian  interests,  and  be  guided  in  his  direct  policy 
by  Austrian  wishes.  On  the  8th  of  July  a  meeting  took  place  at 
Reichstadt  between  Alexander  and  Francis  Joseph,  attended  by 
their  respective  chancellors,  at  which  it  seems  to  have  been  de- 
cided that  no  armed  intervention  should  be  attempted  for  the 
present,  and  that  neither  state  should  in  any  case  act  indepen- 
dently of  the  other.  Germany,  as  the  least  interested,  whose  busi- 
ness it  was  to  act  as  mediator,  and  reconcile,  so  far  as  possible,  the 
conflicting  views  of  her  two  colleagues,  naturally  assented  to  this 
arrangement.  It  has  already  been  indicated  that  the  position  of 
the  Austro-Hungarian  government  was  no  easy  one,  and  the  Ser- 
vian war  certainly  did  not  tend  to  make  it  easier.  In  Cisleitha- 
nia  sympathy  was  strongly  enlisted  on  the  side  of  the  oppressed 
Christian  populations  of  the  Balkan  peninsula,  while  the  Hunga- 
rians, in  their  hatred  of  the  Slavs,  showed  themselves  ardent  ad- 
mirers of  the  Turks.  General  Klapka,  one  of  the  heroes  of  1848, 
arrived  in  Constantinople  on  the  21st  of  July,  and  put  himself  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Turkish  government,  his  intention  being  to 
raise  a  Hungarian  legion  to  fight  under  the  crescent  against  the 


522  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

Christian  Slavs.  This  project  met  with  the  hearty  approval  of 
the  Hungarian  Press.  On  the  23d  of  October  the  students  of 
Pesth  expressed  to  Minister-president  Tisza  their  wish  to  hold  a 
torch-light  procession  in  honor  of  the  Turkish  consul,  and  on  the 
13th  of  January,  1877,  a  deputation  of  Hungarian  students  pre- 
sented Abdul  Kcrirn,  the  conqueror  of  the  Servians,  with  a  sabre, 
as  a  "  pledge  of  the  intimate  friendship  between  the  two  coun- 
tries." The  Magyars  were  also  influenced  by  interest  as  well  as 
sentiment,  for  they  perceived  that  a  strong  Slavonic  state  to  the 
south  must  result  in  giving  the  five  million  Slavs  in  Hungary  a 
share  in  the  government  of  that  country.  The  conflicting  views 
of  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  empire  seriously  hampered  An- 
drassy's  policy,  and  forced  conservatism  upon  him.  Although  a 
Hungarian,  he  realized  the  benefits  accruing  to  the  Austrian  em- 
pire from  the  alliance  of  the  three  emperors,  and  recognized  the 
fact  that  the  interests  of  the  country  at  large  could  not  be  subor- 
dinated to  the  wishes  of  a  handful  of  Magyars.  The  policy  which 
he  favored  aimed  at  a  Christian  administration  of  all  those  Turk- 
ish provinces  in  which  the  Christian  population  was  in  the  major- 
ity, and  the  ultimate  application  of  force,  if  necessary,  to  attain 
this  result.  In  this  way  he  hoped  to  avoid  the  necessity  for  a 
partition  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  and  the  erection  of  dependent, 
or  independent,  Slavonic  states. 

In  addition  to  England  and  the  Magyars,  one  other  friend  of 
Turkish  rule  should  be  mentioned,  namely,  the  Pope  of  Rome. 
The  ground  of  this  friendship  was  indicated  in  an  article  in  the 
Voce  della  Verita,  a  Vatican  sheet,  to  the  effect  that  the  rule  of 
the  Turkish  crescent  was  preferable  to  that  of  the  Greek  Catholic 
cross.  This  alliance,  which  restrained  from  revolt  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic population  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  was  very  welcome  to 
the  Porte,  and  the  latter  showed  its  gratitude  by  settling  certain 
difficulties  which  had  arisen  regarding  the  Armenian  Church,  and 
promising  to  bestow  special  privileges  on  its  Roman  Catholic 
subjects. 

The  Sultan  with  whom  Scrvia  must  negotiate  a  peace  was  no 
longer  Murad  V.  The  "  reformer  of  the  Turkish  empire,"  after  a 
reign  of  three  months,  fell  a  victim  to  an  incurable  brain  trouble, 
due  to  overmuch  enjoyment  of  the  pleasures  of  the  harem,  exces- 
sive use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  the  effects  of  his  three  years' 
imprisonment;  and  on  the  31st  of  August  his  brother,  Abdul 


UNSUCCESSFUL  NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  A  PEACE.  523 

Hatnid  II.,  was  declared  Sultan  in  his  stead.  Murad  V.  had  been 
a  mere  nonentity,  and  at  first  his  brother  seemed  inclined  to  fol- 
low in  his  footsteps  and  leave  the  government  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  ministers.  The  Great  Powers,  which  had  been  ne- 
gotiating in  Constantinople  and  Belgrade  with  a  view  to  peace, 
left  it  to  the  Porte  to  propose  the  terms,  and  on  the  14th  of  Sep- 
tember the  latter  laid  before  their  representatives  the  plan  of  a 
treaty  containing,  among  others,  the  following  conditions :  occu- 
pation by  Turkish  troops  of  the  four  fortresses  which  had  been 
handed  over  to  Servia  in  1866,  payment  of  a  war  indemnity,  con- 
struction of  a  railroad  under  Turkish  control  between  Nish  and 
Belgrade.  These  conditions  were  unacceptable,  and  almost  re- 
sulted in  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  Russia ;  but  diplo- 
macy averted  the  danger  for  the  moment  by  arranging  a  truce  of 
ten  days,  afterward  extended  to  sixteen,  in  which  to  reconsider 
the  terms  proposed.  England,  which  had  heretofore  refused  to 
act  in  harmony  with  the  other  powers,  and  evidently  desired  to 
prove  herself  the  arbiter  of  the  Orient,  was  allowed  to  propose 
terms  of  peace.  Accordingly,  on  the  25th  of  September  Sir  Hen- 
ry Elliot,  supported  by  the  ambassadors  of  the  other  powers,  sub- 
mitted to  the  Porte  the  following  propositions :  restoration  of  the 
status  quo  ante  in  Servia  and  Montenegro,  the  establishment  of 
administrative  autonomy  in  Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  and  Bulgaria, 
and  the  execution  of  the  reforms  indicated  in  the  Andrassy  note. 
The  official  answer,  communicated  on  the  2d  of  October,  while 
accepting  the  first  two  conditions,  refused  autonomy  to  the  three 
provinces,  on  the  ground  that  a  constitution,  including  a  central 
parliament,  was  about  to  be  granted  to  the  whole  empire,  and  all 
branches  of  the  administration  thoroughly  reformed.  The  rumor 
of  a  proposed  naval  demonstration  on  the  part  of  the  powers  was 
answered  by  a  threat  to  remove  the  capital  to  Adrianople ;  the 
hint  of  a  joint  occupation  of  Turkish  provinces  by  Austria  and 
Russia  was  met  by  the  threat  of  an  appeal  to  Islam.  An  attempt 
to  lengthen  the  armistice  was  also  unsuccessful,  and  resulted  only 
in  increasing  the  bitterness  of  England  and  Turkey  toward  Rus- 
sia, to  whose  charge  they  attributed  the  failure  of  the  negotia- 
tions. 

But  before  matters  had  reached  this  point  hostilities  had  been 
again  resumed.  Servia  refused  to  consent  to  the  prolongation  of 
the  armistice  to  sixteen  days,  inasmuch  as  the  ten  days'  armistice 


524  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

had  not  been  strictly  observed.  Accordingly,  on  the  28th  of 
September  Chernayeff.  who  had  taken  advantage  of  the  truce  to 
proclaim  Prince  Milan  king  of  Servia,  and  cause  the  army  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  him,  resumed  the  offensive,  de- 
stroyed the  two  bridges  which  Abdul  Kerim  had  thrown  across 
the  Morava,  and  attacked  the  Turks  in  their  positions.  AVhen  vic- 
tory seemed  within  his  very  grasp,  Hafiz  Pasha  arrived  on  the  scene 
with  33,000  fresh  troops,  and  the  Servians  were  repulsed.  After 
a  long  pause,  on  the  1 9th  of  October  the  Turks  attacked  the  Ser- 
vian positions,  and  by  the  31st  of  that  month  Alexinatz  had  been 
taken  and  destn  yed.  and  the  way  opened  into  the  interior.  The 
greatest  consternation  prevailed  in  Belgrade  in  consequence  of 
these  defeats,  and  telegram  after  telegram  was  sent  to  Livadia 
entreating  succor  from  the  Russian  emperor.  Servians  tiny  ally, 
Montenegro,  on  the  other  hand,  had  been  more  successful,  and 
both  to  the  north  and  south  of  their  beggarly  little  patch  of 
mountains  the  Montenegrins  had  entered  Turkish  territory  as 
victorious  invaders. 

On  the  30th  of  October,  Ignatieff,  in  an  interview  with  Savfet 
Pasha,  informed  the  latter,  in  the  name  of  the  Russian  emperor, 
that  unless  within  twenty-four  hours  the  Porte  signified  its  will- 
ingness to  conclude  an  armistice  with  Servia  of  six  weeks  or  two 
months,  Russia  would  break  off  her  political  relations  with  the 
Sultan.  What  Turkey  might  venture  to  refuse  to  the  united  de- 
mands of  the  disunited  Great  Powers  she  did  not  dare  to  refuse 
to  Russia  alone,  and  on  the  31st  of  October  a  two  months'  truce 
with  Servia  was  signed.  England  at  once  proposed  a  conference 
of  the  powers  on  the  basis  of  the  integrity  of  the  Ottoman  em- 
pire, with  a  view  to  establishing  administrative  autonomy  in 
Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  and  Bulgaria ;  and  after  some  objections  on 
the  part  of  the  Porte,  all  the  powers  accepted  her  invitation  and 
sent  delegates  to  the  conference  at  Constantinople. 

On  the  2d  of  November  the  Czar,  in  a  conversation  with  Lord 
Loftus,  the  English  ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg,  pledged  his 
word  that  he  did  not  aim  at  the  acquisition  of  Constantinople, 
and  that  in  case  it  became  necessary  to  occupy  Bulgaria,  the  oc- 
cupation should  be  merely  temporary.  He  did  not  believe  that 
anything  could  be  accomplished  without  a  display  of  arms,  and 
suggested  that  Austria  should  occupy  Bosnia,  and  Russia  Bul- 
garia, while  the  English  fleet  should  appear  before  Constantinople. 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR.  525 

In  a  despatch  of  the  3d  Lord  Derby  expressed  himself  satisfied 
with  the  Czar's  assurances  respecting  his  intentions.  Bat  it  soon 
appeared  that  the  English  government  was  not  satisfied  after  all. 
On  the  9th  of  November,  at  the  Lord  Mayor's  banquet,  Lord  Bea- 
consfield,  after  glorifying  the  strength  and  resources  of  Great 
Britain,  said,  "  In  a  righteous  cause,  England  is  not  the  country 
that  will  have  to  inquire  whether  she  can  enter  upon  a  second  or 
third  campaign.  In  a  righteous  cause  England  will  commence  a 
fight  that  will  not  end  till  right  is  done."  The  allusion  was  man- 
ifest, and  the  Emperor  Alexander's  speech  to  the  nobles  at  Mos- 
cow on  the  following  day  was  an  evident  answer  to  the  challenge 
contained  in  the  English  Premier's  words.  If  he  could  not  suc- 
ceed in  obtaining  with  the  concert  of  Europe,  he  said,  such  guar- 
antees as  he  thought  it  necessary  to  exact,  he  was  firmly  deter- 
mined to  act  independently,  and  was  convinced  that  all  Russia 
would  respond  to  his  summons. 

These  utterances  were  ominous.  On  the  13th  the  Czar  ordered 
the  formation  of  six  army  corps  out  of  the  divisions  stationed  in 
the  military  districts  of  Odessa,  Charkoff,  and  Kieff,  and  appointed 
Grand-duke  Nikolai  Nikolaievitch  their  commander.  A  Crimean 
army  was  also  to  be  formed  under  the  command  of  General  Se- 
myeka,  and  large  re-enforcements  were  ordered  for  Loris  Melikoff 
in  the  Caucasus.  In  an  explanatory  circular  Gortchakoff  inform- 
ed the  Great  Powers  that  Russia  was  determined  not  to  rest  until 
justice  had  been  done  to  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Porte.  On 
the  18th  of  November  a  loan  of  100,000,000  roubles  was  or- 
dered, which  was  taken  up  in  the  Russian  empire  within  eight 
days.  Orders  were  also  issued  placing  the  railroads  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  military  authorities,  the  export  of  grain  and  horses 
was  forbidden,  torpedoes  were  laid  at  the  entrances  of  the  most 
important  Black  Sea  harbors,  and  other  necessary  preparations 
made  for  war.  These  measures  called  forth,  not  alone  diplomatic 
protests  and  inquiries  from  the  English  cabinet,  but  also  counter 
preparations,  and  on  the  18th  of  November  it  was  announced 
that,  in  case  Bulgaria  were  occupied  by  Russian  troops,  England 
would  occupy  Gallipoli  and  Constantinople,  in  order  to  secure  the 
Bosporus  and  the  Dardanelles  against  the  Russian  fleet.  A  war 
between  Russia  and  Turkey  was  everywhere  regarded  as  certain, 
and  the  fear  was  entertained  that  England  or  even  Austria  might 
also  become  involved.  It  was  generally  felt  that  the  peace  of 


526  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

Europe  depended  on  the  attitude  of  Germany,  and  men  asked 
what  Bismarck's  policy  would  be.  In  answer  to  an  interpellation 
in  the  Reichstag  by  liichter,  on  the  5th  of  December,  Bismarck 
gave  it  to  be  understood  that  Germany  would  support  Russia  in 
her  demands  relative  to  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Porte,  and 
that  in  case  of  war  Austria's  neutrality  was  assured ;  Russia  was 
to  make  no  conquests,  and  Austrian  interests  were  to  be  provided 
for.  He  also  took  occasion,  at  one  of  his  parliamentary  recep- 
tions, to  express  the  belief  that  England  would  not  be  a  party  to 
the  war. 

During  the  interval  preceding  the  conference  Turkey  was  not 
idle.  Military  preparations  were  pushed  forward,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  constitution  intended  to  checkmate  the  approaching 
conference  was  under  preparation.  On  the  21st  of  November 
this  instrument  was  completed,  under  the  direction  of  Midhat 
Pasha,  and  laid  before  the  Sultan  for  his  signature.  As  it  con- 
ferred upon  the  Christians  political  equality  with  the  Moham- 
medans, Mehemcd  Rushdi  Pasha,  a  fanatical  old  Turk,  opposed  it ; 
but  on  the  19th  of  December  his  resignation  was  tendered,  on 
account  of  "  ill  health,"  and  Midhat  Pasha  became  grand-vizier 
in  his  stead.  On  the  23d  the  new  constitution  was  published  in 
the  presence  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  realm,  while  cannon  thun- 
dered forth  their  welcome  to  the  new-born  sham.  It  is  needless 
to  mention  all  the  beneficial  provisions  of  this  document,  for  they 
were  never  executed,  and  it  was  not  intended  that  they  should 
be.  The  constitution  was  to  serve  as  an  excuse  for  paying  no  at- 
tention to  the  advice  of  Europe.  That  advice  was  prepared  in 
a  preliminary  conference,  from  which  the  representatives  of  the 
Porte  were  excluded,  lasting  from  the  12th  to  the  20th  of  Decem- 
ber. The  reforms  proposed  were  practically  the  same  as  before. 
As  the  only  means  of  securing  their  execution,  Ignatieff  advo- 
cated the  occupation  of  the  disturbed  provinces  by  Austria  and 
Russia,  and  the  appearance  of  the  English  fleet  in  the  Bosporus. 
Neither  the  Austrian  nor  English  representatives  would  consent 
to  this  proposition,  and  finally,  at  Lord  Salisbury's  suggestion,  it 
was  determined  to  execute  the  reforms  under  the  protection  of 
Belgian  troops.  The  conference  proper  was  opened  on  the  23d, 
Savfet  Pasha  presiding.  Count  Chaudordy  had  scarcely  present- 
ed the  proposition  of  the  Great  Powers  when  the  sound  of  can- 
non was  heard,  and  Savfet  Pasha  announced  that  a  constitution 


TURKEY  REJECTS  THE  PROPOSALS  OF  THE  CONFERENCE.  527 

had  been  granted  and  a  new  era  had  begun.  This  did  not  have 
the  desired  effect,  however,  and  on  the  1st  of  January  the  Porte 
found  itself  obliged  to  lay  before  the  conference  a  counter-prop- 
osition. On  the  15th  of  January  the  powers  as  an  ultimatum 
presented  their  demands  in  a  somewhat  modified  form,  omitting 
among  other  things  the  condition  with  reference  to  the  employ- 
ment of  foreign  troops,  but  giving  their  representatives  a  voice 
in  the  selection  of  governors,  and  providing  two  commissions 
appointed  by  the  Great  Powers  for  the  general  supervision  of  the 
reforms. 

The  position  of  the  Porte  was  difficult  in  the  extreme ;  for 
if  these  two  conditions  were  accepted,  the  independence  of  the 
Turkish  government  was  lost;  while,  if  they  were  rejected,  war 
was  inevitable.  On  the  18th  of  January  a  meeting  of  the  Extra- 
ordinary Grand  Council  was  called,  at  which  two  hundred  and 
fifteen  persons  were  present,  including  the  Grecian  patriarch  and 
delegates  from  the  Armenian  patriarch,  the  Bulgarian  exarch,  and 
the  Grand  Rabbi.  The  council  advised  resistance,  and  on  the 
20th  the  Porte  communicated  t;.>  the  conference  its  rejection  of 
the  two  obnoxious  conditions.  But  these  conditions  were  the 
very  kernel  of  the  whole  matter,  inasmuch  as  they  contained  a 
guarantee  for  the  execution  of  the  reforms.  In  their  stead  the 
Porte  offered  no  guarantee  but  piomises,  and  so  the  conference 
came  to  a  close,  and  all  the  powers  withdrew  their  ambassadors 
as  a  sign  of  their  displeasure.  On  the  5th  of  February  Midhat 
Pasha,  the  only  man  in  whose  intention  and  ability  to  introduce 
reforms  of  some  description  Europe  had  any  faith,  was  removed 
from  his  office  and  banished,  in  accordance,  so  Savfet  Pasha  in- 
formed the  powers,  with  article  113  of  the  constitution — Mid- 
hat's  own  constitution — which  gave  the  Sultan  the  right  to  ban- 
ish all  who  might  be  designated  by  the  accredited  organs  of  the 
police  as  dangerous  to  the  state.  Edhem  Pasha,  an  old  Turk  and 
a  Russian-hater,  became  grand-vizier,  but  Mahmoud  Damad  Pasha, 
the  Sultan's  brother-in-law,  was  the  real  dictator  of  Turkish 
policy. 

After  the  failure  of  the  conference,  direct  negotiations  were 
opened  with  Servia  and  Montenegro,  and  on  the  1st  of  March  a 
peace  was  signed  with  the  former  state,  by  which  the  status  quo 
ante  was  restored,  with  the  stipulation  that  the  Turkish  flag  should 
be  planted  on  the  citadel  of  Belgrade  along  with  the  Servian. 


528  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

With  Montenegro  matters  did  not  run  so  smoothly.  Turkey 
would  not  consent  to  any  cession  of  territory  ;  and  finally,  on  the 
13th  of  April,  negotiations  were  broken  off,  and  both  sides  pre- 
pared for  a  renewal  of  the  war.  But  this  time  Prince  Nikita  was 
to  have  an  ally  more  powerful  than  Servia. 

On  the  31st  of  January  Gortchakoff  addressed  a  circular  to 
the  Great  Powers,  asking  what  they  intended  to  do,  now  that 
their  advice  had  been  rejected.  England  proposed  a  year's  pro- 
bation. Gortchakoff  inquired  what  was  to  be  done  at  the  close 
of  the  year,  as  "  Russia  could  consent  to  such  a  probation  only 
on  condition  that  the  Great  Powers  pledged  themselves  to  joint 
measures  of  coercion"  in  case  Turkey  failed  to  carry  out  the  re- 
forms within  that  time.  Such  a  pledge  England  was  unwilling 
to  give,  and  the  plan  of  the  English  cabinet,  so  far  as  it  can  be 
said  to  have  had  one,  seems  to  have  been  to  shut  its  eyes  and  try 
to  believe  the  assurances  of  the  Porte.  In  pursuance  of  this  pol- 
icy, the  Queen's  speech,  on  the  8th  of  February,  expressed  con 
fidence  that  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  late  conference  of  the 
existence  of  European  concert  could  not  fail  to  exert  great  in- 
fluence on  the  Sultan's  government.  But  Russia  would  not  so 
readily  abandon  the  policy  of  joint  action  on  the  part  of  the 
Great  Powers,  and  in  the  beginning  of  March  Ignatieff  undertook 
a  mission  to  Berlin,  Paris,  Vienna,  and  London — professedly  on 
account  of  his  eyes.  Finally,  on  the  31st  of  March,  the  six  pow- 
ers signed  a  protocol  calling  upon  the  Porte  to  make  peace  with 
Montenegro,  reduce  its  army  to  a  peace  footing,  and  carry  out 
the  desired  reforms.  The  execution  of  these  reforms  was  to  be 
•watched  over  by  the  representatives  of  the  powers ;  and,  in  case 
they  were  not  carried  out,  the  latter  reserved  to  themselves  the 
right  of  indicating  the  measures  which  they  considered  necessary 
to  the  welfare  of  the  Christian  populations  in  the  dominions  of 
the  Sultan.  The  object  of  the  protocol,  which  was  a  feeble  echo 
of  the  Constantinople  conference,  was  to  convince  the  Porte  of 
the  continued  existence  of  the  European  concert.  Before  signing 
it  Shouvaloff,  who  represented  Russia,  stated  that  if  a  peace  were 
concluded  with  Montenegro,  and  the  Porte  showed  itself  ready  to 
accept  the  advice  of  Europe,  a  special  ambassador  might  be  sent 
to  St.  Petersburg  to  treat  regarding  disarmament.  (On  the  3d 
of  March  the  Czar  had  ordered  the  formation  of  eight  additional 
army  corps  and  a  grenadier  corps.)  Lord  Derby,  on  behalf  of 


RUSSIA   DECLARES   WAR.  529 

England,  read  a  statement  to  the  effect  that  the  English  govern- 
ment consented  to  the  protocol  only  on  condition  of  the  mutual 
disarmament  of  Russia  and  Turkey,  otherwise  it  must  regard  it 
as  null  and  void.  To  such  a  shift  were  the  powers  reduced,  in 
their  attempt  to  preserve  a  decent  appearance  of  concert,  that 
they  had  virtually  yielded  to  the  demands  of  the  Porte.  The 
protocol  itself  was  nothing  more  than  the  programme  of  the 
Constantinople  conference,  minus  the  two  clauses  which  Turkey 
had  found  objectionable.  But  this  emasculated  concert  was  ren- 
dered worthless  by  the  explanations  appended  by  Russia  and 
England  respectively,  for  it  was  morally  certain  that  Turkey 
would  not  accept  the  Russian  conditions,  and  in  that  case  Eng- 
land wouKi  regard  the  protocol  as  null  and  void. 

The  London  protocol  was  presented  to  Savfet  Pasha  on  the 
3d  of  April,  and  the  Porte  refused  to  accept  it.  Montenegro 
the  Sultan  regarded  as  an  integral  part  of  his  dominions,  and  if 
peace  were  not  concluded,  the  fault  lay  with  Prince  Nikita  and 
not  with  his  suzerain.  The  reforms  should  be  carried  out  so  far 
as  they  did  not  interfere  with  the  constitution,  and  no  farther. 
A  special  ambassador  could  be  sent  to  St.  Petersburg  only  in  case 
the  Czar  on  his  part  sent  a  special  ambassador  to  Constantinople. 
On  the  19th  of  April,  in  the  English  House  of  Lords,  Lord  Der- 
by announced  that  the  Porte  had  been  warned  to  expect  no  as- 
sistance from  England — nevertheless,  on  the  30th  of  the  previous 
month,  England,  without  consulting  the  other  powers,  had  sent 
Sir  Austin  Layard,  a  warm  friend  of  the  Turks,  as  ambassador 
to  Constantinople.  The  Turkish  answer  to  the  protocol  was  re- 
ceived in  St.  Petersburg  on  the  12th  of  April,  and  on  the  13th 
orders  were  issued  to  mobilize  the  whole  Russian  army.  On  the 
24th  of  the  same  month  the  emperor  issued  a  manifesto  order- 
ing his  troops  to  cross  the  Turkish  frontiers;  and  on  the  same 
day  a  circular  note  was  sent  to  the  powers,  informing  them  of 
the  fact.  In  his  answer  to  this  circular,  Lord  Derby  expressed 
his  regret  at  Russia's  action,  which  he  regarded  as  a  violation  of 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  of  1856 ;  at  the  same  time,  however,  he  an- 
nounced the  intention  of  the  English  government  to  observe  a 
strict  neutrality  in  case  British  interests  were  not  interfered  with. 
Those  interests  were  somewhat  more  closely  defined  shortly  after 
as  being  English  communications  with  the  East.  For  the  pro- 
tection of  those  communications  the  Suez  canal  must  not  be  in 

23 


530  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

any  way  obstructed,  Constantinople  must  remain  in  the  hands  of 
its  present  possessors,  and  the  existing  regulations  with  regard  to 
the  Dardanelles  and  Bosporus  must  be  maintained.  It  was  also 
indicated  that  the  occupation  of  Bulgaria  for  any  longer  time  than 
was  absolutely  necessary  might  occasion  unpleasant  complications. 

The  position  of  Roumania  between  the  two  belligerents  ren- 
dered its  alliance  a  matter  of  importance  to  both  sides.  On  the 
16th  of  April  a  convention  was  concluded  with  Russia,  by  which 
free  passage  through  the  principality  was  conceded  to  the  Russian 
army,  together  with  the  use  of  the  railroads,  post,  and  telegraph  ; 
and  it  was  also  provided  that  the  Roumanian  commander-in-chief 
should  establish  magazines  at  all  important  points,  excepting  Bu- 
charest, in  the  rear  of  the  Russian  army  of  operation.  As  this 
convention  was  a  virtual  declaration  of  war  with  Turkey,  orders 
were  issued  on  the  18tb  to  concentrate  10,000  men  at  Bucharest, 
and  two  days  later  the  mobilization  of  the  whole  army  was  com- 
manded. Prince  Charles  assumed  the  chief  command  in  person. 
His  available  troops,  thoroughly  equipped,  and  well  provided  with 
all  the  necessaries  of  war,  numbered  38,000  infantry  and  8200 
cavalry,  with  120  field  guns.  Leaving  the  eastern  part  of  his 
country  to  the  Russians,  the  prince  took  up  a  defensive  position 
between  Krayova  and  Kalafat,  which  he  maintained  until  the 
early  part  of  September. 

The  Russian  army  entered  Roumania  on  the  24th  of  April,  but 
its  progress  toward  the  Danube  was  very  slow.  There  was  but 
one  railroad  leading  from  Bessarabia  to  the  Turkish  frontiers, 
and  this  had  been  rendered  useless  at  places  by  the  heavy  rains, 
while  from  the  same  cause  the  roads  were  almost  impassable. 
The  Turks  had  it  in  their  power  to  increase  the  difficulties  of  the 
Russian  advance  by  the  prompt  destruction  of  the  railroad  bridge 
across  the  Seretli  at  Barboshi,  but  allowed  the  opportunity  to  slip 
from  their  grasp.  Skobcleff's  cavalry  brigade,  pushing  forward 
with  all  speed,  accomplished  the  distance  from  the  Russian  fron- 
tier to  Barboshi  in  one  day.  Infantry  and  artillery  followed; 
Galatz  and  Braila  were  strongly  garrisoned,  and  the  possession 
of  the  bridge  secured.  The  Turks  had  expected  great  things 
from  their  Danube  flotilla,  but  their  expectations  were  doomed 
to  disappointment.  Batteries  were  erected  at  Braila  and  other 
points,  and  the  passage  of  the  river  at  Reni  and  Matshin  was  ob- 
structed by  torpedoes.  (Later,  torpedoes  were  also  utilized  for 


STRENGTH  AND  DISPOSITION  OF  THE  COMBATANTS.     531 

the  protection  of  Russian  bridges  across  the  Danube.)  On  the 
llth  of  May  a  Turkish  monitor  was  blown  up  by  a  shell  from 
the  Braila  batteries,  and  a  few  days  later  an  iron-clad  turret-ship 
was  disabled.  On  the  26th  of  the  same  month  two  Russian  offi- 
cers, Dubasheff  and  Shestakoff,  succeeded  in  blowing  up  a  Turk- 
ish monitor  in  the  Matshin  canal  by  means  of  torpedoes.  These 
calamities  damped  the  ardor  of  the  Danube  flotilla,  and  reduced 
it  to  inaction.  The  Turkish  fleet  in  the  Black  Sea,  on  the  other 
hand,  proved  of  great  value,  enabling  the  Turks  to  send  troops 
and  provisions  by  water,  while  the  Russians  were  confined  to  land 
communications. 

On  the  6th  of  June  Emperor  Alexander,  accompanied  by  his 
chancellor,  arrived  in  Roumania  and  took  up  his  head-quarters  at 
Ployesti,  north  of  Bucharest,  where  Grand-duke  Nicholas  had  al- 
ready been  since  the  15th  of  May.  The  waters  of  the  Danube 
were  still  16  feet  above  the  normal  level,  rendering  the  passage 
of  the  river  for  the  present  impracticable.  The  army  under  the 
grand-duke's  command  consisted  of  nine  army  corps.  Of  these 
the  7th  and  10th  had  been  left  behind,  to  guard  the  coast  between 
Odessa  and  the  Crimea;  the  14th  was  stationed  between  Galatz 
and  Braila,  the  llth  at  Oltenizza  and  Giurgevo,  the  8th  at  Sim- 
nitza,  the  9th  at  Turnu-Magurclli,  and  the  12th,  13th,  and  4th 
farther  back,  at  Saleasa,  Alexandria,  and  Bucharest.  This  dispo- 
sition made  it  evident  that  the  main  passage  of  the  Danube  would 
take  place  between  Simnitza  and  Turnu-Magurelli,  opposite  the 
Bulgarian  fortresses  of  Sistova  and  Nikopoli.  How  strong  the 
Turkish  forces  opposed  to  the  grand-duke's  army  were  it  is  scarce- 
ly possible  to  estimate  even  approximately.  According  to  the 
most  probable  guess  there  were  20,000  men  in  the  Dobrudja, 
10,000  in  Silistria,  30,000  in  Rustchuk,  20,000  in  Shumla,  and 
35,000  in  Viddin,  making  a  total  of  115,000.  In  addition  to 
these,  a  reserve  army,  about  30,000  strong,  was  formed  to  the 
south  of  the  Balkans,  and  a  number  of  soldiers  were  brought 
back  from  Montenegro.  These  were  all  regulars;  the  number  of 
the  irregulars  it  is  impossible  even  to  conjecture.  These  forces 
were  under  the  chief  command  of  Abdul  Kerim  Pasha,  who  ar- 
rived at  Shumla  on  the  17th  of  April,  and  distinguished  himself, 
so  long  as  he  remained  in  command,  by  complete  inaction,  failing 
from  first  to  last  to  do  anything  to  hinder  the  Russian  advance  or 
thwart  the  Russian  plans. 


532  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

Before  the  Russian  armies  crossed  the  Danube  Gortchakoff 
made  one  more  attempt  to  bring  England  over  to  the  side  of 
Russia,  or  secure  her  neutrality.  For  this  purpose  Shouvaloff 
had  an  interview  with  Lord  Derby  on  the  8th  of  June.  In  case 
Turkey  would  yield  before  the  Russian  army  crossed  the  Balkans, 
the  conditions  of  peace  were  to  be  the  establishment  of  an  auton- 
omous Bulgarian  state,  under  the  suzerainty  of  the  Porte,  but 
with  an  independent  administration  and  its  own  militia;  an  in- 
crease of  territory  for  Servia  and  Montenegro,  and  such  a  settle- 
ment in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  as  should  insure  protection  to 
the  Christians  in  those  provinces.  As  indemnity  for  the  costs  of 
the  war,  Russia  was  to  acquire  the  part  of  Bessarabia  which  had 
been  taken  from  her  in  1856,  and  the  harbor  of  Batoum,  with 
adjoining  territory.  Roumania  was  to  be  repaid  for  the  loss  of 
Bessarabia  by  a  part  of  the  Dobrudja,  or  by  independence  from 
the  Porte.  If  Austria  desired  compensation,  Russia  was  willing 
to  allow  her  to  appropriate  Bosnia  and  a  part  of  Herzegovina. 
Lord  Derby  was  of  opinion  that  Turkey  would  not  accept  these 
conditions,  even  if  England  united  with  Russia  in  urging  them 
upon  her.  As  to  England's  own  attitude  toward  them  he  was 
wholly  non-committal.  The  real  object  of  the  negotiations  had 
been,  not  to  win  England's  co-operation  in  exerting  pressure  on 
the  Porte,  for  it  was  certain  that  the  Porte  would  not  yield,  but 
to  sound  the  English  cabinet  as  to  the  conditions  which  might 
be  exacted  without  provoking  war  with  England,  and  by  making 
the  latter  an  accessary  to  insure  her  neutrality.  But  the  attempt 
proved  abortive,  and  Russia  was  forced  to  enter  upon  the  cam- 
paign uncertain  what  to  expect  from  the  English  government. 

In  the  night  of  the  21st  of  June  the  Russians  crossed  the  Dan- 
ube in  boats  at  Galatz,  and  dislodged  the  Turks  from  the  heights 
of  Budyak.  On  the  23d  Matshin  was  occupied  by  the  Russians, 
and  by  the  28th  the  whole  of  the  14th  army  corps,  commanded 
by  General  Zimmermann,  was  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river.  The 
Turks  now  abandoned  the  Dobrudja,  and  fell  back  on  the  line  of 
defence  between  Czernavoda  and  Kiistendje  (Trajan's  Wall) ;  but 
this  also  was  abandoned  after  a  faint  resistance,  and  occupied  by 
the  Russians  on  the  19th  of  July.  The  passage  of  the  main  army 
took  place  at  Simnitza  on  the  night  of  the  26th,  the  8th  army 
corps  leading  the  way.  By  three  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
27th  Sistova  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Russians,  and  the  Turks 


UNOPPOSED   ADVANCE   OF  THE   RUSSIAN  ARMY.        533 

were  in  full  retreat,  some  toward  Nikopoli,  others  toward  Tir- 
nova.  On  the  same  day  a  proclamation  was  issued  to  the  Bul- 
garian people  announcing  their  freedom  from  Mussulman  oppres- 
sion, and  calling  upon  them  to  render  the  Russian  army  all  the 
assistance  in  their  power.  On  the  29th  the  emperor  transferred 
his  head-quarters  to  Simnitza.  On  the  2d  of  July  a  bridge  across 
the  Danube  was  completed,  and  by  the  middle  of  that  month  four 
army  corps  (8th,  9th,  12th,  13th)  were  on  Bulgarian  soil,  the  llth 
arid  4th  still  remaining  on  the  left  bank. 

For  the  next  few  weeks  the  Russians  met  with  no  check,  and 
almost  with  .no  resistance.  Advancing  southward  along  the  lan- 
tra,  Biela  was  taken  on  the  1st  of  July,  Tirnova  on  the  7th,  and 
Drenovo  and  Gabrovo  on  the  10th.  On  the  12th  Grand-duke 
Nicholas,  accompanied  by  Prince  Cherkassky,  who  was  intrusted 
with  the  reorganization  of  the  civil  administration  of  Bulgaria, 
took  up  his  head  -  quarters  in  Tirnova.  On  the  13th  General 
Gourko,  with  the  advance-guard  of  the  8th  army  corps,  consisting 
of  four  battalions  of  riflemen,  the  Bulgarian  legion  (six  battalions), 
and  some  cavalry,  commenced  the  passage  of  the  Balkans  by  the 
Hankioi  pass  to  the  east  of  the  Shipka.  On  the  14th  he  was  in 
the  Tunja  valley,  and  his  Cossacks  had  destroyed  the  telegraph 
wires  at  Yeni-Sagra.  On  the  17th,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of 
Reouf  Pasha,  he  occupied  Kazanlik  and  Shipka,  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  Shipka  pass.  On  the  18th  his  forces  entered  the 
pass  from  the  south,  co-operating  with  Prince  Mirski,  who  had  en- 
tered it  with  two  regiments  from  the  north,  and  on  the  19th  both 
the  Shipka  and  Hankioi  passes  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Russians. 

The  Russian  advance  had  been  along  the  line  of  the  lantra ;  in 
order  to  secure  that  line,  it  was  necessary  to  reduce  the  fortress 
of  Nikopoli,  and  accordingly  General  Kriidcncr,  with  the  greater 
part  of  the  9th  corps,  was  detailed  for  that  duty.  On  the  16th 
of  July,  after  a  three  days  siege,  the  garrison,  consisting  of  two 
pashas  and  6000  men,  surrendered  to  the  Russians.  Selvi  and 
Lovatz  were  also  occupied  by  small  detachments,  so  that  the 
greater  part  of  Central  Bulgaria,  with  the  Balkan  passes,  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  invaders.  From  those  passes  Russian  cavalry 
were  despatched  still  farther  southward ;  Eski-Sagra,  Karabunar, 
and  Yamboli  were  occupied,  and  on  the  25th  Russian  horsemen 
appeared  in  Kaskioi  and  Hermanly,  between  Philippopolis  and 
Adrianople. 


534  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

The  Russian  advance  had  been  so  rapid  and  unchecked  that  the 
Turkish  authorities,  filled  with  consternation,  already  regarded 
Adrianople  as  lost,  and  fearfully  expected  to  see  the  victorious 
enemy  before  the  gates  of  the  capital  itself,  while  fugitives  from 
all  sides,  seeking  refuge  in  Constantinople,  increased  the  confu- 
sion that  already  prevailed.  In  Dogma-Bagtshe,  the  Sultan's  pal- 
ace, there  was  even  some  talk  of  removal  to  Brousa,  in  Asia  Mi- 
nor. But  first  it  was  resolved  to  try  a  change  of  ministers  and 
generals,  and  accordingly  Savfet  Pasha,  Redif  Pasha,  minister  of 
war,  and  Chairulla  Effendi,  the  Sheik-ul-Islam,  were  removed  from 
their  posts.  Mustapha  Pasha  was  made  minister  of  war,  and  the 
fanatical  Kara  Chalil  Effendi  Sheik-ul-Islam,  while  Mehemed  Ali 
Pasha,  a  descendant  of  the  Huguenots,  Detroit  by  name,  from 
Magdeburg,  in  Prussia,  was  appointed  commander  of  the  army 
of  the  Danube.  Aarifi  Pasha,  formerly  Turkish  ambassador  in 
Vienna,  was  intrusted  with  the  conduct  of  foreign  affairs.  He  at 
once  issued  a  circular  note  announcing  to  the  powers  that,  owing 
to  the  barbarities  perpetrated  by  the  Russians  and  Bulgarians,  the 
Porte  could  not  engage  to  prevent  the  Mussulman  population  from 
resorting  to  reprisals,  and  massacring  all  the  Christians  whom  they 
could  find.  This  caused  a  panic  among  the  foreign  population  in 
Constantinople,  and  many  fled  to  Athens  or  the  Prince's  islands. 
As  it  was  in  reality  nothing  more  than  a  threat  of  the  most  atro- 
cious description,  calculated  to  excite  the  Mussulman  population 
to  the  commission  of  inexcusable  outrages,  the  English  and  Ger- 
man ambassadors  at  once  protested,  and  on  the  1st  of  August 
Aarifi  was  replaced  by  Server  Pasha. 

The  Russian  victories  had  caused  scarcely  less  consternation  in 
London  than  in  Constantinople.  On  the  news  of  the  passage  of 
the  Danube,  Admiral  Hornby,  with  thirteen  iron-clads,  was  at 
once  despatched  to  Besika  Bay.  The  crossing  of  the  Balkans  in- 
duced the  English  cabinet  to  send  3000  men  to  Malta.  The  Eng- 
lish ambassador,  Layard,  was  now  directed  to  inquire,  semi-offi- 
cially,  whether  the  Porte  desired  the  English  fleet  to  enter  tho 
Dardanelles,  for  the  better  protection  of  Constantinople.  Tho 
Sultan,  mindful  of  the  fate  of  the  Spanish  Gibraltar  and  the  Ital- 
ian Malta,  refused  his  consent  to  such  a  measure  unless  England 
was  willing  to  enter  into  an  alliance  of  offence  and  defence  with 
Turkey.  Layard  then  suggested  that  English  troops  should  occu- 
py Gallipoli ;  but  to  this  the  Porte  attached  the  same  conditions. 


535 

Not  prepared  to  act  solely  on  their  own  responsibility,  the  Eng- 
lish ministers  next  sought  to  form  an  alliance  with  Austria ;  but 
Andrassy,  certain  of  a  recompense  for  his  neutrality,  was  not  will- 
ing to  abandon  the  alliance  of  the  three  emperors,  and  so  England 
was  obliged  to  content  herself  with  a  position  of  observation  in 
Besika  Bay  and  at  Malta, 

The  four  Russian  army  corps  in  Central  Bulgaria  were  so  dis- 
posed as  to  form  three  separate  armies.  Two  corps,  under  the 
command  of  the  Czarevitch,  operated  toward  the  east,  against  the 
Turkish  positions  at  Rustchuk,  Rasgrad,  and  Shumla ;  a  third, 
toward  the  south,  occupied  a  position  extending  from  Tirnova  to 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  Shipka  pass ;  while  General  Kru- 
dener,  with  the  9th  army  corps,  faced  toward  the  Osma  and  the 
Vid.  On  the  17th  of  July  the  last  named  commander  received 
word  that  hostile  troops  had  appeared  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Plevna.  Three  regiments  sent  to  dislodge  them  were  defeated, 
on  the  20th,  with  a  loss  of  66  officers  and  2771  men.  Some 
time  before  this,  Osman  Pasha,  commander  of  Viddin,  had  pro- 
posed to  Abdul  Kerim  to  leave  a  small  garrison  in  Viddin,  occu- 
py Nikopoli  with  all  the  troops  at  his  disposal,  and  from  that 
point  threaten  the  Russian  right  flank ;  but  his  proposal  had  been 
rejected,  and  he  had  been  ordered  to  remain  where  he  was.  Fi- 
nally, about  the  middle  of  July,  he  received  permission  to  carry 
out  his  plans ;  but  it  was  too  late ;  and  before  he  could  reach  Ni- 
kopoli that  fortress  had  already  capitulated.  Instead  of  retreat- 
ing to  Viddin,  however,  Osman  turned  southward,  and  selecting 
the  unfortified  village  of  Plevna  as  the  most  favorable  for  his  pur- 
pose, improvised  there,  in  a  few  days,  a  fortification  of  the  first 
rank.  After  the  defeat  of  the  Russians  on  the  20th,  a  Turkish 
column  was  despatched  against  Lovatz ;  and  with  Plevna  and  Lo- 
vatz  in  their  hands,  Osman's  30,000  men  were  in  a  position  to 
checkmate  the  Russian  plans  completely.  The  Russian  generals 
had  been  taken  at  unawares ;  it  was  to  them  as  though  a  hostile 
army  had  fallen  from  the  skies.  The  advance  in  the  Tunja 
and  Maritza  valleys  was  stopped,  the  Czarevitch's  army  was  con- 
demned to  inaction,  and  all  available  troops  were  sent  in  hot  haste 
to  the  support  of  General  Krudener.  Handing  over  Nikopoli  to 
the  Roumanians,  the  latter  officer,  with  38,000  men,  advanced 
against  Osman's  position  at  Plevna ;  but  in  the  mean  time  the 
strength  of  the  Turkish  army  had  been  raised  to  50,000.  Tha 


636  POLITICAL   IltSTORY   OF   EECEXT  TIMES. 

second  battle  of  Plevna  was  fought  on  the  30th  of  July ;  and  al- 
though the  Russian  troops  conducted  themselves  with  the  great- 
est valor,  they  were  repulsed  with  a  loss  of  8000  men.  The  Turks 
stained  the  record  of  their  victory  by  barbaric  cruelty,  putting  to 
death  all  the  wounded  prisoners  who  fell  into  their  hands. 

This  victory  caused  a  genuine  panic  at  Russian  head-quarters ; 
but,  fortunately  for  the  Russian  generals,  Osman  failed  to  fol- 
low up  his  success,  and  contented  himself  with  strengthening  his 

*•  O  o  . 

position  and  bringing  np  re-enforcements.  It  was  evident  that 
they  had  underestimated  the  strength  of  their  opponents,  and 
pushed  forward  without  sufficient  forces.  Grand-duke  Nicholas 
at  once  transferred  his  head-quarters  from  Tirnova  to  Biela.  The 
two  army  corps  which  had  been  left  behind  as  a  coast-guard  were 
ordered  to  the  front ;  the  guard  corps,  the  grenadier  corps,  and 
other  regular  troops  were  mobilized;  185,467  reserve  and  land- 
wehr  troops  were  called  ont,  and  an  additional  levy  of  206,000 
men  commanded.  But  the  regular  troops  could  not  reach  the 
seat  of  war  before  September,  and  the  others  were  not  ready  for 
action  in  time  to  take  any  direct  part  in  the  campaign.  Hitherto 
the  Czar  had  refused  to  accept  the  co-operation  of  the  Roumanian 
army,  on  account  of  Austria's  fear  that  a  strong  and  victorious 
Roumania  might  exert  too  great  an  attraction  on  the  Roumanians 
in  Hungary ;  but  now  the  Austrian  objections  seem  to  have  been 
withdrawn,  so  that  a  new  alliance  of  offence  and  defence  between 
Russia  and  Roumania  called  forth  no  protest.  Two  divisions  of 
the  Roumanian  army  crossed  the  Danube  at  Korabia  on  the  2d 
of  September,  a  third  was  already  in  possession  of  Nikopoli,  and 
the  fourth  remained  at  Kalafat.  The  command  of  the  army  of 
investment  before  Plevna  was  conferred  on  Prince  Charles,  and 
the  Russian  general  Zatoff  was  appointed  his  chief  of  staff. 

On  the  30th  of  August  Osman  awakened  from  his  lethargy 
sufficiently  to  attack  the  Russian  positions  at  Pelifat  and  Selvi, 
but  both  attacks  were  unsuccessful.  On  the  3d  of  September  the 
Russians  again  assumed  the  offensive.  General  Imcritinski,  with 
20,000  men,  carried  Lovatz  by  storm,  and  joined  the  Russian 
army  of  investment  before  Plevna.  With  this  addition,  that 
army  consisted  of  nine  infantry  and  four  cavalry  divisions,  with 
400  guns;  and  on  the  llth  a  general  attack  on  the  Turkish  po- 
sitions was  ordered.  The  Roumanians  on  the  north  succeeded  in 
taking  the  Grivitza  redoubt,  but  the  Russian  centre  was  repulsed, 


THE   FIGHTIXG   IN   SHIPKA  PASS.  537 

while  an  intrenchment  which  had  been  captured  by  Skobeleff  on 
the  south  was  recaptured  by  the  Turks  on  the  following  day. 
This  third  battle  of  Plevna  was  in  reality  a  Russian  defeat ;  for 
the  Grivitza  redoubt,  which  had  cost  14,000  men,  was  command- 
ed by  a  second  redoubt,  the  Plevnitza,  which  still  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  Turks. 

South  of  the  Balkans,  also,  the  Turks  had  developed  more  ac- 
tivity since  the  change  of  ministers  and  commanders.  There  Su- 
leiman Pasha,  who  had  distinguished  himself  by  an  energetic  and 
brilliant  but  resultless  march  through  the  very  centre  of  Monte- 
negro in  the  month  of  June,  had  taken  the  place  of  Reouf  Pasha, 
the  former  commander  of  the  army  of  the  Balkans.  Recalled 
from  Montenegro  for  the  defence  of  the  southern  provinces,  he 
embarked  on  Turkish  transports  at  Antivari  on  the  16th  of  July, 
landed  at  Dedeagh,  advanced  by  rail  to  Hermanly,  and  from  there 
directed  his  march  toward  the  Shipka  pass.  On  the  30th  and 
31st  of  July  Reouf  Pasha,  without  awaiting  his  arrival,  attacked 
General  Gourko  in  a  fortified  position  at  Eski-Sagra,  and  was  re- 
pulsed. On  the  night  of  the  31st  Suleiman  arrived.  Forming 
a  junction  with  the  remnant  of  Reouf's  defeated  forces,  he  sur- 
prised the  Russians  in  their  intrenchments,  and  routed  them  ut- 
terly early  on  the  morning  of  August  1st.  Some  of  them  fled 
toward  the  Shipka,  others  toward  the  Hankioi  pass.  Suleiman 
followed,  burning  and  massacring  as  he  went,  and  with  about  for- 
ty battalions  took  up  a  position  directly  in  front  of  the  Shipka. 
Instead  of  sending  a  detachment  to  attack  the  Russian  garrison, 
which  numbered  about  4000  men,  in  the  rear,  while  the  main 
army  assailed  them  in  front,  Suleiman  hurled  his  whole  force 
against  the  southern  entrance  of  the  pass,  and  for  four  weeks, 
from  the  19th  of  August  to  the  17th  of  September,  wasted  his 
men  in  useless  attacks  upon  the  Russian  positions.  On  the  23d 
of  August  the  Turks  had  almost  succeeded  in  forcing  a  passage, 
when  General  Radetzki  arrived  on  the  scene  with  re-enforcements. 
Before  daybreak  on  the  l^th  of  September  3500  Turkish  vol- 
unteers, advancing  in  three  columns,  surprised  the  Russians  on 
Mount  St.  Nicholas,  the  highest  point  in  the  pass,  and  drove  them 
out  of  their  intrenchments.  Suleiman  at  once  telegraphed  to  Con- 
stantinople, "  The  Shipka  is  ours !"  But  the  news  was  prema- 
ture. By  noon  of  the  same  day  the  Russians  were  again  in  pos- 
session of  the  heights,  no  re-enforcements  having  arrived  for  the 

23* 


538  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

support  of  the  Turkish  storming  columns.  This  was  the  last  se- 
rious attempt  to  dislodge  the  Russians  from  their  position.  Su- 
leiman was  shortly  after  transferred  to  the  army  of  the  Danube, 
and  Reouf  Pasha,  his  successor,  contented  himself  with  an  atti- 
tude of  observation. 

The  army  of  the  Danube,  to  take  command  of  which  Mehemed 
All  Pasha  had  been  recalled  from  Montenegro,  consisted  of  two 
army  corps  and  an  unknown  number  of  irregular  troops.  To 
these  were  opposed,  on  the  Russian  side,  two  army  corps,  com- 
manded by  the  Czarevitch.  The  Turkish  forces  were  stationed 
behind  the  Black  Lorn.  The  Russians  crossed  that  stream  toward 
the  close  of  August,  but  were  defeated  in  a  number  of  engage- 
ments and  driven  back  toward  Biela.  If  the  enemy  succeeded  in 
gaining  that  place,  the  bridge  over  the  Danube  at  Sistova  must 
fall  into  their  hands,  and  the  armies  before  Plevna  and  in  Shipka 
pass  be  threatened  in  the  rear.  Accordingly,  all  available  posi- 
tions between  the  Loin  and  the  lantra  were  fortified,  and  every 
effort  made  to  defend  the  line  of  the  latter  stream  against  the 
Turks.  Mehemed  Ali,  on  his  part,  received  orders  from  Constan- 
tinople to  carry  the  line  of  the  lantra  at  any  cost ;  but  after  a  de- 
feat at  Cherkovna,  on  the  21st  of  September,  he  fell  back  again 
to  his  original  positions.  This  led  to  his  removal,  and  on  the  4th 
of  October  Suleiman  Pasha  arrived  in  Rasgrad  to  succeed  him  in 
the  command  of  the  army  of  the  Danube.  Instead  of  making  at 
once  a  vigorous  attempt  to  carry  the  lino  of  the  lantra,  as  was  ex- 
pected of  him,  Suleiman  spent  more  than  a  month  in  strengthen- 
ing the  Turkish  positions  at  Rustchuk  and  Rasgrad,  and  gather- 
ing re-enforcements  from  the  Dobmdia  and  other  points,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  middle  of  November  that  he  passed  over  to  the 
offensive.  Several  attacks  were  made  on  the  Russian  left  wing 
between  the  18th  and  26th  of  that  month,  but  these  were  merely 
intended  to  serve  as  a  cover  for  the  main  assault  directed  against 
the  enemy's  right.  On  the  4th  of  December  Fuad  Pasha,  -with 
20,000  men,  defeated  the  enemy's  advance-guard,  and  pursued 
them  as  far  as  Yakovitza,  near  Tirnova;  but  instead  of  following 
up  his  success  and  attacking  that  place  at  once,  he  waited  until 
the  6th.  By  that  time  re-enforcements  had  arrived,  and  the  at- 
tack of  the  Turks  was  repulsed.  Suleiman  then  made  a  serious 
attempt  to  break  through  the  Russian  left  wing.  Unsuccessful 
there  also,  he  imitated  the  example  of  his  successor,  and  fell  back 


INVESTMENT  OF  PLEVNA.  539 

across  the  Lorn.  The  Turkish  soldiers  had  everywhere  proved 
themselves  good  fighters,  but  their  leaders  had  no  conception  of  mil- 
itary strategy.  No  general  plan  of  operations  existed,  each  army 
acting  independently  of  the  others,  and  consequently,  even  if  tempo- 
rary advantages  were  gained,  ultimate  defeat  could  not  be  avoided. 

The  unsuccessful  attack  of  the  llth  of  September  had  shown 
that  Plevna  was  not  to  be  carried  by  storm.  A  pause  of  about 
a  month  ensued  while  the  Russians  were  waiting  for  re-enforce- 
ments. Toward  the  end  of  September  Totleben,  the  hero  of  Se- 
bastopol,  arrived  to  direct  the  engineering  operations  necessary  to 
a  regular  siege.  It  was  resolved  to  surround  Osman's  position, 
and  leave  him  no  other  choice  than  to  capitulate  from  lack  of 
provisions  or  make  an  attempt  to  break  out  The  arrival  of  the 
Guard  and  Grenadier  corps  in  October  enabled  the  Russians  to 
complete  the  investment  toward  the  west,  and  close  the  road  to 
Sofia.  In  Orkanye,  between  Plevna  and  Sofia,  a  second  Turkish 
army,  under  Chefket  Pasha,  had  been  formed,  by  means  of  which 
Osman  was  furnished  with  re-enforcements  and  supplies,  and  on 
the  llth  of  October,  in  order  to  secure  the  communications  be- 
tween the  two  armies,  12,000  men  had  been  placed  in  strongly  for- 
tified positions  at  Gornyi-Dubnik  and  Telish.  On  the  arrival  of  the 
Guard  corps  a  Russian  army  of  the  west  was  formed,  and  General 
Gourko  was  intrusted  with  the  task  of  capturing  the  Turkish  po- 
sitions to  the  west  of  Plevna.  Passing  to  the  south  of  that  place 
he  crossed  the  Vid,  and  attacked  Gornyi-Dubnik  on  the  24th  of 
October.  At  the  same  time,  in  order  to  divert  Osman's  attention, 
and  prevent  him  from  falling  upon  the  rear  of  Gourko's  forces,  a 
bombardment  was  opened  along  the  whole  line,  as  though  in  prep- 
aration for  an  assault.  The  manoeuvre  was  successful ;  Gornyi- 
Dubnik  was  taken  by  storm,  and  four  days  later  Telish  capitu- 
lated. Gourko's  army  at  once  spread  itself  out  to  the  north  and 
south.  On  the  25th  of  November  Etropol  was  taken,  and  on  the 
21st  the  Roumanians  occupied  Rahova.  The  whole  country  from 
the  Balkans  to  the  Danube  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Russians,  and 
Plevna  was  completely  isolated.  The  operations  of  Gourko's 
army  compelled  Mehcmed  AH  Pasha,  who  had  succeeded  Chefket, 
to  abandon  Orkanye,  and  retreat  across  the  Balkans  to  Sofia,  leav- 
ing a  garrison  in  the  Etropol  pass. 

Each  week  saw  the  iron  ring  around  Plevna  grow  smaller  as 
one  position  after  another  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Russians. 


540  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

On  the  12th  of  November  Grand-duke  Nicholas  called  upon  the 
Turkish  commander  to  avoid  useless  loss  of  life  by  surrender, 
since  there  was  no  longer  any  possibility  of  relief;  but  the  latter 
refused,  announcing  his  determination  to  fight  "  to  the  last  drop 
of  our  blood  for  the  honor  of  our  country."  At  length  provi- 
sions failed,  and  a  desperate  attempt  to  break  through  the  Rus- 
sian lines  was  resolved  upon.  On  the  evening  of  December  9th, 
leaving  the  sick  and  wounded  behind  in  Plevna,  the  Turkish  army 
concentrated  on  the  Vid.  At  daybreak  of  the  10th  they  began 
their  advance  toward  Viddin  in  two  columns.  But  the  enemy 
was  fully  informed  of  their  plans.  As  soon  as  the  fortifications 
were  abandoned  by  the  Turks  they  were  occupied  by  the  Rus- 
sians. The  Roumanians  and  the  Grenadier  corps  received  the 
attack  of  the  Turkish  troops,  and  hurled  them  back  on  the  in- 
trenchments,  now  occupied  by  Russian  soldiers.  The  Turks 
fought  with  desperation.  Osman  himself  was  wounded  in  the 
leg.  Finally,  at  12.30  P.M.,  the  white  flag  was  raised,  and  the 
Turkish  army  surrendered  at  discretion.  Ten  pashas,  2000  offi- 
cers of  the  line,  128  staff-officers,  and  36,000  men,  besides  the 
sick  and  wounded,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  (The  fact 
that  no  Russian  or  Roumanian  prisoners  were  found  in  Plevna  is 
but  one  more  proof  of  Turkish  barbarity.  In  answer  to  a  re- 
minder from  the  German  government  that  the  Turkish  soldiers 
were  guilty  of  constant  violations  of  the  Geneva  convention  of 
1865,  to  which  the  Porte  was  a  party,  subjecting  the  Russian 
wounded  and  prisoners  to  barbarous  abuse,  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment naively  replied  that  the  provisions  of  that  convention  were 
not  yet  known  to  the  soldiers,  but  that  it  would  cause  them  to 
be  translated  into  Turkish,  and  communicate  them  to  the  troops.) 
The  joy  at  Russian  head-quarters  was  unbounded,  for  the  capture 
of  Plevna  set  the  army  free  to  cross  the  Balkans  and  inarch  on 
Adrianople.  The  emperor  greeted  generals  Totleben,  Imeritin- 
ski,  and  Janetzki  with  the  words,  "  This  is  wholly  your  work, 
and  especially  thine,  Edward  Ivanovitch "  (Totleben).  Osman 
Pasha,  congratulated  by  his  conquerors  and  lauded  by  the  world, 
was  sent  as  prisoner  of  honor  to  Charkoff.  For  almost  five 
months  (July  19th  to  December  10th),  with  inferior  numbers  and 
improvised  fortifications,  he  had  held  in  check  the  whole  Russian 
army  of  occupation,  inflicting  upon  it  during  that  time  a  direct 
loss  of  at  least  30,000  men. 


THE  RUSSIANS  IN  PHILIPPOPOLIS.  541 

The  capture  of  Plevna  enabled  the  Russians  to  resume  an  en- 
ergetic offensive  at  all  points.  The  Roumanian  army  at  once 
began  the  siege  of  Viddin.  General  Zimmermann's  army  in  the 
Dobrudja  was  strengthened,  and  that  of  the  Czarevitch  was 
raised  to  75,000  men.  A  reserve  of  three  infantry  divisions 
was  stationed  at  Tirnova.  The  Shipka  army,  under  General  Ra- 
detzki,  was  increased  to  60,000  men,  and  that  of  General  Gourko 
to  75,000.  These  two  latter,  operating  in  concert,  were  to  ad- 
vance on  Adrianople,  the  former  crossing  the  Balkans  by  the 
Shipka,  and  the  latter  by  the  Etropol  pass ;  while,  as  a  connect- 
ing link  between  the  two,  General  Kartzoff,  with  a  smaller  army, 
was  to  force  the  passage  of  the  Trajan  pass.  On  Christmas  morn- 
ing, leaving  a  detachment  on  the  north  side  of  the  Baba-kenak 
pass,  to  conceal  his  movements  and  keep  the  Turkish  garrison 
employed,  with  the  main  part  of  his  army  Gourko  commenced 
the  passage  of  the  mountains  by  a  circuitous  route,  in  order  to 
attack  the  enemy  in  the  rear.  The  difficulties  in  his  way  were 
enormous;  the  cold  was  intense;  the  mule-tracks,  which  formed 
the  only  roads,  were  covered  with  ice  and  snow ;  and  at  places 
the  ascent  could  be  accomplished  only  by  means  of  steps  cut 
in  the  ice,  up  which  the  cannon  were  pushed  with  infinite 
trouble.  The  descent  was  still  more  difficult,  and  it  proved  a 
well-nigh  impossible  task  to  bring  down  the  cannon  and  horses 
in  safety ;  but  by  the  evening  of  the  30th  all  difficulties  had 
been  overcome,  and  two  days  later  the  Turkish  positions  were 
in  the  hands  of  the  Russians.  This  necessitated  the  evacuation 
of  Sofia;  and  on  the  4th  of  January,  for  the  first  time  since 
1434,  a  Christian  army  was  in  possession  of  the  old  Bulgarian 
capital. 

By  order  of  the  Turkish  minister  of  war,  Suleiman  Pasha,  leav- 
ing garrisons  in  the  fortresses  of  Eastern  Bulgaria,  had  crossed 
the  Balkans  to  oppose  the  Russian  advance  and  protect  Roumelia, 
while  Fuad  Pasha  had  been  appointed  commander  of  the  army 
originally  commanded  by  Chefket.  Pushing  that  army  before 
him,  Gonrko  entered  Ichtiman  on  the  llth  of  January,  Tatar-Ba- 
zarjik  on  the  13th,  and  Philippopolis  on  the  16th,  after  defeat- 
ing Fnad  Pasha  at  Kadikidi  on  the  preceding  day.  At  Philip- 
popolis he  formed  a  junction  with  a  part  of  the  forces  of  Kartzoff 
and  Radetzki.  The  former  of  these  had  effected  the  passage  of 
the  Trajan  pass  on  the  3d  of  January,  with  the  thermometer  at 


542  POLITICAL   HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

— 22  R.  (17  below  zero,  Fahrenheit),  driving  the  small  Turkish  gar- 
rison before  him.  On  the  5th  the  left  wing  of  Radetzki's  army, 
under  General  Mirski,  and  the  right  wing,  under  General  Skobe- 
leff,  commenced  the  passage  of  the  mountains  east  and  west  of 
Shipka  pass.  On  the  8th  Skobeleff  was  at  Senovo  and  Mirski  at 
Yanina,  and  on  the  9th,  after  a  nine-hours  battle,  Vessel  Pasha, 
Reouf  s  successor,  finding  himself  surrounded,  surrendered  to  the 
Russians  with  32,000  rnen  and  66  guns.  This  victory  opened  to 
Radetzki's  troops  the  road  to  Adrianople,  and  seriously  threaten- 
ed the  rear  of  Suleiman's  army. 

On  the  16th  Fuad  was  again  defeated  at  Bestalitza,  and  forced 
to  take  refuge  in  the  Rhodope  mountains.  Suleiman  himself  was 
driven  back  toward  Adrianople ;  but  Russian  troops  intercepted 
his  march,  and  on  the  19th,  abandoning  the  road  to  Adrianople, 
he  turned  southward,  with  the  intention  of  reaching  the  coast 
and  transferring  the  shattered  remnant  of  his  army  by  water  to 
Constantinople.  On  the  20th  the  Russian  columns  united  in  Ad- 
rianople, and  from  this  point  detachments  were  sent  out  as  far  as 
Chorlu,  on  the  road  to  Constantinople,  and  Rodosto,  on  the  Sea 
of  Marmora. 

The  campaign  in  Armenia  in  so  far  resembled  that  in  Bulgaria 
that  the  Russians  greatly  underestimated  the  strength  of  their  op- 
ponents, so  that  preliminary  successes  were  followed  by  disasters, 
which  were  again  retrieved  on  the  arrival  of  sufficient  re-enforce- 
ments. The  commander-in-chief  of  the  Russian  armies  operating 
in  Armenia  was  Grand-duke  Michael,  the  stadtholder  of  the  Cau- 
casus and  a  brother  of  the  Czar,  but  General  Loris  Melikoff,  an 
Armenian,  was  intrusted  with  the  actual  conduct  of  the  campaign. 
The  Turkish  commander-in-chief  was  Mukhtar  Pasha.  On  the 
24th  of  April,  1877,  four  Russian  columns  crossed  the  Turkish 
frontiers.  The  Rion  column,  under  General  Oklobyio,  advancing 
from  Poti  and  St.  Nicholas  against  Batoum,  was  defeated  by  Der- 
vish Pasha  on  the  24th  of  June,  and  driven  back  across  the  bor- 
der. The  second  column  succeeded  in  taking  Ardahan  on  the 
17th  of  May.  Of  the  third  column,  a  part  invested  Kars,  but 
the  main  body,  under  Loris  Melikoff  himSelf,  crossed  the  Soghan- 
ly  mountains,  and  advanced  against  Erzeroum.  At  Sevin  they 
were  defeated  by  Feisy  Pasha,  and  compelled  to  recross  the  Sog- 
hanly  mountains,  abandon  the  siege  of  Kars,  and  return  to  Alex- 
andropol.  The  fourth  column,  under  General  Tergukassoff,  took 


SUBJECT  STATES  AND  PROVINCES.         543 

• 

the  fortress  of  Bayazid  on  the  30th  of  April,  and  advanced  as  far 
as  Delibaba,  with  the  intention  of  forming  a  junction  with  the 
third  column ;  but  the  retreat  of  the  latter  forced  Tergulcassoff 
on  his  part  to  retreat,  followed  by  Ismail  Pasha  to  the  Russian 
frontier  town  Igdir,  destroying  Bayazid  on  the  way.  By  the 
middle  of  July  the  Russian  armies  held  the  same  position  which 
they  had  held  before  the  declaration  of  war,  excepting  only  that 
Ardahan  was  still  in  their  possession.  Re-enforcements  arrived 
toward  the  end  of  September,  and  on  the  2d  of  October  an  unsuc- 
cessful attack  was  made  on  Mukhtar  Pasha's  strong  position  at 
Aladja.  The  attack  was  renewed  on  the  15th  with  complete 
success;  the  Turkish  right  wing,  consisting  of  twenty-two  battal- 
ions, was  forced  to  surrender,  while  the  left  was  obliged  to  take 
refuge  in  Kars.  General  Melikoff  at  once  commenced  the  siege 
of  that  place,  which  was  finally  taken  by  assault  on  the  night  of 
November  17th,  while  General  Heimann,  with  the  remainder  of 
the  third  column,  formed  a  junction  with  Tergukassoff  and  fol- 
lowed Mukhtar  Pasha  toward  Erzeroum.  On  the  4th  of  Novem- 
ber their  united  forces  attacked  Mukhtar  and  Ismail  in  their  posi- 
tion on  the  heights  of  Deve-Boyun,  near  Erzeroum,  and  obliged 
them  to  retreat  behind  the  walls  of  Erzeroum  itself.  That  city 
was  finally  evacuated  by  the  Turks  on  the  21st  of  February,  1878, 
after  the  conclusion  of  a  truce. 

Russian  victory  was  now  secure.  The  Turkish  empire  seemed 
tottering  to  its  fall,  and  the  neighboring  and  subject  states  each 
prepared  to  appropriate  the  largest  possible  share  of  the  booty. 
The  recall  of  Suleiman  Pasha  and  Mehemed  Ali,  with  all  available 
Turkish  troops,  had  enabled  the  Montenegrins  to  reduce  Nik- 
sich,  Antivari,  and  Dulcigno  ;  and  on  the  29th  of  January,  1878, 
Prince  Nikita  led  his  army  across  the  Boyana  with  the  intention 
of  investing  Scutari  in  northern  Albania.  The  Servians  also,  after 
the  fall  of  Plevna  had  rendered  Russian  victory  inevitable,  brave- 
ly took  up  arms,  and  succeeded  in  reducing  Nish,  as  well  as  a  few 
other  places  of  less  importance.  The  insurrection  in  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina  still  continued.  Crete  was  in  rebellion — the  insur- 
gents demanded  union  with  Greece — only  the  fortresses  remain- 
ing in  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  Thessaly  and  Epirus  were  also  in 
open  revolt;  and  on  the  12th  of  February,  1878,  12,000  Grecian 
soldiers  appeared  to  support  the  rebels,  and  take  possession  of 
Thessaly,  Macedonia,  and  Epirus  in  behalf  of  the  government  at 


544  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

• 

Athens.  But  the  quarrels  of  the  doctors,  which  had  so  long  pre- 
served the  "  sick  man  "  from  dissolution,  intervened  once  more  to 
save  him. 

Austria  still  preserved  her  attitude  of  neutrality.  The  Poles 
and  Hungarians  urged  active  interference  in  behalf  of  the  Turks ; 
the  Bohemians  and  south  Slavs  were  equally  loud  in  their  de- 
mands for  co-operation  with  Russia.  Pesth  was  the  head-quar- 
ters of  the  Turcophiles,  and  greeted  with  illuminations  all  tidings 
of  Mohammedan  victories ;  while  Agram,  the  capital  of  the  south 
Slavs,  welcomed  with  rejoicings  the  news  of  Russian  success.  (In 
September  of  1877  the  Austrian  authorities  discovered  on  the 
south-eastern  frontier  of  Transylvania  a  depot  of  arms  and  mu- 
nition for  some  6000  men.  An  investigation  revealed  a  conspir- 
acy on  the  part  of  a  number  of  Poles  and  Hungarians  to  make 
an  inroad  into  Roumania,  destroy  the  railroad  at  Busco  and  Mara- 
chesti,  threaten  the  Russian  line  of  communications,  and  form  a 
junction  with  a  Turkish  column  which  was  to  advance  from  Si- 
listria.)  But  Andrassy's  government,  supported  by  the  German 
element,  steered  skilfully  between  this  Scylla  and  Charybdis  of 
Turcophiles  and  Russophiles,  maintaining  the  strictest  neutrality, 
although  no  state  was  in  reality  more  deeply  interested  than  Aus- 
tria in  the  final  settlement  of  the  Eastern  Question — for  Austrian 
interests  would  not  permit  Russia  to  dominate  the  mouth  of  the 
Danube,  or  exercise  an  overweening  influence  in  the  Slavonic 
states  of  the  Balkan  peninsula. 

On  the  side  of  England,  the  danger  of  some  interference  seem- 
ed more  imminent.  Russophobia  was  on  the  increase,  and  the 
utterances  of  both  ministers  and  Press  grew  steadily  more  war- 
like. The  fall  of  Plevna  and  the  advance  on  Constantinople  in- 
creased the  excitement.  In  London  Parliament  was  summoned 
to  meet  on  the  17th  of  January,  and  in  Constantinople  Layard 
became  a  regular  attendant  at  the  meetings  of  the  Turkish  min- 
isters. On  the  12th  of  December  the  Porte  had  addressed  a  use- 
less circular  to  the  Great  Powers  asking  their  interference  for 
the  conclusion  of  a  peace  with  Russia.  Toward  the  end  of  that 
month,  by  Layard's  advice,  the  Sultan  wrote  a  letter  to  Queen 
Victoria  asking  her  mediation,  and  the  latter  at  once  telegraphed 
to  the  Czar  urging  peace,  and  tendering  her  good  offices.  The 
Czar  replied  that,  if  the  Sultan  were  desirous  of  peace,  he  must 
apply  directly,  and  not  through  other  powers;  and  an  inquiry 


CESSATION  OF  HOSTILITIES.  545 

from  the  English  cabinet  regarding  the  conditions  to  be  exacted 
elicited  merely  an  evasive  answer. 

On  the  19th  of  January  Server  and  Narnyk  Pashas  appeared  in 
the  Russian  head-quarters  at  Kazanlik,  as  Turkish  plenipotentia- 
ries, to  negotiate  a  peace.  But  the  negotiations  progressed  slow- 
ly ;  for  the  Turks  were  full  of  hopes  in  Lord  Beacon sfield  and  the 
action  of  the  English  Parliament ;  while  the  Russians,  on  their 
part,  awaited  fresh  victories.  The  queen's  speech  at  the  opening 
of  parliament  contained  an  announcement  that,  in  case  the  hos- 
tilities between  Russia  and  Turkey  were  unfortunately  prolonged, 
"  some  unexpected  occurrence  may  render  it  incumbent  on  me  to 
adopt  measures  of  precaution."  At  the  same  time,  the  chancel- 
lor of  the  exchequer,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  announced  that  he 
would  ask  for  a  supplementary  estimate  of  six  million  pounds  for 
naval  and  military  purposes.  This  looked  ominous,  and  Russia 
found  it  to  her  interest  to  hasten  the  negotiations.  On  the  31st 
of  January  preliminaries  of  peace  and  a  cessation  of  hostilities 
were  signed  by  both  sides.  In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  this 
armistice,  the  Turks  evacuated  and  surrendered  to  the  Russians 
all  fortresses  still  in  their  possession  north  of  a  line  from  Derkos, 
on  the  Black  Sea,  to  San  Stefano,  on  the  Sea  of  Marmora.  The 
English  government,  fearful  for  "  British  interests,"  now  began 
to  act  in  earnest.  It  was  announced  in  parliament  that  England, 
supported  by  Austria,  would  not  recognize  any  private  treaty  be- 
tween Russia  and  Turkey,  but  would  insist  that  the  terms  of  peace 
be  submitted  to  a  congress  of  the  Great  Powers.  On  the  31st  of 
January,  in  the  face  of  a  protest  from  the  Porte,  the  English  fleet 
received  orders  to  repair  to  Constantinople  "  for  the  protection 
of  the  life  and  property  of  English  subjects."  Gortchakoff  at 
once  announced  to  the  Great  Powers  that  in  that  event  Russia 
would  find  it  necessary  to  march  her  troops  into  Constantinople 
for  the  protection  of  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Porte.  A  com- 
promise was  finally  effected;  and  on  the  13th  of  February  Admi- 
ral Hornby,  with  six  ships,  passed  through  the  Dardanelles,  and 
came  to  anchor  at  the  Prince's  Islands,  about  ten  miles  below  the 
capital. 

Every  effort  was  now  made  on  the  part  of  the  Russians  to  ac- 
celerate the  conclusion  of  a  definite  peace,  and  on  the  3d  of  March, 
1878,  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano  was  signed  by  Ignaticff  and  Nel- 
idoff  on  behalf  of  Russia,  and  Server  Pasha  and  Sadullah  Bey, 


646  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

Turkish  ambassador  in  Berlin,  on  behalf  of  Turkey.  By  this 
treaty  Montenegro,  in  addition  to  its  independence,  received  Nik- 
sich  and  Gacko,  with  the  adjoining  territory  in  the  north,  while 
its  boundaries  were  extended  to  the  Sea  of  Scutari  and  the  Bo- 
yana  river  on  the  south.  Servia  also  became  independent,  and 
received  a  considerable  increase  of  territory  to  the  south  and 
west — her  most  important  acquisition  being  the  town  and  fort- 
ress of  Nish.  Roumania,  whose  independence  was  recognized, 
received  the  lower  Dobrudja  from  Turkey,  in  return  for  the 
cession  of  Bessarabia  to  Russia.  Bulgaria,  with  the  Black  Drina 
for  its  western  boundary,  and  extending  southward  to  the  ^Egean 
sea  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Karassu,  was  to  be  a  self-governing, 
tributary  principality,  with  a  prince  chosen  by  the  people  and 
confirmed  by  the  Porte,  with  the  consent  of  the  Great  Powers. 
By  way  of  preparation  for  self-government  the  new  principality 
was  to  be  administered  for  two  years  by  a  Russian  commissioner, 
and  be  occupied  at  its  own  cost  by  50,000  Russian  soldiers.  The 
reforms  indicated  by  the  Constantinople  conference  were  to  be 
carried  out  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina;  Crete  was  to  receive  the 
organization  promised  in  1868;  and  a  similar  form  of  adminis- 
tration was  to  be  introduced  in  the  remaining  Christian  prov- 
inces. The  war  indemnity  to  be  paid  to  Russia  was  fixed  at 
1,410,000,000  roubles :  900,000,000  for  the  expenses  of  the  war; 
400,000,000  for  the  injuries  inflicted  on  Russian  commercial  in- 
terests; 100,000,000  for  the  insurrection  in  the  Caucasus  ex- 
cited by  Turkish  agents,  and  supported  by  Turkish  troops ;  and 
10,000,000  as  compensation  for  the  losses  inflicted  on  Russian 
subjects  within  the  borders  of  the  Ottoman  empire.  In  view  of 
the  condition  of  Turkish  finances  Ardahan,  Kars,  Batoum,  Baya- 
zid,  and  the  territory  between  the  Russian  frontier  and  the 
Soghanly  mountains  were  to  be  accepted  by  Russia  in  lieu  of 
1,100,000,000  roubles,  thus  reducing  the  actual  amount  of  the 
money  indemnity  to  310,000,000  (about  $248,000,000).  It  was 
also  provided  that  the  Bosporus  and  the  Dardanelles  should  re- 
main open  for  the  merchantmen  of  all  neutral  powers  during 
peace  and  war  alike. 

England  and  Austria  at  once  declared  this  treaty  unacceptable, 
and  demanded  a  European  congress.  Russia  consented,  but  would 
only  agree  to  submit  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano  to  the  perusal  of 
that  body,  reserving  to  herself  the  right  of  accepting  or  rejecting 


ENGLAND  AND  AUSTRIA  OBJECT.  547 

the  recommendations  of  the  congress  at  her  pleasure,  and  argued 
that  the  questions  concerning  Turkey  and  herself  were  for  Turkey 
and  herself  to  settle  between  them.  England,  on  the  other  hand, 
demanded  that  the  treaty  of  Paris  of  1856  should  form  the  ba- 
sis of  negotiation,  and  that  all  the  paragraphs  of  the  treaty  of 
San  Stefano  should  be  submitted  to  the  congress,  to  be  accepted 
or  rejected  by  it.  At  the  outset  Austria  seemed  likely  to  side 
with  England  in  spite  of  the  alliance  of  the  three  emperors.  The 
Austrian-Hungarian  delegations  were  convened  at  Pesth  on  the 
7th  of  March,  and  Andrassy  demanded  and  obtained  an  extraor- 
dinary credit  of  60,000,000  gulden.  Although  he  denied  that 
the  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  was  the  object  of  his 
policy,  it  was  nevertheless  apparent  that  the  occupation  of  those 
provinces  was  imminent.  To  the  formation  of  a  Bulgarian  prin- 
cipality Andrassy  expressed  a  determined  hostility  ;  and  he  advo- 
cated farther  the  strengthening  of  the  Grecian  element  in  the 
Balkan  peninsula  as  a  balance  to  the  Slavic.  To  remove  his  ob- 
jections Ignatieff  was  despatched  to  Vienna  toward  the  end  of 
March ;  and,  as  the  result  of  his  mission,  an  understanding  was 
reached  with  the  Austrian  government.  But  with  England  the 
case  was  different.  The  withdrawal  of  Lord  Derby  from  the 
cabinet  (Lord  Carnarvon,  the  only  other  peace  member,  had  al- 
ready withdrawn),  and  the  calling  out  of  the  reserves  looked  as 
though  England  would  go  to  war  in  support  of  her  view  of  the 
case.  The  greatest  activity  prevailed  in  the  English  arsenals  and 
dock-yards,  and  on  the  29th  of  April  the  first  instalment  of  In- 
dian troops  which  the  cabinet  had  ordered  to  the  Mediterranean, 
6000  men  in  all,  embarked  at  Bombay  for  Malta.  On  the  1st  of 
April  Lord  Salisbury,  the  new  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  former- 
ly secretary  for  India,  had  issued  a  circular  note  to  the  effect  that 
England  would  not  enter  into  a  congress  which  was  not  free  to 
discuss  the  whole  treaty  of  San  Stefauo.  GortchakofFs  answer 
sliowcd  equal  firmness  on  the  part  of  Russia. 

Both  parties  seemed  steering  toward  war,  and  there  was  a  time 
when  people  daily  expected  the  news  of  a  collision  on  the  Bos- 
porus. The  Russians  sought  to  obtain  possession  of  Buyukdere, 
one  and  a  half  hours  from  Constantinople,  on  the  Bosporus, 
near  the  Black  Sea,  under  pretence  of  shipping  the  troops  from 
that  point  for  Odessa.  Against  this  project  Layard  protested, 
and  the  English  fleet  received  orders  to  anchor  before  Constant!- 


548  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT  TIMES. 

nople  in  case  the  Russians  seized  Buyukdere.  As  the  Russian 
government  persisted  in  its  demands,  and  two  Russian  ships — of 
which  it  was  said  that  they  were  provided  with  torpedoes  for  the 
purpose  of  closing  the  Bosporus  against  the  English  fleet — ap- 
peared in  the  roads  before  Buyukdere,  the  Turks  began  to  for- 
tify the  heights,  in  order  to  thwart  any  attempt  to  seize  the  place 
suddenly.  This  action  on  the  part  of  the  Turks,  as  well  as  the 
delay  in  the  surrender  of  Varna  and  Shumla,  and  the  Moham- 
medan insurrection  in  the  Rhodope  mountains,  was  attributed  by 
the  Russians  to  English  machinations.  Grand-duke  Nicholas  was 
superseded  by  General  Totleben ;  shore  batteries  were  erected 
along  the  whole  coast  from  Rodosto  to  San  Stefano,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  landing  of  British  troops ;  re-enforcements  were  de- 
spatched from  Russia  to  strengthen  the  army  before  Constanti- 
nople ;  collections  were  made  in  Moscow  and  other  places  for  the 
equipment  of  privateers ;  and  men  and  officers  from  the  Russian 
navy  were  sent  to  the  United  States  to  take  possession  of  the 
ships  which  were  to  be  purchased  there.  All  Europe  waited  in 
breathless  suspense ;  at  any  moment  a  tiny  spark  might  kindle  a 
terrible  explosion. 

Every  European  state  was  interested  in  preventing  such  a  ca- 
tastrophe, and  diplomacy  exerted  itself  accordingly.  Finally,  a 
means  of  adjusting  the  quarrel  was  found.  Count  Shouvaloff 
conducted  direct  negotiations  between  the  two  capitals,  and 
through  his  exertions  a  secret  agreement  was  signed  in  London 
on  the  30th  of  May,  by  which  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the 
proposed  congress  were  at  length  removed,  and  the  threatened 
war  averted.  It  was  arranged  that  Bulgaria  should  be  divided 
into  two  provinces,  the  one  north  and  the  other  south  of  the 
Balkans ;  the  former  to  be  a  tributary  state,  and  the  latter  to  pos- 
sess a  semi-autonomous  administration  under  a  Christian  stadt- 
holder  appointed  by  the  Porte,  with  the  consent  of  the  Great 
Powers.  Bayazid  and  the  valley  of  the  Alashkert  were  to  be 
restored  to  Turkey,  on  account  of  their  importance  to  the  trade 
between  that  country  and  Persia,  and  the  little  district  of  Khotur 
was  to  be  surrendered  to  the  latter  state  by  the  Sultan.  The 
Russian  government  also  made  some  farther  concessions  of  minor 
importance,  and  promised  that  in  the  future  the  Russian  bounda- 
ries should  not  be  extended  toward  Asiatic  Turkey.  As  to  the 
retrocession  of  Bessarabia  to  Russia  by  Rouraania,  England 


VAIN   PROTESTS  FROM   ROUMANIA.  549 

agreed  to  make  no  objections,  inasmuch  as  the  other  powers  did 
not  oppose  it,  and  English  interests  were  not  directly  involved, 
but  reserved  for  the  discussion  and  decision  of  the  congress  the 
passage  of  the  Russian  troops  through  the  principality. 

The  two  last-named  points — the  cession  of  Bessarabia  and  the 
passage  through  Rou mania  of  the  Russian  troops — encountered, 
as  was  to  have  been  expected,  bitter  opposition  from  Prince 
Charles's  government.  By  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano,  besides 
ceding  Bessarabia  to  Russia  in  return  for  a  part  of  the  Dobrud- 
ja,  his  dominions  were  to  remain  open  to  the  Russians  for  two 
years  for  the  passage  of  troops  to  and  from  Bulgaria,  while  Rou- 
mania  was,  furthermore,  left  to  make  her  own  terms  with  Turkey 
in  regard  to  a  war  indemnity — which  was  equivalent  to  saying 
that  she  was  to  receive  no  indemnity  whatever.  Bratiano,  the 
minister-president,  undertook  a  mission  to  Berlin  and  Vienna  to 
win  support  for  his  government,  but  without  success,  and  the 
Emperor  William  with  his  own  hand  wrote  a  letter  to  Prince 
Charles,  urging  him  to  put  no  difficulties  in  Russia's  way  with 
regard  to  the  cession  of  Bessarabia.  Roumania  showed  consid- 
erable spirit;  but  without  support  from  some  of  the  Great  Pow- 
ers nothing  could  be  accomplished,  and  the  mere  protest  of  the 
Roumanian  government  called  forth  from  Gortchakoff  threats  of 
a  resort  to  the  peremptory  measures  of  occupying  Roumania 
and  disarming  the  Roumanian  army.  Russia  certainly  cannot 
be  accredited  with  either  gratitude  or  generosity  in  her  treatment 
of  a  valiant  and  efficient  ally.  Roumania  was  an  objectionable 
barrier  between  her  and  the  Slavonic  regions  to  the  south  and 
south-west.  Furthermore,  Roumania  was  too  independent.  Rus- 
sian policy  dictated  the  formation  in  the  Balkan  peninsula  of 
small  Slavonic  states,  which  should  be  entirely  under  Russian  in- 
fluence, and  Roumania  was  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  that  policy. 

For  somewhat  similar  reasons,  Grecian  claims  were  not  viewed 
with  much  favor  in  St.  Petersburg.  Greece  looked  with  longing 
eyes  on  Thessaly — where,  out  of  a  total  population  of  384,230 
souls,  341,850  were  Greeks — and  Epirus,  which  numbered  415,965 
Greeks  as  against  318,955  Turks  and  Albanians.  The  prospect 
of  a  division  of  Turkey  had  caused  the  greatest  excitement  in 
Athens.  On  the  29th  of  March,  1877,  parliament  voted  the 
formation  of  a  new  reserve  of  20,000  men,  raising  the  whole 
force  at  the  disposal  of  the  Grecian  government  to  34,000.  The 


550  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECEXT  TIMES. 

Russian  declaration  of  war  increased  the  excitement.  A  national 
mobile  guard  was  formed,  the  reserves  called  out,  twelve  battal- 
ions of  volunteers  raised,  torpedoes  purchased,  and  orders  issued 
to  establish  camps  on  the  northern  frontier.  Volunteers  poured 
in  from  the  Grecian  provinces  under  the  dominion  of  the  Sultan, 
and  were  at  once  enrolled  in  the  ever-increasing  army.  These 
preparations  led  the  Porte  to  address  complaints,  not  to  Greece, 
but  to  France  and  England.  The  latter  thereupon  exerted  her 
influence  at  Athens  for  the  purpose  of  holding  the  Grecian  gov- 
ernment back,  and  English  threats  and  English  promises  were 
successful  in  restraining  the  little  kingdom  until  the  favorable 
moment  was  past.  The  proper  time  for  action  was  immediately 
after  the  fall  of  Plevna,  but  the  opportunity  was  allowed  to  pass, 
and  when  at  last,  on  the  2d  of  February,  1878,  fearful  of  being 
excluded  from  the  division  of  the  spoils,  the  government  ordered 
12,000  Greek  troops  across  the  frontier,  it  was  already  too  late; 
the  armistice  had  set  the  Porte  at  liberty  to  utilize  a  part  of  its 
forces  for  the  protection  of  its  southern  borders.  When  the 
Constantinople  cabinet  decided  to  send  Hobart  Pasha  to  the 
Pira3us  with  a  fleet  of  iron-clads,  and  at  the  same  time  land 
troops  in  Thessaly,  Athens  was  seized  with  a  panic,  and  on  the 
7th  of  February,  by  the  advice  of  the  Great  Powers,  especially 
England,  the  Grecian  general,  Soutzo,  received  orders  to  lead  his 
troops  back  to  Lamia.  (This  was  a  deadly  blow  to  the  insurrec- 
tion in  Thessaly,  and  by  the  display  of  a  little  energy,  accompa- 
nied by  abundant  promises  of  amnesty,  the  Turks  succeeded  in 
effecting  its  complete  suppression  by  the  end  of  March.)  In  re- 
turn for  her  general  amenity  to  English  advice  the  English  cabi- 
net promised  King  George's  government  to  use  its  influence  in 
behalf  of  Greece  at  the  approaching  congress. 

The  congress  met  in  the  north  wing  of  Bismarck's  palace  (the 
Radzivill  palace),  in  Berlin,  on  the  13th  of  June,  the  German 
chancellor  presiding.  Besides  Turkey  and  the  six  Great  Powers, 
Greece,  Roumania,  Servia,  and  Montenegro  had  also  sent  dele- 
gates, but  these  latter  had  not  been  formally  invited,  and  were  ad- 
mitted only  to  such  sittings  as  dealt  with  the  special  interests  of 
the  states  they  represented.  The  first  question  before  the  con- 
gress was  the  Bulgarian  one.  The  English  representatives  aimed 
at  reducing  the  new  principality  to  the  smallest  possible  dimen- 
sions, putting  every  possible  hinderance  in  the  way  of  Russian  in- 


EAST  ROUMELIA.  551 

fluence,  and,  so  far  as  possible,  maintaining  Ottoman  supremacy  in 
East  Roumelia — the  name  which  was  to  be  given  to  the  Bulgarian 
state  south  of  the  Balkans.  As  was  the  case  in  most  of  the  oth- 
er matters  in  dispute,  the  real  decision  was  reached  in  private  con- 
sultations between  the  representatives  of  the  states  especially  in- 
terested, and  then  formally  adopted  by  the  congress.  It  was  pro- 
vided that  Bulgaria,  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  Balkans,  should 
form  a  self-governing,  tributary  principality,  under  the  suzerainty 
of  the  Sultan,  with  a  prince  chosen  by  the  free  vote  of  the  popu- 
lation and  confirmed  by  the  Porte,  with  the  consent  of  the  Great 
Powers.  No  member  of  any  European  reigning  house  was  to  be 
eligible  as  prince.  The  organic  law  of  the  principality  was  to  be 
settled  by  an  assembly  of  notables,  to  be  held  at  Tirnova  before 
the  choice  of  the  prince,  the  basis  of  this  law  to  be  the  equality 
of  all  religions  and  confessions  in  so  far  as  political  rights  and 
liberty  of  teaching  and  preaching  were  concerned.  The  pro- 
visional government,  which  was  not  to  endure  more  than  nine 
months  from  the  date  of  the  signature  of  the  treaty,  was  to  be 
conducted  by  a  Russian  commissioner,  assisted  by  a  commissioner 
from  the  Porte,  together  with  the  consuls  of  the  signatory  pow- 
ers, the  representatives  of  those  powers  constituting  a  court  of 
appeal  in  case  of  disagreement.  The  principality  was  to  assume 
a  part  of  the  Turkish  debt,  and  pay  an  annual  tribute  to  the  Porte 
estimated  on  the  basis  of  its  average  revenue.  The  Turkish  army 
was  to  evacuate  Bulgaria  at  once,  existing  fortresses  were  to  be 
razed  within  a  year,  at  the  expense  of  the  country,  and  no  new 
ones  were  to  be  erected. 

The  province  of  East  Roumelia,  to  the  south  of  the  Balkans, 
was  to  remain  under  the  immediate  political  and  military  domin- 
ion of  the  Porte,  but  with  an  autonomous  administration  and  a 
local  militia,  officered,  however,  by  the  Sultan.  For  the  protec- 
tion of  the  frontiers,  the  latter  potentate  was  also  allowed  to  erect 
fortresses  and  maintain  garrisons — of  regular  troops  only.  The 
governor  of  the  province  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  Sultan,  with 
the  approval  of  the  Great  Powers,  for  five  years,  and  a  European 
commission  was  to  organize  the  province  in  conjunction  with  the 
Porte,  and  administer  the  finances  until  the  organization  was  com- 
pleted. The  Russian  army  of  occupation  in  Bulgaria  and  East 
Roumelia,  numbering  not  more  than  50,000  men,  and  maintained 
at  the  expense  of  the  inhabitants,  was  to  evacuate  both  provinces 


552  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

within  nine  months,  and  the  passage  of  the  Russian  troops  through 
Roumania  was  to  be  accomplished  within  a  farther  space  of  three 
months.  These  provisions  materially  altered  the  treaty  of  San 
Stefano,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  England  and  Austria, 
by  reducing  the  Bulgarian  principality  to  less  than  half  its  origi- 
nal proportions,  and  correspondingly  diminishing  the  power  of 
Russia  in  the  Balkan  peninsula. 

The  settlement  of  the  Armenian  question  proved  more  difficult. 
In  her  private  agreement  with  Russia  England  had  consented  to 
the  cession  of  Batoum,  but  she  now  sought  to  diminish  the  value 
of  that  post  by  stipulating  that  the  fortifications  should  be  demol- 
ished and  the  port  declared  free.  The  dispute,  which  at  one  time 
assumed  a  serious  character,  was  finally  settled  by  a  declaration 
on  the  part  of  the  Czar  that  Batoum  should  be  a  free  port.  Kars, 
Ardahan,  and  Batoum  were  ceded  to  Russia,  the  district  of  Kho- 
tur  to  Persia,  and  the  Sultan  pledged  himself  to  carry  out  the 
requisite  reforms  in  Armenia  without  loss  of  time,  and  to  protect 
the  inhabitants  against  the  Kurds  and  Circassians.  At  the  same 
time  a  secret  treaty  was  made  known  which  had  been  contracted 
between  England  and  Turkey  on  the  4th  of  June.  By  this  treaty 
the  Porte  pledged  itself  to  carry  out  reforms  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
England,  on  her  part,  guaranteed  the  integrity  of  the  Sultan's 
Asiatic  possessions.  To  put  England  in  a  position  to  fulfil  her 
part  of  the  treaty,  and  as  a  pledge  for  the  execution  of  the  prom- 
ised reforms,  the  Porte  surrendered  Cyprus  to  England  as  a  naval 
and  military  station,  the  latter  agreeing  to  regard  the  island  as  an 
integral  part  of  the  Turkish  empire,  and  to  make  over  the  surplus 
revenue  to  the  Snltan.  This  treaty,  which  had  received  the  con- 
sent of  Germany  and  Russia  at  the  time  of  its  execution,  aroused 
great  indignation  in  France  and  Italy,  both  of  which  countries 
viewed  with  jealous  alarm  any  increase  of  English  power  in  the 
Mediterranean.  To  pacify  the  former  state,  Beaconsh'eld  and 
Salisbury  entered  into  a  secret  arrangement  with  Waddington,  in 
accordance  with  which  England  was  to  put  no  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  a  French  occupation  of  Tunis — an  arrangement  of  which 
the  French  government  finally  took  advantage  in  the  year  1881. 

The  English  representatives  had  also  entered  into  an  arrange- 
ment with  Austria  in  reference  to  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina.  In 
the  sitting  of  June  29th  Andrassy  read  a  memorandum  in  which 
be  set  forth  that  Austria  had  been  disturbed  for  a  whole  year  by 


THE  DANUBE  AND  OTHER  QUESTIONS.  553 

the  insurrection  in  those  provinces,  and  had  been  compelled  to 
ix'ceive  and  provide  for  over  150,000  Bosnian  fugitives,  who  pos- 
itively refused  again  to  submit  to  the  hardships  of  Turkish  mis- 
rule ;  that  Turkey  was  not  in  a  position  to  restore  order  in  the 
disturbed  districts,  and  that  under  Turkish  dominion  the  existing 
anarchy  and  revolution  must  continue,  with  the  inevitable  result  of 
involving  the  adjacent  Slavic  populations  in  Austria,  Servia,  and 
Montenegro.  Thereupon  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury  moved  that 
Austria  be  charged  with  the  occupation  and  administration  of 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  and,  although  Italy  manifested  displeas- 
ure at  this  increase  of  Austrian  power,  and  Turkey  raised  objec- 
tions to  the  measure,  the  congress  nevertheless  decided  to  hand 
over  those  two  provinces  to  Austro-Hungary. 

The  questions  concerning  the  Danube,  the  Bosporus,  the  war 
indemnity  and  political  reforms  were  solved  without  any  particu- 
lar difficulties  arising.  The  Danube  below  the  Iron  Gates  was 
declared  neutral,  all  fortresses  were  to  be  razed,  and  Rournania 
was  admitted  to  the  European  commission  charged  with  the  gen- 
eral police  and  commercial  supervision  of  the  river.  With  regard 
to  the  Bosporus  and  the  Dardanelles  the  status  quo  was  main- 
tained. The  matter  of  a  war  indemnity  was  left  to  the  settle- 
ment of  the  belligerents  themselves,  with  the  proviso  that  it 
should  be  paid  in  money  and  not  by  a  cession  of  territory,  and 
that  the  rights  of  Turkey's  former  creditors  should  not  be  im- 
paired. Finally,  the  Porte  promised  that  in  all  parts  of  the 
Turkish  dominions  the  principle  of  religious  freedom"  should  be 
maintained,  that  difference  of  religious  belief  should  constitute 
no  obstacle  to  the  free  exercise  of  civil  and  political  rights,  and 
that  all,  without  distinction  of  creed,  should  be  competent  as  wit- 
nesses before  the  courts. 

Besides  these  questions,  which  directly  affected  the  Great  Pow- 
ers, the  claims  of  the  smaller  states  had  also  to  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. Austria  was  unwilling  to  concede  too  much  to  Servia 
and  Montenegro,  as  the  increase  of  those  states  would  have  the 
effect  of  barring  her  advance  toward  the  south.  In  particular 
she  desired  to  shut  out  Montenegro  from  the  sea.  Ultimately 
Niksich,  Podgorizza,  and  Autivari  were  given  to  Montenegro, 
Spizza  was  annexed  to  Dalmatia,  and  Dulcigno  was  restored  to 
Turkey.  But  although  Montenegro  thus  acquired  a  harbor,  she 
was  forbidden  to  maintain  ships  of  war,  and  Austria  was  iutrust- 

24 


554  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

ed  with  the  sanitary  and  naval  police  duty  in  the  port  of  Anti- 
vari.  Austria  also  acquired  the  right  to  construct  a  road  and 
railroad  through  Montenegro.  The  independence  of  Servia  and 
Montenegro  was  recognized  on  condition  that  full  freedom  and 
political  equality  were  accorded  to  the  members  of  all  religions. 
Servia  received  an  addition  to  her  population  of  280,000  souls, 
her  most  important  acquisition  being  the  city  and  fortress  of 
Nish.  She  also  assumed  a  part  of  the  Turkish  debt.  The  rec- 
ognition of  Roumanian  independence  was  conditioned  on  the 
cession  of  Bessarabia  to  Russia,  and  the  admission  to  political 
equality  of  the  members  of  all  religions — a  condition  which  had 
special  reference  to  the  Jews.  In  compensation  for  Bessarabia 
Roumania  was  to  receive  the  Dobrudsha  and  the  islands  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Danube.  The  Grecian  question  was  taken  up  in 
the  sittings  of  the  5th  and  6th  of  July.  Despite  all  her  prom- 
ises, it  was  not  England,  but  France,  which  stood  forth  as  the 
champion  of  Grecian  interests.  Waddington  wished  to  hand 
over  to  Greece  all  the  Grecian  provinces  in  Turkish  possession, 
but  this  met  with  approval  from  no  one,  least  of  all,  however, 
from  England  and  Russia.  Finally  it  was  recommended  that  the 
southern  part  of  Thcssaly  and  Epirus  should  be  ceded  to  Greece, 
the  Salambria  and  Kalamos  rivers  forming  the  new  boundary 
line.  In  case  the  Sultan  and  the  King  of  the  Hellenes  could  not 
come  to  some  understanding,  tile  Great  Powers  were  to  have  the 
right  of  onering  their  mediation.  As  to  Crete,  the  Sultan  under- 
took "scrupulously  to  apply  the  organic  law  of  1868." 

The  last  session  of  the  congress  was  held  on  the  1 3th  of  July, 
and  the  delegates  dispersed  to  their  respective  capitals,  each  of 
them,  excepting  Count  Corti  and  Karatheodori  Pasha,  bringing 
some  acquisition  for  his  government.  From  one  point  of  view 
the  congress  was  a  great  game  of  grab.  Germany,  having  al- 
ready received  her  share  in  1870,  now  had  to  make  good  her 
promises  to  Russia.  The  latter  acquired  Bessarabia  and  a  slice 
of  Armenia.  England  appropriated  Cyprus,  and  assumed  a  sort 
of  protectorate  in  Asia  Minor.  Austria  occupied  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina,  and  took  a  long  step  on  the  road  toward  Constanti- 
nople. France  obtained  a  lien  on  Tunis,  and  only  Italy  had  no 
share  in  the  distribution  of  the  spoils. 

The  treaty  had  been  made ;  the  next  step  was  to  execute  it. 
England  at  once  took  possession  of  Cyprus,  and  Layard  laid  be- 


AUSTRIAN  OCCUPATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA.  555 

fore  the  Turkish  government  a  comprehensive  project  of  reform 
in  all  branches  of  the  administration.  The  success  of  this  and 
all  subsequent  plans  and  projects  of  reform  in  Asia  Minor  was 
summed  up  in  a  despatch  of  the  27th  of  April,  1880,  shortly  be- 
fore Layard's  recall.  In  this  despatch  he  says  that  the  Turkish 
empire  had  never  been  in  so  disorganized  and  critical  a  condi- 
tion. The  impossibility  of  an  improvement  he  attributes  to  the 
fact  that  the  Porte  promises  everything  that  is  demanded  and 
never  keeps  its  promises,  making  use  of  every  possible  descrip- 
tion of  chicane  and  deception  to  protract  decision  and  invent 
excuses  for  inaction.  He  had  exhausted  every  diplomatic  means 
without  avail,  and  if  anything  was  to  be  accomplished  he  held  it 
necessary  to  pass  beyond  mere  threats.  Only  in  Syria  Midhat 
Pasha,  forced  upon  the  Turkish  government  by  the  pressure  of 
England,  succeeded  in  executing  the  desired  reforms,  and  con- 
ducting an  efficient  government,  until,  in  the  spring  of  1881,  a 
charge  of  murdering  the  Sultan  Abdul  Aziz  was  trumped  up 
against  him,  and  he  was  condemned  to  death — afterward  com- 
muted to  imprisonment  in  Arabia. 

Like  England,  Austria  took  possession  of  her  share  of  the  booty 
at  once,  but  not  without  the  most  obstinate  resistance.  Finding 
it  impossible  to  form  any  convention  with  the  Porte  regarding 
the  occupation  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina — inasmuch  as  the  lat- 
ter demanded  that  a  limit  should  be  set  to  the  period  of  occupa- 
tion, while  the  Austrian  government  meant  that  the  occupation 
should  be  perpetual,  or,  in  other  words,  an  annexation — Andrassy 
determined  to  act  without  a  convention,  and  on  the  29th  of  July, 
1878,  General  Philippovich,  with  three  divisions,  received  orders 
to  cross  the  frontier.  Bashi-Bazouks,  Bosnian  beys,  the  Albanian 
League,  and  Turkish  regulars  united  in  opposing  the  Austrian 
advance,  and  two  out  of  the  three  columns  into  which  Philippo- 
vich had  divided  his  forces  met  with  disaster.  Thereupon  the 
three  divisions  were  increased  to  three  full  army  corps,  and  by 
the  4th  of  October  both  provinces  were  in  full  possession  of  the 
invading  army.  Within  the  next  three  years  Austria,  by  dint  of 
threats  and  diplomacy  combined,  concluded  railroad  and  commer- 
cial treaties  giving  her  a  general  control  of  railroad  communica- 
tions in  the  Balkan  peninsula,  a  practical  monopoly  of  the  Dan- 
ube, and  a  politico-commercial  dictatorship  in  Scrvia.  In  1881 
an  Austrian  occupation  of  Bulgaria  seemed  at  one  time  imminent, 


556  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

The  present  policy  of  the  dual  empire,  in  which  it  is  strongly 
supported  by  Germany,  is  to  make  Austrian  influence  dominant 
on  the  road  to  Constantinople. 

Russia,  in  order  to  secure  the  more  rapid  obedience  to  those 
articles  of  the  treaty  of  Berlin  which  concerned  her  interests,  an- 
nounced that  her  troops  would  maintain  their  position  before 
Constantinople  until  all  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  had  been  ex- 
ecuted. This  hastened  the  evacuation  of  Shumla,  Varna,  and 
Batoum ;  and,  accordingly,  in  September  the  Russian  positions 
before  Constantinople  were  evacuated,  and  Totleben  transferred 
his  head-quarters  to  Adrianople.  The  Turkish  troops  at  once 
took  possession  of  San  Stefano,  Chekmedye,  and  other  important 
positions ;  but,  some  places  being  left  unoccupied  by  the  soldiers 
on  both  sides,  the  Mohammedans,  who  had  fled  before  the  Rus- 
sian advance  and  were  now  on  their  way  home  again,  seized  the 
opportunity  to  massacre  all  the  Bulgarians  they  could  find.  The 
Russian  retreat  was  at  once  changed  into  an  advance,  and  some 
of  the  places  already  occupied  by  the  Turks  were  again  seized  by 
the  Russians.  The  difficulty  of  coming  to  an  agreement  regard- 
ing the  war  indemnity,  and  those  points  of  the  treaty  of  San  Ste- 
fano which  had  not  been  touched  upon  in  the  Berlin  congress, 
gave  rise  to  a  farther  conflict,  and  at  one  time  a  renewal  of  the 
war  seemed  not  improbable.  Finally,  however,  on  the  8th  of 
February,  1879,  an  additional  treaty  was  concluded  between  Lo- 
banoff,  Russian  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  and  Karatheodori 
Pasha,  Turkish  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  by  which  the  treaty  of 
San  Stefano  was  declared  binding,  in  so  far  as  its  provisions  were 
not  expressly  superseded  by  the  treaty  of  Berlin,  and  the  war 
indemnity  was  fixed  at  802,500,000  francs. 

In  Bulgaria  the  constituant  assembly,  consisting  of  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-six  members,  partly  elected  by  the  people,  partly 
appointed  by  the  government,  was  opened  at  Tirnova  on  the  23d 
of  February,  1879,  by  the  Russian  governor-general,  Prince  Don- 
dukoff.  Admission  was  refused  to  the  delegates  from  Thrace 
and  East  Roumelia,  and  a  strict  observance  of  the  treaty  of  Berlin 
with  respect  to  the  territorial  limitation  of  the  principality  was 
enjoined  upon  the  somewhat  recalcitrant  majority.  An  elaborate 
and  liberal  constitution  was  adopted  on  the  28th  of  April,  and  on 
the  29th  the  new  national  assembly,  consisting  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  members — twenty-two  of  them  Mohammedans  —  was 


PRINCE  ALEXANDER  OF  BULGARIA.  557 

convened,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  elect  Prince  Alexander  of 
Battenberg,  nephew  of  the  Russian  empress,  and  son  of  Prince 
Alexander  of  Hesse,  prince  of  Bulgaria.  The  new  prince,  a  sec- 
ond lieutenant  in  the  Prussian  garde  du  corps  at  Potsdam,  who 
had  fought  during  the  last  war  in  the  Russian  ranks,  entered  his 
capital,  Sofia,  on  the  15th  of  July,  after  visiting  the  various  Euro- 
pean sovereigns,  beginning  with  the  Czar,  and  ending  with  the  in- 
dignant Sultan.  On  the  3d  of  August  the  Russian  army  evacu- 
ated Bulgaria,  but  Russian  influence  remained  behind.  The  prince 
threw  all  the  weight  of  his  position  on  the  side  of  the  Conserva- 
tives. On  the  5th  of  December  the  radical  national  assembly 
was  dissolved,  but  the  new  elections  resulted  still  more  favorably 
for  that  party.  Finally,  in  May  of  1881,  the  prince,  by  the  advice 
of  the  courts  of  St.  Petersburg,  Berlin,  and  Vienna,  resorted  to 
a  coup  d'etat,  dissolved  the  assembly,  and  abolished  the  consti- 
tution. By  dint,  apparently,  of  bribery  and  intimidation,  with 
Russian  gold  and  Russian  officers,  a  conservative  assembly  was  re- 
turned, which  met  at  Sistova  in  July  to  furnish  the  prince  with  a 
constitution  more  to  his  tastes,  and  perhaps  better  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  the  population. 

The  organization  of  East  Roumelia  proved  a  task  of  great  dif- 
ficulty. By  the  treaty  of  Berlin  an  international  commission 
was  charged  with  the  organization  of  the  province  and  the  pro- 
visional administration  of  the  finances.  In  this  commission  Rus- 
sia represented  the  wishes  of  the  people ;  and  England,  which 
represented  the  interests  of  the  Porte,  accused  her  of  fostering 
hopes  among  the  East  Roumelians  of  a  union  with  Bulgaria.  It 
was  feared  that  an  insurrection  might  break  out  on  the  with- 
drawal of  the  Russian  troops,  and  it  was  certain  that  this  would 
be  the  case  if  Turkey  insisted  on  her  right  to  occupy  the  Balkan 
passes,  thus  forming  a  military  cordon  between  East  Roumelia 
and  Bulgaria.  Finally,  the  Czar  sent  General  Obrutcheff  to  Con- 
stantinople to  arrange  a  compromise.  The  Czar  pledged  himself 
for  the  maintenance  of  order  in  the  province  of  East  Roumelia, 
and  agreed  to  remit  the  20,000,000  francs,  or  thereabouts,  due  to 
Russia  for  the  maintenance  of  Turkish  prisoners  during  the  war, 
in  consideration  of  which  the  Sultan  pledged  himself  "provision- 
ally "  not  to  exercise  his  right  of  garrison  in  Burgas,  Ichtiman, 
and  the  Balkan  passes.  Thereupon  General  Obrutcheff  repaired 
to  Philippopolis  and  read  in  the  cathedral  of  that  place  a  mani- 


558  POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF   KECEXT   TIMES. 

festo  announcing  to  the  Roumelian  Bulgarians  these  concessions 
on  the  side  of  the  Porte,  and  warning  them  to  observe  the  treaty 
of  Berlin  and  be  satisfied  with  their  present  position.  The  popu- 
lar leaders,  whose  hopes  were  dashed  by  this  announcement,  final- 
ly resolved  to  accept  the  situation,  but  at  the  same  time  to  main- 
tain their  military  organization  intact;  and  so  this  difficulty  was 
settled.  The  constitution  was  completed  on  the  26th  of  April, 
1879,  and  Prince  Vogorides  (Aleko  Pasha),  a  Bulgarian  Chris- 
tian, formerly  Turkish  ambassador  in  Vienna,  was  appointed  gov- 
ernor-general for  five  years — a  position  of  great  delicacy,  inas- 
much as  whatever  measure  pleases  the  Porte  is  sure  to  excite  the 
displeasure  of  the  Bulgarian  population,  and  vice  versa.  At  the 
very  outset  the  new  governor  fell  into  disgrace  with  the  Sultan  by 
discarding  the  official  Turkish  fez  and  adopting  the  national  Bul- 
garian kalptik,  and  by  forming  his  cabinet  exclusively  of  Bulga- 
rians and  foreigners.  Nevertheless,  his  administration  seems  to 
have  been  efficient  and  successful,  and  the  budget  for  1880-'81 
promised  a  surplus  of  receipts  over  expenditures.  The  evacua- 
tion of  East  Roumelia  by  the  Russian  troops  began  on  the  3d 
of  May,  1879,  and  on  the  27th  of  July  the  last  Russian  soldier 
embarked  at  Burgas. 

In  the  European  provinces  which  still  remain  under  the  direct 
administration  of  the  Sultan  the  promised  reforms  have  never 
been  carried  out.  In  Macedonia  Turkish  misrule  resulted  in  an 
insurrection,  which  was  suppressed  with  the  most  atrocious  cru- 
elty (some  palliation  for  which  may,  however,  be  found  in  the 
outrages  upon  Mohammedans  of  which  the  Bulgarians  had  here 
and  there  been  guilty  in  that  province).  The  present  condition 
of  Macedonia  is-  similar  to  that  of  Bulgaria  before  the  rebellion 
of  1876.  The  government  is  entirely  one  of  caprice  and  oppres- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  Mohammedan  rulers,  and  the  whole  re- 
gion is  rendered  insecure  by  robber  bands,  whose  depredations 
the  Turkish  officials  are  either  unwilling  or  unable  to  restrain. 
Layard's  despatch  of  April  27th,  1880,  to  which  reference  has 
already  once  been  made,  asserts  that  "  the  organic  laws  provided 
for  by  the  23d  article  of  the  Berlin  treaty  have  not  yet  been  pub- 
lished; with  the  exception  of  Adrianople,the  prescribed  gendarme- 
rie does  not  exist ;  and  hence  in  Macedonia,  Thessaly,  and  Epirus 
life  and  property  are  insecure,  anarchy  prevails,  and  robber  bands 
plunder  with  impunity."  In  1881  the  situation  is  still  unchanged. 


GREECE  AND  TURKEY.  559 

The  operation  of  the  promised  religious  freedom  was  illustrated, 
in  December  of  187&,  by  the  arrest  of  Dr.  Kolle  and  the  Mollah 
Ahmed  Tevfik.  The  latter,  a  professor  in  some  mosque  at  Con- 
stantinople, had  assisted  Dr.  Kolle,  an  agent  of  the  British  Bible 
Society,  in  the  translation  and  publication  of  psalms  and  religious 
tracts.  For  this  offence  against  Mohammedan  law  Kolle's  papers 
were  seized,  and  Tevfik  was  condemned  to  imprisonment  or  death. 
Lnyard  at  once  announced  that  he  would  demand  his  pass  if 
Kolle's  papers  were  not  restored  within  three  days,  Tevfik  re- 
leased, and  the  chief  of  police,  who  had  ordered  the  arrest,  dis- 
missed. At  length,  on  the  6th  of  January,  1880,  Tevfik  was  in- 
terned in  the  island  of  Chios,  Kolle's  papers  returned  to  him,  and 
a  written  apology  addressed  to  Layard  on  the  part  of  the  chief  of 
police.  In  point  of  fact,  the  Berlin  treaty  has  exerted  no  influ- 
ence whatever  in  the  matter  of  religious  freedom.  The  same  de- 
gree of  freedom  which  existed  before  that  treaty  exists  now,  and 
the  Christian  has  no  rights  now  which  he  did  not  have  then ;  in 
other  words,  Christians  have  rights  as  against  one  another,  but 
not  as  against  Mohammedans.  As  for  the  much-vaunted  parlia- 
ment which  was  to  have  achieved  such  vast  reforms,  it  had  met 
with  a  quiet  death  even  before  the  meeting  of  the  Berlin  con- 
gress; on  the  14th  of  February,  1878,  it  was  prorogued  sine  die, 
and  the  paper  constitution  was  committed  to  the  waste -paper 
basket.  To  complete  this  brief  sketch,  it  may  be  added  that  the 
organic  law  of  1868  was  never  carried  out  in  Crete,  and  that  at 
the  present  time  (1881)  that  island  is  in  a  state  of  semi-revolt 
which  is  fast  becoming  chronic. 

To  the  recommendation  of  the  congress,  relative  to  the  cession 
of  territory  to  Greece,  Turkey  paid  no  heed  whatever ;  the  Turk- 
ish government  seemed  resolved  the  rathqr  to  turn  into  a  wilder- 
ness the  whole  district  which  it  had  been  advised  to  cede.  In 
spite  of  the  promised  amnesty,  the  Thessalian  insurgents  were 
mercilessly  executed,  whole  villages  were  burnt  to  the  ground, 
and  the  Bulgarian  horrors  were  imitated  in  Thessaly.  A  Greek 
note  of  July  17th,  with  regard  to  the  territory  to  be  ceded,  re- 
mained unnoticed  by  the  Porte.  In  a  second  note  the  Grecian 
government  demanded,  by  the  6th  of  September,  an  answer  with 
reference  to  the  appointment  of  a  commission  for  the  settlement 
of  a  new  boundary  line.  As  no  answer  was  returned,  a  circular 
note  was  addressed  to  the  signatory  powers  on  the  9th  of  that 


560  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

month  calling  in  their  mediation.  This  drew  out  a  circular  de- 
spatch from  Waddington,  asking  the  other  powers  to  unite  with 
France  in  exerting  pressure  on  the  Porte.  In  the  mean  time  the 
Grecian  government,  in  order  to  be  prepared  for  all  contingencies, 
had  raised  the  strength  of  the  active  army  to  18,000  men,  and 
that  of  the  reserve  to  37,000,  and  obtained  from  parliament  an 
additional  credit  of  35,000,000  francs.  At  last,  in  December  of 
1878,  Turkey  consented  to  appoint  plenipotentiaries  —  among 
them  Mukhtar  Pasha — to  consider  the  question  of  a  new  boun- 
dary line.  Mukhtar  and  his  associates  met  the  Greek  commis- 
sioners in  Prevesa  on  the  8th  of  February,  1879  ;  but,  as  they  re- 
fused to  recognize  the  treaty  of  Berlin  as  the  basis  of  negotia- 
tions, and  pursued  a  simple  policy  of  obstruction,  the  conference 
fell  through,  and  the  Greek  delegates  returned  home  (March  19th). 
Again  the  Grecian  government  appealed  to  the  Great  Powers,  and 
again  Waddington  attempted  to  induce  the  other  powers  to  unite 
with  France  in  exerting  pressure  on  the  Porte.  (The  fall  of  Wad- 
dington, December  29th,  1879,  deprived  Greece  of  her  principal 
advocate.  But  the  role  of  Grecian  champion  thus  abandoned  by 
France  was  taken  up  a  few  months  later  by  England,  when  Glad- 
stone succeeded  Beaconsfield  in  the  government  in  April  of  1880). 
At  last,  after  much  negotiating,  it  was  proposed  to  send  a  politico- 
technical  commission  to  Thessaly  and  Epirus  to  search  for  an 
advisable  border  line,  but  this  project  was  abandoned  when  the 
Porte  announced  its  inability  to  guarantee  the  safety  of  such  a 
commission.  France  then  proposed  an  after-conference  for  the 
settlement  of  the  Greek  question,  and  England  called  upon  the 
other  powers  to  unite  with  her  in  presenting  to  the  Porte  identi- 
cal notes  with  reference  to  Greece,  Montenegro,  and  Armenia. 

These  notes  were  presented  on  the  12th  of  June,  1880.  The 
Porte  was  informed  that  representatives  of  the  various  govern- 
ments would  meet  in  Berlin  on  the  16th  of  that  month,  for  the 
purpose  of  fixing  a  new  boundary  line  between  Greece  and  Turkey, 
and  that  immediately  thereafter  a  commission  would  repair  to 
Thessaly  and  Epirus  to  settle  on  the  spot  any  minor  matters  of 
detail.  The  necessity  of  a  settlement  with  Montenegro,  and  of 
the  execution  of  the  promised  reforms  in  Armenia,  was  also  urged 
upon  the  Sultan's  government.  As  the  Great  Powers  decided 
not  to  admit  Turkish  or  Grecian  plenipotentiaries,  the  Porte  an- 
nounced that  it  would  not  regard  the  decisions  of  the  conference 


SETTLEMENT  BETWEEN   GREECE   AND   TURKEY.         561 

as  binding.  The  new  line  proposed  by  France  (Russia,  contrary 
to  her  former  policy,  proposed  a  still  more  northern  one)  was  the 
same  which  had  been  suggested  by  Prince  Leopold  of  Coburg, 
when  the  Grecian  crown  was  offered  to  him  in  1830.  Starting 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Mavrolongos  river,  considerably  farther 
north  than  the  point  chosen  by  the  Berlin  congress,  it  followed 
the  course  of  the  mountains  until  the  Kalamos  was  reached,  from 
which  point  westward  to  the  Ionian  Sea  that  stream  was  to  serve 
as  the  boundary.  The  decision  of  the  conference  was  communi- 
cated to  the  Turkish  and  Grecian  governments  in  the  form  of  a 
joint  note  on  the  16th  of  July,  but  as  the  Great  Powers  were  not 
prepared  to  enforce  the  decision  of  the  conference  by  armed  in- 
tervention, this  joint  note  had  no  more  effect  than  the  former 
identical  ones.  Gladstone's  proposal  to  settle  the  Grecian  diffi- 
culty, like  the  Montenegrin,  by  a  naval  demonstration,  met  with 
a  decided  refusal  from  the  cabinets  of  Berlin,  Paris,  and  Vienna  ; 
and  England  and  Russia,  with  or  without  Italy,  although  in  fa- 
vor of  active  measures,  were  not  prepared  to  move  alone.  Con- 
sequently the  Greeks,  despairing  of  assistance  from  the  Great 
Powers,  and  realizing  that  the  continued  agitation  and  the  enor- 
mous expenses  consequent  upon  the  maintenance  of  a  large 
body  of  men  were  speedily  driving  them  into  bankruptcy,  re- 
solved to  act  for  themselves,  and  seize  by  force  of  arms  the  ter- 
ritory allotted  to  them  by  the  conference.  As  this  would  cer- 
tainly have  caused  a  general  conflagration,  the  Great  Powers, 
especially  France  and  Germany,  brought  all  possible  pressure  to 
bear  to  restrain  the  impatient  Hellenes,  and  convince  them  that, 
single-handed,  they  could  gain  nothing  and  might  lose  everything. 
Diplomacy  left  no  means  of  settling  the  difficulty  untried — ex- 
cepting only  the  resort  to  actual  force — but  for  a  long  time  with- 
out apparent  result.  Both  sides  prepared  for  war,  and  gathered 
armies  on  the  frontiers.  Finally,  in  March  of  1881,  an  arrange- 
ment was  reached  by  which  Janina  and  Prevesa,  with  the  greater 
part  of  Epirus,  were  to  be  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  while 
in  Thessaly  the  boundary  between  the  two  countries  was  to  be 
substantially  the  same  as  that  marked  out  by  the  treaty  of  Ber- 
lin ;  and,  by  autumn  of  that  year,  the  ceded  territory  had  already 
been  evacuated  by  the  Turks. 

Like  Greece,  Montenegro  also  had  great  difficulty  in  obtaining 
from  the  Porte  the  territory  allotted  to  it  by  the  congress;  but 

24* 


562  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

in  this  case  it  was  necessary  to  overcome  not  alone  the  procrasti- 
nation of  the  Porte,  but  also  the  hostility  of  a  part  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  ceded  districts  and  of  the  Albanian  League.  Mehemed 
Ali,  one  of  the  Turkish  representatives  at  the  Berlin  congress, 
was  commissioned  with  the  pacification  of  Albania  and  the  con- 
duct of  the  negotiations  with  Montenegro ;  but  he  and  the  great- 
er part  of  his  retinue  were  killed  by  fanatics  at  Diakova  on  the 
6th  of  September,  1878.  The  government  did  nothing  t6ward 
the  punishment  of  the  murderers,  and  the  Turkish  Press  praised 
the  deed.  In  October  the  leaders  of  the  league  resolved  to  put 
8000  men  in  the  field  at  Podgorizza,  to  prevent  the  surrender  of 
that  place  to  Montenegro,  and,  in  order  to  secure  the  greater  free- 
dom of  action,  they  demanded  from  the  Porte  the  recognition  of 
Albanian  autonomy  and  the  appointment  of  native  officials.  Fi- 
nally, however,  in  February  of  1879  Prince  Nikita  succeeded  in 
obtaining  the  surrender  of  Podgorizza.  But  the  attempt  to  gain 
possession  of  the  Albanian  districts  of  Gusinye  and  Plava,  which 
had  been  assigned  to  Montenegro  by  the  treaty  of  Berlin,  was  at- 
tended with  greater  difficulties.  The  Arnauts  (Albanians)  who 
inhabited  those  districts  took  up  arms,  and  even  attacked  a  Mon- 
tenegrin frontier  post.  Prince  Nikita  finally  set  a  time  within 
which  the  refractory  districts  must  be  handed  over;  and  when 
this  time  passed  without  any  action  on  the  part  of  the  Turkish 
government,  he  threatened  to  occupy  Gusinye  by  force  and  pun- 
ish the  inhabitants  for  their  resistance.  The  Porte  thereupon 
(December  13th,  1879)  appealed  to  the  Great  Powers  for  their 
mediation,  and  new  negotiations  were  commenced.  The  Albanian 
League  occupied  the  region  in  dispute,  and  Mukhtar  Pasha,  with 
a  Turkish  army,  remained  inactive  on  the  borders.  At  length, 
after  much  negotiating,  a  new  convention  was  concluded  on  the 
12th  of  April,  1880,  by  which  the  district  of  Kutshi-Kraina,  on 
the  little  stream  of  Zem,  was  substituted  for  Gusinye  and  Plava ; 
but  the  Turks,  instead  of  carrying  out  the  convention,  handed 
over  this  district  to  the  Albanians.  In  a  collective  note  of  April 
25th  the  Great  Powers  called  upon  Turkey  to  re-occupy  the  dis- 
trict and  surrender  it  to  the  Montenegrins.  The  Turks  promised 
and  procrastinated,  Turkish  troops  went  over  to  the  Albanians, 
Turkish  commanders  allowed  provisions  and  military  stores  to 
fall  into  their  hands,  and  an  Albanian.  Abeddin  Pasha,  was  ap- 
pointed Turkish  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  Montenegro  was  not 


SERVIA  AND  ROUMANIA.  563 

strong  enough  to  assert  her  rights  by  force  of  arms,  and  of  the 
Great  Powers  Germany,  Austria,  and  France  were  averse  to  mili- 
tary intervention.  England  proposed  a  naval  demonstration,  and 
in  a  collective  note  of  August  3d  the  Porte  was  called  upon  to 
surrender  the  Kutshi-Kraina  district,  or,  as  an  alternative,  the  Dul- 
cigno  district,  within  three  weeks,  under  pain  of  a  demonstration 
by  a  fleet  of  the  Great  Powers.  The  Sultan  promised  to  cede 
Dulcigno  if  sufficient  time  were  given  him,  and  Riza  Pasha  was 
sent  to  Albania  with  2000  men.  But  the  Albanians  occupied 
Dulcigno  and  fortified  the  neighboring  heights  while  Riza  looked 
on.  Accordingly,  an  international  fleet,  consisting  of  twenty  ships, 
with  7300  men  and  136  guns,  under  the  general  command  of  the 
English  vice-admiral  Seymour,  assembled  in  the  harbor  of  Ragu- 
sa,  and  on  the  20th  of  September  the  naval  demonstration  before 
Ragusa  began.  England  and  Russia  were  willing  to  convert  this 
theoretical  demonstration  into  a  practical  reality,  but  Germany, 
France,  and  Austria  would  not  consent.  The  moral  influence  of 
the  fleet  was  not  sufficient  to  enable  the  Montenegrins  to  wrest 
Dulcigno  from  the  superior  forces  of  the  Albanians  and  Riza  Pa- 
sha, which  together  numbered  15,000  men,  and  nothing  was  ef- 
fected. Diplomatic  pressure  was  once  more  brought  to  bear  in 
Constantinople,  and  at  last  the  representations  of  Count  Hatz- 
feldt,  the  German  ambassador,  induced  the  Porte  to  yield.  Der- 
vish Pasha  was  sent  to  Scutari,  with  orders  to  effect  the  surrender 
of  Dulcigno  to  the  Montenegrins.  On  the  22d  of  November, 
with  eight  battalions,  he  attacked  the  Albanian  positions.  These 
were  carried  after  a  sharp  fight,  and  on  the  following  day  the 
Turks  took  possession  of  the  town.  On  the  27th  of  the  same 
month  it  was  handed  over  to  the  Montenegrins,  and  the  tedious 
dispute  was  at  an  end. 

Servia  was  more  fortunate  than  Greece  or  Montenegro,  inas- 
much as  her  share  of  the  Turkish  territory  was  already  in  her 
possession,  and  could,  therefore,  give  rise  to  no  diplomatic  diffi- 
culties. Neither  did  the  religious  equality  upon  which  the  rec- 
ognition of  Servian  independence  had  been  conditioned  by  the 
Great  Powers  occasion  any  difficulty,  and  on  the  26th  of  January, 
1879,  the  Skuptshina,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  abolished  the  consti- 
tutional provision  limiting  the  political  rights  of  Jews  resident 
in  Servia.  In  Roumania,  however,  the  Jewish  question  was  far 
more  difficult  of  settlement.  The  circumstance  that  a  large  part 


564  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

of  the  landed  property  of  the  Roumanian  nobles  was  mortgaged 
to  Jews  rendered  a  complete  and  immediate  emancipation  of  that 
people  dangerous  from  an  economic  point  of  view.  Austria  and 
Russia  recognized  Roumanian  independence  without  awaiting  the 
fulfilment  of  the  condition,  but  the  other  four  Great  Powers  in- 
sisted upon  its  fulfilment  as  a  prerequisite  to  their  recognition. 
Finally,  in  October  of  1879,  the  difficulty  was  settled  by  the  pas- 
sage of  a  law  providing  that  every  foreigner,  without  distinction 
of  religion,  might  obtain  the  privilege  of  citizenship  by  application 
to  the  government,  followed  by  ten  years'  residence  in  the  country, 
during  which  time  the  applicant  must  prove  himself  a  useful  citi- 
zen, and  that  only  Roumanian  citizens  could  acquire  landed  prop- 
erty in  the  principality.  This  solution  proved  satisfactory,  and 
the  four  remaining  Great  Powers  at  once  recognized  Roumanian 
independence.  In  1881,  with  the  consent  of  all  the  powers,  Rou- 
mania  became  a  kingdom,  and  King  Charles  I.  was  added  to  the 
list  of  European  constitutional  monarchs. 

It  remains  to  say  a  word  concerning  Turkey's  most  important 
vassal  state,  Egypt,  which  had  sent  6000  men  to  assist  the  Porte 
in  its  war  with  Russia.  The  sale  of  Suez  Canal  shares  to  Eng- 
land in  the  year  1875  was  necessitated  by  the  Khedive's  lack  of 
money.  His  already  formidable  financial  difficulties  were  in- 
creased in  that  year  by  a  war  with  Abyssinia.  This  war,  which 
continued  through  the  whole  of  the  following  year,  resulted  in 
disaster  to  the  Egyptian  forces,  and  led  to  a  successful  insurrec- 
tion against  the  Khedive's  authority  in  Darfour,  in  the  year 
1877.  At  the  time  of  the  purchase  of  the  canal  shares  Ismail 
Pasha  also  requested  from  England  a  competent  financier  to  ex- 
ploit his  budget  and  act  as  general  financial  counsellor ;  and  Mr. 
Cave,  with  a  staff  of  experts,  was  accordingly  sent  to  Egypt  in 
December  of  1875.  Cave's  mission,  and  the  purchase  of  the  ca- 
nal shares,  excited  the  jealousy  of  France,  and  England  saw  her- 
self compelled  to  share  with  that  country  the  guardianship  of  the 
Khedive's  finances.  The  state  of  those  finances  grew  worse  and 
worse,  for  Ismail  Pasha  understood  the  art  of  borrowing  and  wast- 
ing money  as  well  as  his  suzerain,  the  Sultan  Abdul  Aziz.  At 
length  a  French  and  English  commission,  which  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  find  some  remedy  against  the  impending  bankruptcy, 
recommended,  among  other  things,  the  surrender  to  the  state  of 
the  Khedive's  vast  private  property.  This  recommendation  was 


EGYPT  FALLS  UNDER  ENGLISH  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE.  565 

accepted  by  him  on  the  22d  of  August,  1878,  and  his  own  pri- 
vate domain  and  those  of  the  various  princes  were  made  over  to 
the  state.  On  the  23d  of  August  Nubar  Pasha,  the  most  efficient 
and  upright  of  the  Egyptian  statesmen,  was  intrusted  with  the 
formation  of  a  new  cabinet,  in  which  Wilson,  an  Englishman,  ad- 
ministered the  finances,  while  de  Blignieres,  a  Frenchman,  had 
charge  of  the  department  of  public  works.  Great  hopes  were 
built  upon  this  new  departure,  and  another  Egyptian  loan  was 
put  upon  the  market.  But  the  Khedive  could  not  long  endure 
the  limitation  of  his  powers  involved  in  the  existence  of  a  respon- 
sible ministry,  and  the  close  scrutiny  of  his  pecuniary  eccentrici- 
ties by  foreign  financiers,  and  accordingly  Nnbar  Pasha  was  over- 
thrown by  a  military  insurrection  on  the  18th  of  February,  1879. 
The  Khedive's  attempt  to  rid  himself  of  the  two  foreign  ministers 
met  with  resistance  on  their  part,  both  Wilson  and  de  Blignieres 
refusing  to  surrender  their  positions  without  the  express  permis- 
sion of  their  governments.  At  last,  on  the  19th  of  June,  the  two 
western  powers  informed  the  Khedive  that  he  must  either  abdi- 
cate peacefully  or  be  deposed  by  force.  (The  real  agent  in  the 
matter  of  the  deposition  was,  singularly  enough,  the  German  em- 
pire.) English  influence  was  also  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Sul- 
tan, and  on  the  26th  Ismail  received  orders  from  Constantinople 
to  abdicate  in  favor  of  his  son,  Tevfik.  In  return  for  this  action 
on  the  Sultan's  part  Egyptian  dependence  on  Turkey  was  ren- 
dered somewhat  closer,  and  it  was  provided  that  customs  or  com- 
mercial treaties,  as  well  as  all  treaties  regulating  the  position  of 
strangers  toward  the  government,  or  toward  the  country  in  gener- 
al, must  first  be  submitted  to  the  Sultan  for  his  approval ;  that  no 
new  loans  should  be  contracted  without  the  sanction  of  the  Porte 
and  the  express  consent  of  the  Egyptian  bondholders ;  and  that 
the  peace  strength  of  the  Egyptian  army  should  not  exceed  18,000 
men.  To  avoid  offence  to  Mussulman  susceptibilities,  a  native 
ministry  was  formed ;  but  the  practical  management  of  the  finances 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  English  and  French  commissioners. 
These  commissioners  pronounced  Egypt  bankrupt,  and  an  inter- 
national committee  of  liquidation  was  formed,  in  which  all  the 
European  Great  Powers  were  represented.  The  liquidation  law 
drawn  up  by  this  committee  was  signed  by  Tevfik  on  the  18th 
of  July,  1880,  and  Egypt  went  into  formal  bankruptcy,  England 
and  France  acting  as  receivers. 


566  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

By  the  arrangement  of  1879  the  government  consisted  of  the 
Khedive,  a  council  of  ministers,  and  two  controllers,  Mr.  Colvin 
and  M.  de  Blignieres,  appointed  by  England  and  France  respec- 
tively ;  but  the  whole  power  lay  in  the  hands  of  the  latter,  or, 
rather,  in  the  hands  of  the  governments  they  represented.  Under 
this  system  Egypt  was  regarded  as  a  financial  undertaking,  and 
governed  accordingly.  From  this  point  of  view  the  control  has 
been  a  complete  success,  and  Egyptian  finances  have  already  been 
placed  on  a  tolerably  secure  foundation ;  but  from  another  point 
of  view  the  success  of  the  new  system  has  not  been  so  complete. 
Ismail  Pasha  left  behind  him  an  army  of  almost  100,000  men. 
The  controllers  reduced  that  number  to  about  9000.  This  threw 
out  of  employment  a  large  number  of  officers  and  men,  and  thus 
created  a  considerable  body  of  malcontents.  The  Mohammedan 
revival  also,  which  is  at  present  affecting  so  large  a  part  of  Islam, 
was  not  without  its  effect  in  Egypt.  A  strong  feeling  of  fanati- 
cal hatred  was  developed  against  the  giaours  and  their  rule.  On 
the  9th  of  September,  1881,  the  whole  army,  under  the  command 
of  Achmet  Bey  el  Araby,  a  Mohammedan  zealot,  colonel  of  an 
Egyptian  regiment,  surrounded  the  Khedive's  palace  in  Cairo, 
and  extorted  from  him  the  dismissal  of  the  Riaz  ministry,  and 
the  appointment  of  Sherif  Pasha  and  a  cabinet  independent  of 
foreign  control.  For  the  present  the  political  dictatorship  re- 
mains in  the  hands  of  Araby  Bey ;  but  so  long  as  the  financial 
control  is  not  attacked,  and  the  rights  of  foreigners  are  respect- 
ed, England  refuses  to  interfere,  and  France  must  pursue  the 
same  policy.  Of  the  two  parties  opposed  to  foreign  influence, 
the  autonomous  and  the  pan-Islamitic  (the  latter  seeks  to  form 
a  close  union  of  all  Mohammedans,  under  the  spiritual  dominion 
of  the  Sultan — a  revival  of  the  Caliphate),  the  former  is  the  one 
at  present  in  power.* 

*  In  Roumania,  with  a  population  of  about  5,3*16,000  •  the  Jews  num- 
ber 400,000,  and  the  Gypsies  200,000.  These  Jews  are  the  so-called  Ash- 
kenasim,  or  Polish  Jews,  who  have  come  in  from  Russia  in  the  last  few 
decades ;  while  the  75,000  Jews  in  the  Balkan  peninsula  are  Sephardim,  or 
Spanish  Jews.  In  Bulgaria  the  Jews  number  about  9000,  the  Greeks  50,000, 
the  Bulgarians  1,100,000,  and  the  Turks  perhaps  400,000.  In  East  Roumelia 
the  Jews  number  about  4000,  the  Greeks  43.000,  the  Bulgarians  570,000,  the 
Turks  180,000,  and  the  Gypsies  20,000.  In  the  immediate  Turkish  posses- 
sions the  Jews  number  about  55,000,  the  Greeks  1,200,000,  the  Bulgarians 


UNFRIENDLY  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  GERMANY.  567 


§  31. 

RUSSIA. 

THE  treaty  of  Berlin  left  Russia  dissatisfied,  and  put  an  end  to 
the  cordial  relations  hitherto  existing  between  that  empire  and 
Germany.  Gortchakoff  had  been  outwitted.  He  had  protected 
the  German  rear  in  1870  as  effectively  as  if  he  had  actively  taken 
part  in  the  war,  thus  enabling  Bismarck  to  annex  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine, and  exact  whatever  indemnity  he  saw  fit ;  and  now,  when 
Russia's  turn  had  come,  Germany,  instead  of  supporting  the  Rus- 
sian claims,  allowed  other  states  to  impose  unfriendly  conditions, 
and  herself  sought  to  push  Austria  into  Russia's  would-be  place, 
as  heir-apparent  to  the  "  Sick  Man."  Alexander's  ardent  admira- 
tion and  affection  for  his  uncle,  the  Emperor  William,  seemed  at 
one  time  the  only  obstacle  to  war  between  the  two  empires.  In 
1879  and  the  first  months  of  1880  the  Russian  Press  teemed  with 
attacks  on  Germany  and  Austria,  both  political  and  personal  (for 
example,  great  indignation  was  excited  in  Berlin  by  the  insistence 
of  a  St.  Petersburg  paper  on  the  striking  resemblance  of  the  Ger- 
man women  to  the  bovine  species,  both  in  their  inner  nature  and 
their  outward  appearance),  and  the  German  Press  remained  no 
whit  behind.  The  increase  of  the  tariff  in  Russia  to  ten  per  cent, 
on  goods  of  all  sorts  was  regarded  as  a  direct  blow  at  German 
industries,  Germany  being  the  country  specially  affected  ;  and  a 
similar  interpretation  was  put  upon  the  persistent  policy  of  Rus- 
sianization  pursued  in  the  semi-German  Baltic  provinces.  The 
people  of  both  empires  showed  a  tendency  to  magnify  the  most 
indifferent  actions  into  deliberate  insult  and  intentional  injury ; 
but  there  was,  nevertheless,  in  the  actions  of  the  Russian  govern- 
ment sufficient  foundation  for  German  accusations  of  ill-will.  Two 

1,000,000,  the  Turks  1,200,000,  the  Gypsies  50,000,  the  Albanians  (principally 
Mohammedan)  1,000,000,  and  the  Roumanians  100,000.  In  the  immediate 
Turkish  possessions  in  Europe  the  Christians  of  all  confessions  outnumber 
the  Mohammedans  by  about  600,000,  and  in  Bulgaria  and  East  Roumelia  the 
relative  discrepancy  is  still  greater. — Estimates  from  Andrews  Atlas,  1881. 


568  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

hundred  thousand  Russian  soldiers  were  massed  on  the  German 
frontiers  in  Poland  and  Lithuania,  leaving  the  interior  almost 
stripped  of  troops  at  a  time  of  great  disturbance  and  discontent. 

Russia  had  just  emerged  victorious,  but  bankrupt,  from  a  war 
with  Turkey,  in  which,  according  to  the  official  report,  the  Rus- 
sian loss  had  been  321,000  men.  That  war  had  revealed  cer- 
tain deficiencies  in  the  military  system,  rendering  a  reorganization 
of  the  army  advisable ;  and  this  reorganization,  which  was  to  give 
Russia  an  armed  force  of  about  2,000,000  men,  was  scarcely  yet 
completed.  Bankrupt,  disaffected,  and  disorganized,  she  was  in 
reality  in  no  fit  plight  to  undertake  a  war  with  Germany.  Aware 
of  this,  Gortchak off  sought  the  alliance  of  France  and  Italy;  in 
order  to  neutralize  whicli  Bismarck,  in  the  summer  of  1879,  con- 
tracted an  alliance  with  Austria.  A  Russian  alliance  with  France 
was  rendered  a  final  impossibility  by  the  refusal  of  the  latter 
state,  in  March  of  1880,  to  extradite  Hartmann,  accused  of  an  at- 
tempt on  the  life  of  the  Czar.  The  somewhat  questionable  and 
uncourteous  conduct  of  de  Freycinet's  ministry,  in  spiriting 
Hartmann  across  the  Channel  before  Orloff,  the  Russian  ambassa- 
dor, had  had  an  opportunity  to  present  all  his  proofs  of  the  pris- 
oner's identity — it  should  be  added,  however,  that  no  extradition 
treaty  existed  between  the  two  countries — and  the  rather  free 
utterances  of  the  Paris  Press,  so  incensed  the  Russian  emperor 
that  Orloff  was  directed  to  leave  Paris  for  a  time,  and  all  idea  of 
a  treaty  seems  to  have  been  abandoned.  The  attempt  on  Alex- 
ander's life  in  the  Winter  Palace,  at  St.  Petersburg,  February 
1 7th,  1880,  and  the  subsequent  "reign  of  terror"  for  the  poor 
Czar  —  calling  forth,  as  they  did,  the  warmest  sympathy  from 
"  Kaiser  Wilhelm  " — were  also  efficient  factors  in  the  preservation 
of  peace,  by  strengthening  the  strong  bond  of  personal  friend- 
ship between  the  two  sovereigns.  Men  came  at  last  to  feel  that, 
though  the  Czarevitch  or  the  Crown  Prince  might  go  to  war,  so 
long  as  the  two  emperors  lived  war  between  Russia  and  Germany 
was  an  impossibility. 

The  last  few  years  of  Alexander's  life  were  filled  with  a  pa- 
thetic and  fruitless  struggle  against  a  hidden  foe.  His  clemency 
reaped  the  cruel  harvest  of  Nicholas's  despotism.  The  really 
great  reforms  achieved  by  Alexander  II.,  following  after  the  sav- 
age tyranny  of  his  father,  served  for  the  moment  to  corrupt  rath- 
er than  improve  the  nation.  When  the  wall  that  Nicholas  had 


DEMANDS  OF  THE  NIHILISTS.  569 

erected  between  his  empire  and  the  rest  of  Europe  was  removed, 
advanced  ideas  rushed  in  like  a  flood ;  but,  as  the  nation  had  not 
been  educated  to  receive  them,  their  effect  was  rather  to  destroy 
all  that  existed — moral,  social,  and  political — than  to  promote 
civilization  and  good  government.  The  past  had  become  impos- 
sible; the  future  was  not  yet  ripe.  The  government — a  compli- 
cated bureaucracy,  as  well  as  an  absolute  autocracy — was  corrupt 
to  the  core ;  and,  however  well-disposed  an  autocrat  may  be,  cor- 
ruption and  bureaucracy  do  not  readily  lend  themselves  to  any 
reform,  much  less  to  the  sweeping  revolution  which  a  comparison 
of  Russian  conditions  with  the  conditions  of  Western  Europe 
induced  many  to  regard  as  an  absolute  and  immediate  necessity. 
In  the  year  1874  a  "social  revolutionary"  party  was  formed; 
and  from  this,  again,  toward  the  end  of  1876,  the  "People's  par- 
ty," which  aimed  at  the  overthrow  of  the  existing  political  regime 
and  the  formation  of  a  new  administration  on  a  socialistic  basis. 
Out  of  the  "People's  party,"  about  the  middle  of  the  year  1878, 
was  developed  a  new  organization — the  "  Terrorists."  These  ex- 
treme Nihilists  believed  in  the  use  of  the  most  desperate  and 
bloody  means  for  the  attainment  of  their  ends,  and,  beginning 
with  the  murder  of  obnoxious  officials,  rapidly  progressed  to  that 
of  the  emperor  himself.  The  present  strict,  thorough,  and  secret 
organization  of  Nihilism — with  a  directory  and  an  executive  com- 
mittee, without  whose  knowledge  and  consent  nothing  can  be 
undertaken  —  was  not  perfected  until  the  middle  of  the  year 
1879. 

Eighty  per  cent,  of  the  Nihilists  belonged  to  the  educated 
classes,  sixty  per  cent,  of  these  being  students  of  medicine,  tech- 
nology, and  agriculture ;  while  twenty  per  cent,  were  peasants, 
Jews,  smugglers,  and  people  of  inferior  education.  Their  adhe- 
rents, in  the  army  and  among  the  official  class,  were  numerous. 
They  were  in  possession  of  a  large  Press,  and  found  means  to 
disseminate  their  publications  far  and  wide  among  all  classes  of 
the  population.  Immediately  after  the  war  with  Turkey,  in  1878, 
they  began  to  demand  a  constitution,  and,  in  the  name  of  the 
people,  declared  war  upon  the  whole  existing  governmental  sys- 
tem. Turkey  had  a  constitution  and  a  parliament,  and  the  blood 
of  300,000  Russians  had  been  shed  to  obtain  similar  institu- 
tions for  Bulgaria.  Was  Russia  alone  unworthy  of  such  free- 
dom? Their  demands,  printed  in  secret,  and  published  broadcast 


570  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

through  the  land,  could  not  fail  to  win  adherents  by  opening 
people's  eyes  to  the  terrible  abuses  under  which  they  lived ;  and 
the  half  culture  of  the  so-called  educated  classes,  the  venality  of 
officials,  the  uncertainty  of  judicial  proceedings,  each  and  all 
helped  to  increase  the  evil.  The  demands  of  the  Nihilists  were 
a  constitutional  government,  abolition  of  the  infamous  third  di- 
vision (secret  police),  more  humane  treatment  of  political  prison- 
ers, reforms  in  the  judicial  system,  and  a  prohibition  of  the  in- 
quisitorial proceedings  by  which  confessions  were  extorted  from 
political  prisoners  by  starvation,  thirst,  and  the  knout.  The 
third  division,  in  particular,  with  its  irresponsible  processes  and 
its  infamous  system  of  inquisition,  was  a  source  of  constant  irri- 
tation and  a  perpetual  incitement  to  revolt.  It  had  been  estab- 
lished by  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  in  the  year  1826,  to  detect  cor- 
ruption and  repress  revolution.  It  was  independent  of  the  law, 
and  from  its  proceedings  lay  no  appeal.  The  chief  of  this  de- 
partment was  responsible  to  the  emperor  alone.  Although  the 
secret  police  could  inflict  no  criminal  punishment,  their  discre- 
tionary power  was  enormous,  for  they  could  place  under  police 
inspection,  banish  into  distant  cities,  or  imprison  for  life  whom 
they  would,  without  being  obliged  to  give  account  of  their  pro- 
ceedings to  any  one  whatever.  And  the  more  pronounced  the 
Nihilistic  agitation  became,  the  more  despotic  and  unjustifiable 
were  the  proceedings  of  the  government  and  its  secret  agents ; 
so  that,  in  the  years  1879  and  1880,  60,000  persons  were  sent  to 
Siberia  by  "  administrative  order,"  without  any  trial,  merely  on 
suspicion  of  holding  revolutionary  opinions. 

The  desperate  character  of  Nihilism,  infecting  the  very  women 
and  nerving  their  arms  to  the  commission  of  the  most  atrocious 
deeds,  began  to  reveal  itself  in  1878.  In  that  year  General  Me- 
seuzoff,  chief  of  the  third  division,  was  murdered  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, and  unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to  assassinate  officials 
in  Odessa.  The  resulting  investigations,  and  the  acquittal  by  a 
jury  of  Vera  Zassulitch,  who  had  attempted  to  take  the  life  of 
Trepoff,  the  mayor,  if  he  may  be  so  called,  of  St.  Petersburg,  first 
revealed  to  the  government  the  extent  of  the  evil,  and  the  wide- 
spread sympathy  of  the  population.  Resort  was  had  to  the  se- 
verest measures  of  repression;  trial  of  political  offenders  by  jury 
was  abolished,  and  military  law  established  in  its  place.  The 
Slavic  committee  in  Moscow,  so  useful  during  the  war,  was  sup- 


FIRST   ATTEMPT   ON   THE   EMPEROR.  571 

pressed,  on  account  of  the  democratic  elements  which  were  inin- 
gk-d  in  its  pan-Slavic  agitation.  Several  ministers,  among  them 
the  minister  of  justice  and  the  minister  of  the  interior,  were  re- 
moved ;  and  Adjutant-general  Drentelen  was  appointed  chief  of 
the  third  division.  Efforts  were  also  made  to  distract  popular  at- 
tention from  internal  evils  by  military  activity ;  but  all  in  vain — 
the  agitation  only  assumed  a  more  definite  form.  A  Nihilistic  ex- 
ecutive committee  pronounced  formal  sentence  of  death  on  ob- 
noxious officials,  and  its  sentences  were  inevitably  executed.  The 
daring  and  activity  of  the  conspirators  were  appalling.  Their 
agents  were  ubiquitous,  and  woe  betide  the  Nihilist  who  confess- 
ed, for  he  was  certain  to  be  found  murdered,  with  a  paper  affixed 
to  his  person,  narrating  the  cause  of  his  death.  On  February  21st, 
1879,  Prince  Krapotkin,  governor  of  Charkoff,  was  assassinated, 
and  in  all  the  larger  cities  a  proclamation  was  posted,  signed  by 
the  executive  committee  at  St.  Petersburg,  ascribing  his  death  to 
the  tyrannous  and  brutal  crimes  of  which  lie  had  been  guilty. 

On  the  25th  of  March  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to 
assassinate  Drentelen  in  St.  Petersburg.  Secret  printing-presses 
were  discovered,  and  Nihilistic  conspirators  were  condemned  to 
death  or  deportation  ;  but  Nihilism  was  only  spurred  on  to  the 
commission  of  more  desperate  deeds.  On  the  31st  of  March  a 
proclamation  appeared,  addressed  to  "  Mr.  Alexander  Nikolaie- 
vitch,"  in  which  it  was  announced  that  for  the  time  being  the 
emperor's  life  was  safe ;  but  that  his  officials,  "  the  hell  brood  of 
bloody  despotism,"  must  be  exterminated  by  fire  and  sword.  On 
the  14th  of  April  an  attempt  was  made  to  shoot  the  emperor, 
while  walking  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Winter  Palace.  It  was 
evident  that  the  Nihilistic  executive  committee  had  hundreds  of 
resolute  men  and  abundant  means  at  its  disposal ;  and  it  was  also 
evident  that  the  government,  by  introducing  none  of  the  required 
reforms,  was  driving  into  active  or  passive  participation  in  the 
crimes  of  the  Nihilists  many  who,  under  other  circumstances, 
might  have  proved  good  citizens.  Men  who  disapproved  of  the 
atrocious  deeds  of  the  conspirators,  yet  found  themselves  in  par- 
tial sympathy  with  their  aims,  were  at  last  driven  into  active  par- 
ticipation in  the  crimes  they  abhorred  by  the  tyranny  of  the  se- 
cret agents  of  the  government.  It  seemed  to  them  as  well  to  be 
Nihilists  as  to  be  punished  for  being  so. 

But  the  emperor  and  his  advisers  were  afraid  to  make  any  con- 


572  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

cessions,  lest  they  might  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  conspiracy, 
and  cherish  a  revolution  which  would  sweep  all  before  it.  Se- 
vere measures  seemed  to  them  the  only  hope  of  safety ;  and  ac- 
cordingly, by  a  ukase  of  April  17th,  Gourko,  Loris  Melikoff,  and 
Totleben  were  appointed  provisional  governor-generals,  with  dic- 
tatorial powers,  in  the  governments  of  St.  Petersburg,  Charkoff, 
and  Odessa,  respectively ;  and  the  already  existing  governor-gen- 
erals of  Moscow,  Kieff,  and  Wai-saw  were  clothed  with  similar  au- 
thority. This  measure  produced  a  momentary  lull;  but  the  after- 
consequences  were  all  the  more  disastrous.  Incendiary  fires,  the 
work  of  the  Nihilists,  broke  out  in  Irbil,  Perm,  Uralsk,  Oren- 
burg, Moscow,  and  Nishni-Novgorod,  doing  great  damage,  and 
causing  everywhere  a  wide  -  spread  feeling  of  uneasiness  and  a 
vivid  sense  of  the  reality  and  determination  of  Nihilism.  The 
object  of  this  move  on  the  part  of  the  Nihilists  seems  to  have 
been  to  spread  distress,  and  consequent  dissatisfaction,  among 
the  people  at  large,  the  natural  consequence  of  which  would  be 
to  weaken  the  government  and  increase  the  number  of  the  disaf- 
fected from  whom  to  draw  recruits  for  their  ranks. 

On  the  1st  of  December  another  attempt  was  made  to  murder 
the  emperor,  by  blowing  up  the  train  on  which  he  was  to  enter 
Moscow.  Usually  the  emperor's  baggage-train  preceded  that  in 
which  he  himself  travelled ;  but  on  this  occasion  the  order  had 
been  reversed,  and  to  this  happy  accident  alone  the  emperor 
owed  the  preservation  of  his  life.  On  the  17th  of  February, 
1880,  an  attempt  was  made  to  blow  up  the  whole  imperial  fami- 
ly, while  at  dinner  in  the  Winter  Palace,  at  St.  Petersburg,  and 
again  an  accident  saved  his  life.  Dinner  was  half  an  hour  late, 
on  account  of  Prince  Alexander  of  Hesse,  who  had  just  arrived 
in  St.  Petersburg.  Detailed  information  of  this  plot  had  been  in 
the  hands  of  General  Gourko,  General  Drentelen,  and  those  in 
charge  of  the  palace,  since  November  of  1879,  and  yet  nothing 
whatever  had  been  done  to  prevent  its  execution.  The  incompe- 
tence and  corruption  revealed  by  the  investigation  were  amazing. 
The  emperor's  spirit  seemed  broken,  and  he  even  talked  of  re- 
signing his  uneasy  position  to  his  son  and  leaving  the  country, 
but  was  finally  induced  to  abandon  this  design,  remain  in  Russia, 
and  place  the  charge  of  the  whole  administration  in  the  hands  of 
one  trusty  and  efficient  servant.  An  imperial  ukase  of  February 
24th  abolished  the  post  of  governor-general  of  St.  Petersburg, 


MELIKOFF  DICTATOR.  573 

and  decreed  that,  for  the  preservation  of  order  in  the  capital,  an 
executive  commission  should  be  established,  consisting  of  Loris 
Melikoff,  as  chief,  assisted  by  members  of  his  own  appointment. 
Melikoff  was  invested  with  the  prerogatives  of  a  military  com- 
mander in  St.  Petersburg  and  the  surrounding  district ;  political 
prosecutions  throughout  the  whole  empire  were  placed  under  his 
direct  control,  and  all  officials  were  subordinated  to  him,  and  di- 
rected to  render  him  all  the  assistance  in  their  power.  Scarcely 
had  he  been  clothed  with  office  when  an  attempt  was  made  on 
his  life  (March  3d)  by  a  baptized  Jew  named  Mloditzki.  The 
attempt  failed,  and  the  would-be  murderer  was  strangled ;  but 
the  spirit  of  Nihilism  was  well  illustrated  in  his  words :  "  If  it  is 
not  I,  it  will  be  another ;  and  if  it  is  not  the  other,  it  will  be  a 
third.  Count  Melikoff  will  be  murdered  by  us."  Almost  simul- 
taneously with  this  attempt  appeared  another  Nihilistic  proclama- 
tion, affirming  the  government  to  be  the  greatest  hinderance  to 
the  free  development  of  the  national  life,  and  announcing  that 
the  Nihilists  would  not  abandon  the  fight  until  Alexander  II. 
surrendered  his  power  into  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  the 
foundation  of  a  social  reform  was  laid  by  a  constituant  national 
assembly. 

Much  was  expected  of  Melikoff,  and  the  greatest  confidence 
was  felt  in  both  his  ability  and  integrity.  He  at  once  denied 
any  intention  of  granting  a  constitution ;  but,  recognizing  the 
fact  that  the  wide-spread  disaffection  could  not  be  repressed  by 
force  alone,  proposed  to  introduce  reforms  of  an  administrative 
nature.  The  Press  laws  were  revised ;  an  inspection  of  the  pris- 
ons was  undertaken,  in  consequence  of  which  thirty  per  cent,  of 
the  "  rebels  "  confined  in  them  were  released,  and  the  trials  of  the 
remainder  considerably  expedited;  and  some  2000  young  men 
who  had  been  expelled  from  government  institutions  were  re-ad- 
mitted. Important  changes  were  also  made  in  the  organization 
and  personnel  of  the  various  departments  of  the  government, 
with  the  result  of  largely  increasing  Melikoff's  sphere  of  activity. 
Tolstoi,  the  unpopular  minister  of  public  instruction,  who  seemed 
to  regard  the  whole  educational  system  as  a  police  machine,  sub- 
jecting both  teachers  and  students  to  wanton  tyranny,  was  dis- 
missed, and  his  place  filled  by  Saburoff,  the  curator  of  the  Dorpat 
university.  Drentelen,  chief  of  the  third  division,  was  removed ; 
but  the  obnoxious  institution  itself  was  still  retained,  only  under 


574  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

another  name,  "  department  of  imperial  police,"  which  was  united 
with  the  ordinary  police,  and  placed  directly  under  Melikoff's 
control  as  minister  of  the  interior.  A  lull  ensued  in  the  activity 
of  the  Nihilists,  and  a  general  hope  was  entertained  that  the  con- 
ciliatory measures  of  the  new  dictator  might  defeat  the  desperate 
schemes  of  the  conspirators ;  but  this  hope  was  doomed  to  dis- 
appointment. The  effect  of  MelikofFs  measures  was  scarcely 
perceptible  outside  of  St.  Petersburg.  The  complicated  bureau- 
cratic system  of  administration  in  the  Russian  empire  practically 
left  unlimited  power  in  each  province  in  the  hands  of  the  govern- 
or of  that  province,  and  this  power  seems  in  many,  if  not  most, 
cases  to  have  been  exercised  in  an  arbitrary  and  unjustifiable  way, 
so  that  thousands  of  innocent  persons  were  still  sent  to  Siberia 
on  mere  "  administrative  order,"  thus  supplying  the  Nihilists  with 
plentiful  cause  of  complaint.  The  directory  and  executive  com- 
mittee had  before  this  time  been  forced  to  leave  the  country  and 
establish  themselves,  no  one  knows  where — perhaps  in  Austria ; 
but  the  activity  of  their  agents  had  suffered  no  check. 

On  the  13th  of  March,  1881,  as  the  emperor,  attended  by  an 
armed  escort,  was  driving  through  the  streets  of  the  capital,  his 
carriage  was  wrecked  by  the  explosion  of  a  glass  bomb  filled  with 
dynamite ;  and  as  the  monarch  alighted  from  the  shattered  vehicle 
another  bomb,  exploding  at  his  feet,  completed  the  work  of  assas- 
sination. On  the  14th  his  eldest  son  was  proclaimed  emperor,  un- 
der the  title  of  Alexander  III.  The  Nihilists  forthwith  addressed 
a  proclamation  to  the  new  emperor  in  justification  of  their  deed, 
denying  that  there  was  any  real  government  in  Russia,  or  any- 
thing better  than  a  "camarilla,"  which  had  reduced  the  masses 
to  "  beggary  and  ruin  ;"  proposing  a  complete  amnesty,  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  election  of  a  popular  legislative  assembly  by  uni- 
versal suffrage ;  and  offering  to  conform  unconditionally  to  the 
decision  of  such  an  assembly,  and  refrain  "  from  violent  proceed- 
ings against  the  government"  which  it  might  sanction.  The 
emperor  was,  furthermore,  threatened  with  assassination  in  case 
the  Nihilists  concerned  in  the  murder  of  Alexander  II.  were  put 
to  death.  For  a  time  he  seems  to  have  wavered  between  a  com- 
paratively liberal  and  an  ultra-repressive  policy ;  but  the  advocates 
of  severity  prevailed.  Melikoff  was  superseded  by  Ignatieff,  and 
at  once  left,  or  was  banished  from,  the  country.  Recourse  was 
had  to  the  policy  so  long  pursued  by  Nicholas,  and  the  endeavor 


RUSSIA  IN  CENTRAL  ASIA.  5  75 

of  the  present  administration  is  to  bar  out  western  ideas  and  civ- 
ilization from  the  Russian  empire.  The  emperor  has  become  a 
prisoner  in  remote  palaces,  surrounded  by  an  army,  and  accessible 
to  no  one.  It  is  impossible  not  to  believe,  with  the  Nihilists, 
that  the  end  of  all  this  must  be  a  terrible  convulsion,  affecting  alj 
Russia,  and  perhaps  a  second  French  Revolution,  involving  the 
whole  of  Europe.  That  this  result  is  feared  by  Bismarck  is  evi- 
dent ;  and  the  meeting  of  the  Russian  and  German  emperors  in 
Dantzic,  in  September  of  1881,  and  the  proposed  meeting  of 
Alexander  III.  and  Francis  Joseph,  seem  to  indicate  a  renewal  of 
the  alliance  of  the  three  emperors  for  the  purpose  of  combating 
Nihilism.  Pressure  has  also  been  brought  to  bear  upon  Switzer- 
land, and  threats  have  been  resorted  to  with  a  view  to  forcing 
that  republic  to  limit  its  objectionable  hospitality  ;  in  consequence 
of  which  the  authorities  have  prohibited  a  Nihilistic  congress, 
and  forbidden  Nihilistic  demonstrations. 

The  policy  of  the  new  emperor  in  Central  Asia  seems  likely, 
under  the  influence  of  internal  danger,  to  be  less  aggressive  than 
that  of  his  predecessor.  In  1879  a  "punitory  expedition,"  con- 
sisting of  20,000  men,  with  15,000  camels,  under  General  Laza- 
reff,  was  sent  out  to  chastise  the  Tekke-Turcomans ;  but  the  real 
objective  of  the  expedition  was  Merv,  an  important  post,  from 
which  both  Medjed,  in  Persia,  and  Herat,  in  Afghanistan,  are 
readily  accessible.  Lazareff  died  on  the  march ;  and  his  succes- 
sor, Lomakin,  was  defeated  at  Dengiltepe,  on  the  9th  of  Sep- 
tember. In  the  following  year  a  new  expedition  was  sent  out 
under  General  Skobeleff,  who  succeeded  in  defeating  the  Tekke- 
Turcomans  and  taking  Geoktepe  and  Askabat ;  and  there  the 
Russians  have  halted  for  the  present.  A  quarrel  regarding  the 
district  of  Kulja  almost  involved  Russia  in  a  war  with  China,  in 
the  years  1879  and  1880.  The  Russians  had  taken  possession  of 
this  province  in  1871,  on  account  of  the  temporary  inability  of 
"the  Chinese  to  control  the  inroads  of  the  robber  tribes  residing 
there,  but  professed  themselves  ready  to  restore  it  on  repayment 
by  the  Chinese  government  of  the  costs  of  occupation,  and  a  guar- 
antee against  farther  predatory  incursions.  A  treaty  to  this  effect 
was  concluded  by  the  Chinese  ambassador,  in  St.  Petersburg,  in 
1879,  after  the  Celestial  government  had  succeeded  in  subduing 
the  revolt  in  Kashgar ;  but  this  treaty  was  rejected  by  the  home 
authorities,  and  the  unconditional  restitution  of  the  district  de- 


576  POLITICAL  HISTORY    OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

manded.  At  length,  in  1880,  a  new  treaty,  confirmed  by  both 
parties,  was  concluded,  by  which  the  province  was  restored  to 
China,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  district  in  the  north-west, 
which  was  reserved  for  those  of  the  inhabitants  who  might  prefer 
to  remain  under  Russian  rule. 

At  a  time  when  the  Jewish  question  is  exciting  so  much  atten- 
tion everywhere,  it  will  not  do  to  pass  on  to  other  countries  with- 
out recording  the  Jewish  riots  which  broke  out  in  Kieff  and  oth- 
er governments  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1881,  resulting  in 
bloodshed,  and  assuming  such  proportions  that  the  interference  of 
the  military  became  necessary.  The  Jews  residing  in  Russia  num- 
ber about  2,600,000.  They  are  confined  by  law  to  certain  lo- 
calities, and  are  especially  numerous  in  Poland  and  the  Ukraine. 
Within  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years  400,000  have  emigrated  to 
Roumania,  numbers  are  constantly  leaving  Russia  for  Germany, 
and  a  movement  is  now  on  foot  which  promises  a  large  emigra- 
tion to  the  Iberian  peninsula. 


§  32. 

GKEAT    BRITAIN    AND    IRELAND. 

THE  Russian  advance  in  Central  Asia  has  long  been  a  source  of 
uneasiness  to  a  large  part  of  the  English  nation,  from  a  belief  that 
it  must  ultimately  endanger  British  rule  in  India,  the  Conservative 
leaders  in  general  regarding  Russia  as  England's  natural  enemy. 
Disraeli  did,  indeed,  state,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  May  of 
1876,  in  answer  to  an  interpellation  from  Cochrane,  that  Russia 
had  a  great  mission  in  the  East,  and  that  Russian  conquests  in 
Asia  furthered  the  cause  of  civilization,  and  should  give  the  Eng- 
lish people  no  occasion  for  uneasiness ;  but  this  state  of  mind  was 
merely  temporary ;  and  it  is  even  doubtful  whether  it  was  a  state 
of  mind  at  all,  for,  in  defence  of  the  new  title,  Empress  of  India 
(Indice  Imperatrix),  which  was  conferred  upon  the  Queen  in  April 
of  that  year,  he  argued  that,  to  avoid  disaffection  in  the  Indian 
empire,  in  view  of  Russia's  near  approach,  it  was  necessary  for 
the  British  sovereign  to  bear  a  title  not  inferior  to  that  of  Rus- 
sia's autocrat.  This  change  of  title  was  a  sequence  to  the  expen- 


RUSSIA  AND  ENGLAND   IN  AFGHANISTAN.  577 

sive  journey  to  India  undertaken  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  the 
winter  of  1875-'76,  with  a  view  to  dazzling  the  eyes  of  Indian 
potentates  and  peoples  by  a  vision  of  England's  power  and  splen- 
dor. Both  were  parts  of  a  new  and  imposing  scheme  of  impe- 
rial policy,  which  soon  involved  England  in  expensive  and  inglo 
rious  wars  in  Africa  and  Asia,  and  came  near  embroiling  her  in 
an  affray  with  Russia  for  the  protection  of  the  Turk,  as  has  been 
already  narrated  in  a  previous  section. 

It  was  characteristic  of  this  new  policy — more  prone  to  brill- 
iant foreign  aggression  than  tame  domestic  improvement — that 
Lord  Lytton,  the  poetical  governor -general  of  India,  should  at- 
tempt to  disregard  and  conceal  a  serious  famine,  involving  great 
loss  of  life,  in  a  part  of  the  empire  under  his  control,  at  the  same 
time  that  he  was  contriving  the  annexation  of  new  territory.  In 
1877,  by  a  treaty  with  the  Prince  of  Beloochistan,  Quetta,  in  the 
Bholan  pass,  on  the  road  to  Kandahar  and  Cabul,  was  occupied  by 
a  British  garrison.  The  Ameer  of  Afghanistan,  Shere  Ali,  who 
regarded  Beloochistan  as  a  tributary  province,  and  saw  in  the  an- 
nexation of  the  tributary  a  preliminary  to  the  conquest  of  the 
suzerain,  displayed  from  this  time  forward  a  disposition  to  seek 
a  Russian  alliance.  On  the  22d  of  July,  1878,  a  Russian  ambas- 
sador, General  Stolyetoff,  appeared  in  Cabul,  with  a  suite  of  sev- 
eral officers  and  a  guard  of  Cossacks,  while  a  larger  escort  re- 
mained in  waiting  on  the  frontier ;  and,  on  the  5th  of  September, 
General  Kaufmann  received  a  return  embassy  from  the  Ameer  in 
Tashkent.  This  was  a  breach  of  the  understanding  by  which  a 
sort  of  neutral  zone  had  been  established  between  the  English 
and  Russian  possessions  in  Asia,  and  was  afterward  explained  by 
the  Czar's  government  as  part  of  their  preparations  for  war  at  a 
moment  when  war  with  England  seemed  imminent.  At  the  time 
English  inquiries  at  St.  Petersburg  were  answered  with  prevari- 
cations and  denials ;  and  when  the  fact  of  StolyetofFs  mission 
was  at  length  admitted,  it  was  explained  as  a  mere  act  of  cour- 
tesy on  General  Kaufmann's  part,  for  which  the  central  govern- 
ment was  not  responsible.  Simultaneously  with  these  intrigues 
in  Cabul  an  expedition  against  Merv  was  in  preparation,  which, 
if  it  had  been  successful,  would  have  enabled  Russia  to  seize 
Herat,  and  contend  for  the  mastery  of  Afghanistan  on  equal  terms 
with  England.  Lord  Lytton,  who  had  in  the  previous  year  vain- 
ly endeavored  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  offence  and  defence  with 

25  " 


578  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  EECENT   TIMES. 

Shere  Ali,  including  the  maintenance  of  English  agents  at  Herat, 
Kandahar,  and  Cabal,  now  sent  Sir  Neville  Chamberlain  as  am- 
bassador to  Cabul,  with  an  escort  of  about  1000  men.  The  com- 
mandant at  the  mouth  of  the  Khyber  pass  refused  to  permit  this 
force  to  enter  Afghan  territory  until  he  had  received  farther  in- 
structions from  his  master.  On  the  2d  of  November  an  ultima- 
tum was  sent  to  the  Ameer ;  and,  as  no  answer  was  received  by 
the  20th,  the  British  troops  were  ordered  to  invade  his  territories. 
The  time  granted  appears  to  have  been  insufficient.  The  answer, 
dated  November  19th  (which  an  Afghan  officer  delivered  in  Dak- 
ka  on  the  30th),  while  offering  to  receive  a  temporary  embassy, 
with  a  moderate  escort,  declined,  for  reasons  apparently  valid,  to 
receive  a  permanent  resident,  or  an  army  under  the  name  of  an 
escort ;  but  the  English  were  already  on  the  road  to  Cabul. 

On  the  13th  of  December,  leaving  his  son,  Yakoob  Khan,  be- 
hind him,  as  his  representative,  Shere  Ali,  attended  by  General 
Rosganoff — who  bad  remained  in  the  Afghan  capital  after  the 
departure  of  the  Russian  embassy,  professedly  detained  by  the 
Ameer  against  his  will — fled  to  Mazarisherif,  near  Balkh.  From 
this  place  he  sent  four  ambassadors  to  Tashkent,  to  entreat  the 
assistance  of  the  Czar;  but  Russian  relations  with  England  had 
undergone  a  change,  and  his  request  was  refused.  On  the  21st 
of  February,  1879,  Shere  Ali  died ;  and  a  few  days  later  Yakoob 
Khan  succeeded  in  driving  out  or  reducing  to  submission  the 
various  pretenders  to  the  throne,  and  establishing  himself  in 
Cabul  as  his  father's  successor.  On  the  8th  of  May  he  appeared 
in  the  British  head  -  quarters  at  Gundamak,  between  Jellalabad 
and  Cabul ;  and  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month  a  treaty  was 
concluded  by  which  the  Khyber  and  Peiwar  passes,  and  the 
Pishni  valley  remained  in  the  bands  of  the  English,  who  were 
to  hand  over  the  surplus  revenue  to  Yakoob  Khan.  Jellalabad 
and  Kandahar  were  restored,  an  annual  subsidy  of  £60,000  was 
guaranteed  to  the  Ameer,  and  an  English  resident,  with  a  suitable 
escort,  was  to  be  received  in  Cabul.  In  accordance  with  the  terms 
of  this  treaty  Sir  Louis  Cavagnari,  with  an  escort  of  about  seventy 
men,  appeared  in  the  Afghan  capital  on  the  24th  of  July,  1879, 
and  the  English  troops  began  to  evacuate  the  Ameer's  territory. 
The  events  of  1841  were  repeated  almost  in  their  details.  On 
the  3d  of  September  a  mutiny  broke  out  in  Cabul,  and  Major 
Cavaguari  was  massacred,  with  his  whole  escort.  Anarchy  pre- 


THE  WAR  IN  AFGHANISTAN.  579 

vailed  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  the  Ameer's  authority  being 
nowhere  respected.  He  himself  took  refuge  in  the  English 
camp,  abdicated  his  faint  semblance  of  power,  and  was  despatch- 
ed to  India,  under  grave  suspicion  of  participation  or  connivance 
in  the  massacre.  To  avenge  Cavagnari's  murder  General  Roberts 
entered  Cabul  on  the  13th  of  October,  and  at  once  instituted  a 
reign  of  terror,  hanging,  it  is  said,  twenty-five  or  thirty  persons 
daily.  The  Afghan  chiefs  now  managed  for  a  time  to  lay  aside 
their  private  animosities ;  and  a  force  of  30,000  men,  under  Ma- 
homed Yan  and  other  leaders,  obliged  Roberts,  who  had  but  7000 
men  at  his  disposal,  to  evacuate  Cabul  and  concentrate  his  forces 
in  the  fortified  camp  of  Sherpur,  nine  or  ten  miles  away.  On  the 
24th,  however,  he  succeeded  in  scattering  the  enemy's  forces  and 
retaking  Cabul ;  and  on  the  same  day  General  Gough  arrived 
with  a  re-enforcement  of  2000  men.  An  amnesty  was  at  once 
published,  from  which  only  the  leaders  of  the  "  insurgents  "  were 
excluded;  and  those  who  did  not  submit  seem  to  have  been 
treated  as  rebels  against  lawfully  constituted  authority.  The 
question  now  was  to  find  some  chief  who  could  maintain  himself 
upon  the  throne ;  that  is,  who  was  strong  enough  to  hold  the  nu- 
merous and  unruly  chieftains  of  the  various  tribes  in  some  sort  of 
subjection,  and  who  would  at  the  same  time  preserve  friendly 
relations  with  England.  The  most  promising  candidate  seemed 
to  be  Abdurrahman,  a  direct  descendant  of  Dost  Mahomed,  who 
had  just  returned  from  an  enforced  retirement  in  Russian  domin- 
ions, and  with  him  negotiations  were  forthwith  commenced.  The 
Liberal  government,  which  came  into  power  in  April  of  1880, 
decided  to  abandon  the  "  scientific  frontier "  and  retire  within 
the  former  boundaries ;  but  the  task  of  getting  out  of  the  coun- 
try proved  almost  as  difficult  as  that  of  getting  in  had  been.  At 
last,  on  the  22d  of  July,  Mahomed  Yan  and  a  number  of  other 
chieftains  having  acknowledged  Abdurrahman  as  their  sovereign, 
the  English  authorities  recognized  him  as  Ameer,  and  prepared 
to  evacuate  the  country,  without  embarrassing  him  and  endan- 
gering his  position  by  forcing  him  to  conclude  a  formal  treaty 
of  any  description.  Five  days  later,  at  Kushk-i-Nakhud,  Ayoub 
Khan,  of  Herat,  with  a  force  of  12,000  men,  utterly  defeated 
General  Burrow,  with  3000,  and  forced  him  to  take  refuge  in 
Kandahar,  leaving  1240  Englishmen  dead  or  wounded  on  the 
field,  besides  native  troops.  Ayoub  followed  him  up,  and  com- 


580  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

menccd  the  siege  of  Kandahar,  but  abandoned  it  again  on  the 
approach  of  General  Roberts  from  the  north.  The  latter,  hand- 
ing over  Cabul  to  Abdurrahman,  and  evacuating  the  whole  north- 
ern part  of  Afghanistan,  reached  Kandahar,  after  a  brilliant  march, 
on  the  31st  of  August,  1880.  On  the  following  day  he  attacked 
Ayoub  Khan  at  Sangiri,  utterly  scattered  his  forces,  and  sent  him 
in  wild  flight  back  to  Herat.  Little  by  little  the  remaining  posi- 
tions in  Afghanistan  were  surrendered  to  the  natives ;  and  at  last, 
abandoning  Kandahar,  the  English  troops  retraced  their  steps 
across  the  Bholan  pass,  leaving  the  Afghans  to  their  own  devices 
— that  is,  during  part  of  the  year  to  gather  their  own  or  their 
neighbors'  crops,  and  during  the  remainder  to  wage  a  semi-pred- 
atory warfare.  When  Abdurrahman's  troops  desert  to  Ayoub, 
Ayoub  is  victorious ;  and  when  Ayoub's  troops  desert  to  Abdur- 
rahman, the  tables  are  reversed ;  and  one  rules  at  Herat  and  the 
other  at  Cabul,  and  still  others  elsewhere ;  and  many  neither  rule 
nor  are  ruled.  More  than  $80,000,000 — made  a  burden  on  the 
already  embarrassed  Indian  exchequer — had  been  thrown  away, 
and  50,000  lives  of  friend  and  foe  wasted,  to  re-establish  anarchy 
in  Afghanistan,  and  revive  among  the  natives  the  bitter  hatred 
toward  England  which  time  was  gradually  wearing  out.  Russia 
could  not  have  wished  for  any  greater  success. 

British  South  African  policy  cannot  plead  the  excuse  of  the 
Russian  spectre.  The  government  aimed  at  the  creation  of  a 
South  African  confederation.  Of  the  European  states  in  South- 
ern Africa,  Cape  Colony  and  Natal  were  directly  under  British 
rule,  while  the  Orange  Free  State  and  the  Transvaal  Republic 
were  independent  colonies.  In  addition  to  these  four  European 
states,  there  were  several  more  or  less  highly  organized  native 
ones,  the  chief  of  which  was  the  Zulu  kingdom,  to  the  north  of 
Natal,  consisting  of  a  number  of  petty  tribes,  united  under  the 
headship  of  Cetewayo.  The  new  policy  aimed  at  the  formation 
of  a  confederation  under  British  control,  embracing  all  the  Euro- 
pean states,  and  the  subjugation  or  gradual  extinction  of  the  na- 
tive kingdoms.  The  Transvaal,  the  independence  of  which  had 
been  recognized  by  England  in  1852,  comprised  a  vast  stretch 
of  country,  thinly  peopled  by  about  40,000  Dutch  Boers  and 
1,000,000  negroes.  The  former,  who  had  emigrated  from  Cape 
Colony  to  escape  from  British  rule,  were  fanatical  and  intolerant 
Old  Testament  Christians.  In  addition  to  general  bad  treatment 


THE  ZULU  WAR.  581 

of  the  natives,  under  the  name  of  "  apprenticeship,"  they  seem  to 
have  practised  a  sort  of  slavery.  Finally  they  became  involved 
in  war  with  Secocoeni,  chief  of  the  Mantatis  —  who  is  said  to 
have  received  secret  assistance  from  English  sources — and  their 
very  existence  was  seriously  threatened.  Some  of  the  dissatisfied 
Boers  now  applied  for  annexation  to  England,  and  Sir  Theophilus 
Shepstone  was  despatched  to  Pretoria,  the  capital  of  the  Trans- 
vaal, to  open  negotiations  with  that  end  in  view.  "British  in- 
terests" were  also  threatened  by  a  proposed  railroad  connecting 
the  Transvaal  with  Delagoa  Bay,  a  Portuguese  possession.  In 
spite  of  the  protest  of  President  Burgers  and  the  Volksraad,  or 
popular  assembly,  Shepstone,  on  the  ground  that  these  did  not 
represent  the  true  sentiment  of  the  country,  annexed  the  republic 
to  England.  English  troops  marched  in;  and  on  the  12th  of 
April,  1877,  the  English  flag  was  hoisted  in  Pretoria.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  home  government  actually  believed  that  Bur- 
gers and  the  Volksraad  did  not  represent  the  real  wishes  of  the 
population.  That  opinion  once  adopted,  repeated  protests  and 
remonstrances  failed  to  find  a  hearing  with  either  government  or 
people.  It  may  be  that  "British  interests"  increased  the  general 
deafness;  at  least,  in  1878,  Sir  Michael  Hicks  Beach,  colonial  sec- 
retary, explained  the  grounds  of  the  annexation  to  be  the  necessi- 
ty of  opening  new  markets  for  English  goods ;  and  in  the  same 
year,  in  order  the  better  to  control  this  new  market,  Delagoa  Bay 
was  purchased  from  the  Portuguese  for  the  sum  of  £600,000, 
and  orders  were  issued  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from 
that  point  to  the  Transvaal.  Lucia  Bay,  to  the  south  of  Dela- 
goa, was  also  a  desirable  acquisition.  This  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  Zulus;  and,  in  order  to  gain  possession  of  it,  Sir  Bartle  Frere, 
who  had  been  sent  to  South  Africa  as  lord  high  commissioner, 
to  carry  out  the  confederation  policy,  deliberately  picked  a  quar- 
rel with  Cetewayo,  although  the  latter  had  always  shown  himself 
disposed  to  maintain  the  most  friendly  relations  with  his  English 
neighbors.  Lord  Chelmsford  invaded  the  Zulu  country  with  about 
10,000  men  ;  but,  in  his  contempt  for  a  savage  foe,  he  allowed 
himself  to  be  completely  outgeneralled.  One  column  was  anni- 
hilated at  Isandula,  on  the  22d  of  January,  1879;  a  second,  un- 
der Colonel  Pearson,  was  besieged  in  Ekowe ;  and  a  third,  under 
Colonel  Wood,  was  obliged  to  retreat  to  Utrecht,  in  the  Trans- 
vaal. Inspired  by  Cetewayo's  success,  the  Basutos  also  rose,  un- 


582  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECEXT   TIMES. 

der  their  chief  Morosi,  and  destroyed  an  English  provision  train 
at  Luneburg,  in  the  Transvaal,  on  the  12th  of  March.  The  dan- 
ger to  the  white  settlers  in  Natal  was  imminent.  Troops  were 
despatched  with  all  speed  from  England,  India,  and  Mauritius ; 
while  the  Irish  Press  was  jubilant  over  the  news  of  English  dis- 
aster. In  the  House  of  Lords  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  moved 
a  vote  of  censure  against  the  government  on  account  of  its  policy 
in  South  Africa.  In  his  answer  to  this  motion,  which  was  de- 
feated by  a  vote  of  156  to  61,  Lord  Beaconsfield  admitted  that 
Sir  Bartle  Frere  had  overstepped  his  powers,  but  insisted,  never- 
theless, that  he  was  the  right  man  for  the  place.  Lord  Chclms- 
ford,  also,  was  at  first  retained  in  his  position  as  commander-in- 
chief ;  but  before  long  Sir  Garnet  Wolscley  was  sent  out  as  civil 
and  military  governor  in  Natal  and  the  Transvaal,  and  lord  high 
commissioner  for  the  direction  of  English  relations  with  the  na- 
tives, thus  superseding  Lord  Chelmsford,  and  limiting  Sir  Bartle 
Frere's  sphere  of  activity  to  the  Cape  Colony.  As  soon  as  re-en- 
forcements reached  him  Chelmsford  had  again  assumed  the  of- 
fensive, and  succeeded  in  relieving  Colonel  Pearson.  Wolseley's 
arrival  redoubled  his  activity ;  and  on  the  4th  of  July,  at  Ulundi, 
he  completely  defeated  Cetewayo's  army.  The  brave  chiefs  fol- 
lowers deserted  him ;  and  on  the  28th  of  August,  after  a  sixteen 
days'  chase,  he  himself  was  captured.  Morosi  and  Secocoeni  were 
subdued  shortly  after — the  former  falling  in  battle,  and  the  latter 
being  taken  prisoner ;  and  so,  after  costing  £4,500,000 — no  part 
of  which  the  colonists  would  consent  to  pay — the  Zulu  war, 
which  had  acquired  a  sort  of  an  international  character  by  the 
death  of  Prince  Napoleon  (June  1st,  1879),  while  engaged  in  a 
reconnoissance,  was  at  an  end. 

But  this  did  not  terminate  English  troubles  in  South  Africa. 
The  Boers  still  continued  to  protest  against  annexation,  and,  at 
a  meeting  held  on  the  10th  of  December,  1879,  determined  not 
to  submit  to  English  rule.  Kriiger  was  chosen  president,  and  a 
fruitless  conference  was  held  with  Sir  Garnet  "Wolseley.  Glad- 
stone's accession  to  power  did  not  alter  the  situation,  and  a  me- 
morial presented  by  Kriiger  and  Jonbert,  asking  for  the  restora- 
tion of  their  independence,  met  with  a  refusal.  Toward  the  end 
of  the  year  1880,  taking  advantage  of  a  new  rising  of  the  Basutos 
and  other  tribes,  the  Boers  resolved  to  assert  their  independence 
by  force  of  arms.  Five  thousand  men  were  soon  collected ;  Joubert 


WAR  WITH  THE  BOERS.— IRISH  TROUBLES.  583 

was  chosen  commander-in-chicf,  and  Kriiger  president  of  the  re- 
public— and  hostilities  began.  Several  successes  were  won,  and, 
to  the  surprise  of  the  whole  English  nation,  the  Boers  proved 
themselves  excellent  fighters ;  but  it  was,  of  course,  manifest  that, 
however  brave  they  might  be,  a  mere  handful  of  farmers  could 
not  maintain  a  successful  struggle  against  the  inexhaustible  re- 
sources of  the  British  empire.  The  justice  of  their  cause  was 
universally  acknowledged,  even  in  England;  but,  inasmuch  as 
"  civilized  "  policy  forbids  all  retraction  in  dealings  with  weak  or 
semi-civilized  states,  it  was  assumed  on  every  side  that  the  war 
would  be  prosecuted  and  the  Boers  subdued.  Gladstone's  gov- 
ernment, however,  convinced  at  last  by  their  stubborn  resistance 
of  the  injustice  and  bad  policy  of  the  annexation,  granted  their 
demands,  and  restored  their  independence — so  far,  at  least,  as  the 
administration  of  their  internal  affairs  was  concerned.  By  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  England  reserved  a  nominal  suzerainty,  the 
management  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the  republic,  and  the 
right  of  interference  for  the  protection  of  the  natives ;  while  the 
Boers  conceded  the  principle  of  religious  toleration,  and  abolished 
slavery.  It  was  the  more  difficult  for  England  to  make  such 
concessions  because  Sir  George  Colley,  the  commander  of  the 
British  forces,  had  just  been  defeated  and  slain  in  a  rash  attack 
on  Majuba  Hill,  undertaken  to  redeem  his  reputation  from  the 
disgrace  of  previous  defeat  at  the  hands  of  undisciplined  irregu- 
lars. In  conclusion,  it  should  be  added  that,  notwithstanding 
England's  vast  outlay  of  men  and  money,  the  plan  of  a  South 
African  confederation  proved  an  utter  failure,  Cape  Colony  re- 
fusing its  consent  to  such  a  scheme. 

This  great  activity  in  foreign  affairs — a  reaction  against  the 
unenterprising  foreign  policy  of  the  Liberal  administration,  which 
had  been  overthrown  in  1874 — was  balanced  by  inaction  in 
domestic  matters;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  Irish  agitation, 
we  should  have  absolutely  nothing  to  record  in  the  home  field. 
The  Irish  people,  without  manufactures  and  without  commerce, 
are  wholly  dependent  upon  agriculture.  The  land  is  in  the  hands 
of  comparatively  few  holders,  and  those,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, foreigners,  of  alien  religion,  who  are  a  burden  on  the  land, 
bringing  little  money  in  and  taking  much  out.  The  prevailing 
English  sentiment  regards  the  Irish  as  incapable  of  managing 
their  own  affairs,  so  that  not  only  is  the  Irish  secretary  invariably 


584  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

an  Englishman — and  frequently  offensively  so — and  not  only  is 
Irish  legislation  framed  by  English  legislators,  without  much  ref- 
erence to  Irish  wishes  or  comprehension  of  Irish  peculiarities, 
but  the  landlords,  as  a  rule,  feel  themselves  at  liberty  to  interfere 
with  and  regulate  the  affairs  of  their  tenants  in  the  most  minute 
and  personal  details.  Moreover,  until  the  summer  of  1881,  the 
laws  left  in  the  hands  of  the  landlords  practically  absolute  power 
with  reference  to  rents  and  evictions.  A  law  limiting  this  power 
was  passed  in  1870,  as  a  result  of  the  Fenian  agitation,  but  proved 
ineffectual,  inasmuch  as  the  tenants  were  allowed  to  contract 
themselves  out  of  its  operation,  and  landlords  were  always  able 
to  find  tenants  willing  to  do  so.  Agitation  was  recommenced ; 
the  cry  of  home  rule  was  raised  once  more;  and  in  1876  a  policy 
of  more  or  less  systematic  obstruction  was  begun  by  some  of  the 
Irish  members  in  the  House  of  Commons,  under  the  lead  princi- 
pally of  Parnell.  This  obstruction  consisted  in  long  and  irrele- 
vant speeches,  with  repeated  motions  to  amend  or  adjourn,  and 
was  intended,  by  perpetually  obstructing  the  business  of  the  im- 
perial parliament,  to  induce  the  English  to  give  Ireland  a  parlia- 
ment of  its  own.  The  bad  harvests  of  1879  and  1880  increased 
the  distress.  Before  the  Conservative  ministry  went  out  of  office 
agrarian  outrages  had  already  commenced,  and  the  collection  of 
rents  was  everywhere  fast  becoming  an  impossibility.  The  elec- 
tions for  a  new  parliament,  which  began  on  the  30th  of  March, 
1880,  and  resulted  in  the  return  of  three  hundred  and  forty-two 
Liberals,  two  hundred  and  forty  Conservatives,  and  sixty-three 
Home  -  rulers,  forced  Beaconsficld  (Benjamin  Disraeli,  created 
Viscount  of  Hughendcn  and  Earl  of  Beaconsfield,  August  12t!», 
1876),  to  lay  down  his  office,  and  compelled  the  queen,  mnch 
against  her  personal  wishes,  to  intrust  Mr.  Gladstone  with  the 
formation  of  a  new  cabinet.  A  bill  was  at  once  brought  forward 
appropriating  money  for  the  relief  of  minor  tenants  evicted  for 
non-payment  of  rent.  Notwithstanding  the  combined  opposition 
of  the  Conservatives  and  Home-rulers,  this  measure  passed  the 
House  by  a  majority  of  sixty-six,  but  was  thrown  out  in  the 
House  of  Lords  by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  to 
fifty-one  (August  4th) ;  and  nothing  more  was  attempted  during 
that  session.  Among  the  chief  opponents  of  the  bill  in  the  Up- 
per House  was  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  a  great  Irish  land- 
holder, who  laid  down  the  position  of  under-secretary  of  state  for 


THE  LAND  LEAGUE  AND  THE  LAND  LAWS.     585 

India  to  oppose  what  he  regarded  as  the  socialistic  and  revolu- 
tionary character  of  the  bill. 

In  Ireland  the  excitement  was  on  the  increase.  The  Land 
League  had  been  formed,  and  had  found  numerous  adherents  ev- 
erywhere, but  especially  in  the  western  counties.  The  non-politi- 
cal demands  of  its  more  moderate  members  were  fair  rent,  fixity 
of  tenure,  and  free  sale — the  so-called  "  three  F's."  ViolenL  meas- 
ures were  resorted  to,  and  still  more  violent  language  indulged  in. 
Parnell  went  to  America,  to  solicit  assistance  from  Irish-Ameri- 
cans. No  rent  was  paid,  landlords  were  shot,  evictions  were  re- 
sisted. Parliament  reassembled  on  the  6th  of  January,  1881,  and 
Parnell's  followers  at  once  commenced  a  policy  of  the  most  fac- 
tious obstruction.  The  debate  on  the  address  occupied  the  un- 
precedented time  of  eight  days.  Then  the  ministry  brought  for- 
ward a  coercion  bill  suspending  the  habeas  corpus  act  in  Ireland, 
and  bestowing  on  the  lord -lieutenant  extraordinary  powers  for 
the  suppression  of  the  disturbances.  The  obstruction  in  parlia- 
ment became  only  the  more  obstinate ;  until  at  last  it  was  evident 
that  the  House  of  Commons,  like  other  legislative  bodies — ex- 
cepting the  Hungarian  and  Swedish  parliaments  —  must  adopt 
some  form  of  the  cloture,  or  "  previous  question."  The  crisis  was 
reached  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  February  2d  —  after  the 
House  had  been  in  uninterrupted  session  since  the  evening  of  the 
previous  Monday — by  the  arbitrary  exercise  of  the  Speaker's  pre- 
rogative, for  the  purpose  of  closing  the  debate ;  whereupon  the 
Home-rulers  left  the  House  in  a  body.  On  the  following  day  a 
rule  was  adopted  by  which,  at  the  motion  of  the  ministry,  a  meas- 
ure may  be  declared  "  urgent"  by  a  vote  of  three  to  one  in  a  house 
of  three  hundred ;  and  so  soon  as  urgency  has  been  declared  the 
Speaker  is  obliged  to  put  the  question  without  adjournment  or 
debate.  The  coercion  bill  was  passed,  as  well  as  an  arms  bill,  for- 
bidding the  possession  of  arms  in  certain  districts ;  and  finally  the 
land  bill  was  brought  forward.  This  bill,  which  in  substance 
granted  the  "  three  F's "  demanded  by  the  agitators,  drove  the 
Duke  of  Argyll  out  of  the  cabinet,  and  frightened,  if  it  did  not 
alienate,  the  whole  body  of  Whigs,  or  conservative,  land-holding 
Liberals.  It  gave  the  tenant  absolute  fixity  of  tenure  as  long  as 
he  paid  a  "  fair  rent ;"  and  in  case  of  disagreement  between  land- 
lord and  tenant,  that  is  to  be  determined  for  a  period  of  fifteen 
years  by  the  decision  of  a  court,  at  the  end  of  which  time  a  re- 

25* 


586  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

adjustment  may  be  made.  In  case  of  eviction  for  any  cause  the 
tenant  is  entitled  to  compensation  for  his  improvements — such 
compensation  to  be  paid  by  the  landlord,  or  obtained  by  free  sale 
to  the  highest  bidder;  and  no  tenant  paying  less  than  $750  a 
year  is  allowed  to  contract  himself  out  of  the  operation  of  the  act. 
In  addition  to  this  a  land  commission  was  to  be  created,  armed 
with  power  to  advance  money  to  tenants  for  the  purchase  of  their 
farms,  or  the  reclamation  of  waste  lands,  or  for  the  purpose  of  as- 
sisting would-be  emigrants.  The  bill,  although  opposed  by  the 
Parnellites,  or  extreme  members  of  the  Home-rule  party,  because 
it  did  not  abolish  landlords  altogether,  and  by  the  Conservatives 
because  it  deprived  the  landlords  of  too  many  of  their  rights, 
passed  the  House  on  the  29th  of  July  by  a  vote  of  220  to  14, 
most  of  its  opponents  refraining  from  voting.  In  the  Lords, 
where  Lord  Salisbury  had  become  the  leader  of  the  Opposition 
by  the  death  of  Lord  Beaconsfield,  on  the  19th  of  April,  it  met 
with  serious  opposition,  and  was  finally  returned  to  the  House 
(August  9th)  loaded  down  with  amendments  radically  altering  its 
character.  There  was  for  a  time  considerable  fear  entertained  of 
a  collision  between  the  two  Houses,  resulting  in  a  dissolution,  but 
this  result  was  happily  avoided.  The  Lords  withdrew  their  oppo- 
sition, and  the  land  bill,  with  its  main  features  unchanged,  re- 
ceived the  royal  sanction  and  became  law  on  the  22d  of  August. 
At  first  the  Land-leaguers  seemed  inclined  to  give  the  new  meas- 
ure a  trial,  but  their  tactics  soon  changed,  and  a  policy  of  obstruc- 
tion began.  Hitherto  a  mild  use  had  been  made  of  the  extraor- 
dinary powers  conferred  upon  the  government  by  the  coercion 
act,  but  in  October  a  change  of  policy  was  resolved  upon.  The 
government  began  to  arrest  all  persons  regarded  as  dangerous. 
Parnell  himself  was  lodged  in  Kilraainham  Jail,  in  Dublin,  on  the 
13th  of  October.  At  the  instigation  of  the  Irish- Americans,  to 
whom  the  Leaguers  were  indebted  for  so  large  a  portion  of  their 
funds,  the  chiefs  of  the  League  answered  this  action  of  the  Eng- 
lish government  by  the  publication  of  a  "  no  rent "  manifesto. 
This  led  to  the  prohibition  of  the  Land  League  as  a  seditious  or- 
ganization, and  also  forced  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  to  pro- 
nounce against  it.  The  ultimate  effect  of  the  land  law  it  is  as  yet 
impossible  to  predict,  but  the  present  condition  of  the  Irish  ques- 
tion is  eminently  unsatisfactory. 


ANDRASSY'S  FOREIGN  POLICY.  587 


§33. 

AUSTRO-HUNGARY. 

THE  annexation  to  Austro-Hungary  of  Bosnia  and  Herzego- 
vina, in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Berlin  treaty,  has 
already  been  narrated.  A  dispute  at  once  arose  as  to  which  of 
the  two  halves  of  the  dual  empire  should  receive  the  newly-ac- 
quired provinces;  and  it  was  settled  that,  like  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine, in  the  German  empire,  they  should  be  imperial  lands,  be- 
longing neither  to  Austria  nor  Hungary,  but  governed  directly 
by  the  common  imperial  government.  The  sandshak  of  Novi- 
Bazar  was  not  occupied  in  1878;  the  resistance  met  with  in  the 
other  parts  of  the  annexed  region,  and  the  necessity  of  economy, 
inducing  Andrassy  to  confine  the  occupation  as  much  as  possi- 
ble; but  in  1879,  a  convention  having  been  at  last  concluded 
with  the.  Porte,  Austrian  troops  took  possession  of  that  district 
also,  thus  building  a  wall  of  division  between  Servia  and  Monte- 
negro, and  giving  Austria  the  command  of  the  road  to  the  ^Egean 
Sea.  The  attitude  of  the  different  parts  of  the  empire,  with  re- 
gard to  the  whole  Eastern  question,  had  obliged  the  premier, 
with  the  support  of  the  Austrian  and  Hungarian  ministers,  to 
take  the  law  into  his  own  hands.  He  had  found  it  expedient  to 
act  first,  and  ask  the  wills  of  the  popular  representatives  after- 
ward. This  course  excited  much  dissatisfaction,  especially  among 
the  Constitutional  party  in  Cisleithania.  The  budget  laid  before 
the  Austrian  and  Hungarian  delegations  in  Pesth,  in  November 
of  1878,  was  severely  attacked  in  the  budget  commission  of  the 
former  by  the  Constitutional  party,  under  the  lead  of  Herbst, 
who  was  hostile  to  Andrassy  and  aimed  at  his  overthrow.  The 
latter  finally  obtained  a  vote  of  indemnity  for  the  41,000,000 
gulden  by  which  the  original  appropriation  of  60,000,000  gulden 
had  already  been  exceeded,  as  well  as  an  additional  35,000,000 
gulden  to  cover  the  expenses  of  the  occupation  for  the  year  1879, 
but  not  until  the  whole  matter  had  been  referred  to  the  Reichs- 
rath  (Austria)  and  the  Reichstag  (Hungary),  with  the  object  of 


588  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

subjecting  bis  policy  to  a  more  searching  and  public  criticism, 
and  thus  exerting  a  more  efficient  check  upon  his  actions.  It  was 
plain  that,  although  they  consented  to  accept  an  accomplished 
fact,  the  Constitutional  or  German  party  were  not  satisfied  with 
Andrassy's  policy  in  the  matter  of  the  annexation ;  and  it  is  also 
plain  that,  if  he  had  confined  himself  to  strictly  constitutional 
measures,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  could  not  have  been  annexed, 
nor  the  Berlin  treaty  concluded.  The  annexation,  and  indeed 
the  Berlin  treaty  in  general,  cost  Austria  the  friendship  of  Rus- 
sia, but  proportionally  strengthened  her  alliance  with  Germany. 
It  was  evidently  Bismarck's  policy  to  push  Austria  forward  on 
the  road  to  Constantinople,  thus  checkmating  Russian  ambition 
in  that  direction,  and  at  the  same  time  definitively  excluding  Aus- 
tria from  all  participation  in  German  affairs ;  and  Austria  had 
accepted  the  part  assigned  her.  The  threatening  attitude  of  Rus- 
sia led  to  the  formation  of  a  still  closer  alliance  between  the 
two  middle  powers  in  the  summer  of  1879,  and  in  the  autumn  of 
1881  Italy  also  entered  into  the  alliance.  But  before  this  time 
(October  8th,  1879)  Andrassy  had  laid  down  his  office  and  beetj 
succeeded  by  Baron  von  Haymerle.  The  reasons  for  this  change 
are  not  clear,  but  at  least  it  has  led  to  no  change  in  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  foreign  policy.  The  death  of  Haymerle  (October  10th, 
1881),  and  the  appointment  in  his  place  of  Count  Kalnoky,  for- 
merly minister  at  St.  Petersburg,  will  in  all  probability  be  equal- 
ly inappreciable  in  its  effect  on  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Haps- 
burg  empire.  The  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  were 
not  without  effect  on  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Austrian  half  of 
the  dual  empire.  The  dissatisfaction  of  the  German  liberal  Con- 
stitutional party  with  the  policy  of  the  government  led  to  the 
resignation  of  Prince  Adolf  Auersperg  on  the  15th  of  February, 
1879.  As  the  elections  for  a  new  Reichsrath  were  near  at  hand, 
no  permanent  successor  was  appointed ;  but  Stremayr,  minister 
of  instruction  and  worship,  was  intrusted  with  a  provisional  presi- 
dency. The  new  elections,  in  May,  resulted  in  a  defeat  of  the 
Liberals  by  the  Conservatives,  assisted  by  the  party  of  historical 
rights  (Federalists),  i.  e.,  those  who  aimed  at  preserving  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  various  countries  comprised  in  the  western  half 
of  the  empire,  and  perhaps  transforming  the  existing  dualism  into 
a  triple  or  quadruple  confederation.  From  one  point  of  view  the 
result  of  the  May  elections  (190  Conservatives  and  160  Liberals) 


THE  ARMY  BILL.  589 

may  be  described  as  a  victory  of  the  Slavic  over  the  German  ele- 
ment, and  as  such  it  was  followed  by  the  return  of  the  old  Czechs 
to  the  Reichsrath,  from  which  they  had  seceded  in  1877.  Anew 
cabinet  was  formed  in  August,  with  Count  Taaffe,  formerly  stadt- 
holder  of  the  ultramontane  province  of  Tyrol,  as  minister-presi- 
dent, but  von  Stremayr  and  von  Horst,  members  of  Auersperg's 
cabinet,  were  allowed  to  retain  their  portfolios.  In  spite  of  this 
concession  of  two  seats  in  the  cabinet,  the  Liberals  of  all  shades 
resolved  to  unite  in  opposition  to  Taaffe's  government,  and  a  com- 
mon programme  was  adopted,  demanding,  among  other  things, 
increased  economy  and  a  diminution  of  the  military  budget.  An- 
other form  of  opposition  displayed  itself  in  the  Conservative  Upper 
House,  where  Schmerling,  with  the  two  Auerspergs  and  Cardinal 
Kutschker,  Archbishop  of  Vienna,  formed  a  "  Constitutional  par- 
ty," in  opposition  to  the  demands  of  the  Czechs.  The  opposition 
of  the  Conservative  majority  of  the  Lords  was,  therefore,  wholly 
concerned  with  the  federalistic  tendencies  of  the  new  ministry, 
while  the  Liberal  minority  among  the  Commons  opposed  its  con- 
servative as  well  as  its  federal  tendencies.  The  address  adopt- 
ed by  the  majority  in  the  Lower  House,  advocating  decentraliza- 
tion and  increase  of  the  powers  of  the  separate  provincial  parlia- 
ments, recognized  the  constitution  merely  as  an  existing  fact,  and 
not  as  an  inherent  necessity ;  that  of  the  House  of  Lords  was 
conceived  in  a  diametrically  opposite  spirit. 

The  most  important  bill  laid  before  the  new  Reichsrath  was 
that  fixing  the  strength  of  the  army  (800,000  in  war  and  255,000 
in  peace)  for  the  next  ten  years,  thus  removing  the  whole  matter 
beyond  the  sphere  of  parliamentary  control.  As  this  involved  a 
change  of  the  constitution,  a  two-thirds  vote  was  necessary  to  its 
passage.  So  long  as  the  Liberals  united  in  opposing  the  measure 
it  was  impossible  to  obtain  the  requisite  majority.  Finally,  how- 
ever, more  than  forty  Liberals  yielded  to  the  pressure  brought  to 
bear  upon  them  by  the  government,  and  on  the  20th  of  Decem- 
ber the  !>ill  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  223  to  105.  This 
measure,  -Ithough  from  a  civil  and  political  point  of  view  un- 
doubtedly dangerous,  on  account  of  the  power  it  put  in  the  hands 
of  the  government,  was  of  great  value  from  a  military  stand- 
point, by  removing  the  army  for  a  definite  time  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  popular  interference.  In  government  circles  the  main- 
tenance of  a  powerful  armament  was  considered  necessary,  in 


590  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

order  that  Austro-Hungary  might  maintain  its  position  among 
the  European  powers;  but  on  economic  grounds  a  reduction  of 
the  military  expenditure  was  earnestly  to  be  desired,  for  each  year 
the  budget  contains  a  deficit,  and  the  empire  itself  is  virtually 
bankrupt. 

April  19th,  1880,  an  order  was  issued  by  the  ministers  of  the 
interior  and  of  justice  requiring  imperial  officials  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia  to  mate  use,  in  all  official  dealings,  of  the  language  of 
the  parties  concerned.  This  involved  the  dismissal  of  a  number 
of  German  officials  who  could  not  speak  the  Czechish  tongue,  and 
was  the  signal,  wherever  the  Slavs  were  at  all  numerous,  for  an 
attack  on  the  German  language.  In  Bohemia  feeling  ran  so  high 
that  the  attacks  were  not  confined  to  the  language  alone,  and  a 
number  of  outrages  were  committed  against  persons,  especially  in 
Prague.  Home  rule,  or  the  erection  of  the  "  Bohemian  crown- 
lands  "  into  a  separate  kingdom,  united  with  Austria  by  a  mere 
personal  union,  was  the  substance  of  the  Czechish  demands.  All 
this  led  to  a  ministerial  crisis ;  Stremayr,  Horst,  and  two  other 
ministers  resigned,  and  their  places  were  filled  by  more  pro- 
nounced or  more  pliant  adherents  of  the  federal  policy.  This 
change  excited  considerable  apprehension  in  Hungary,  the  Mag- 
yars dreading  the  effects  of  Slavic  ascendency  in  Cisleithania  on 
the  Slavs  in  the  eastern  half  of  the  empire.  For  the  maintenance 
of  their  own  position  the  Magyars  had  sought  to  limit  Slavic 
power  in  Hungary  by  every  means  in  their  power,  without  over- 
scrupulousness  as  to  the  character  of  the  measures  adopted,  pro- 
vided only  the  desired  end  was  obtained.  This  had  led  them  to 
postpone  a  final  settlement  with  Croatia,  which  bore  a  relation  to 
Hungary  similar  to  that  of  the  latter  to  Austria,  and  to  delay  the 
incorporation  with  that  kingdom  of  the  portion  of  the  old  milita- 
ry frontier  that  should  of  right  have  fallen  to  its  share.  By  this 
means  the  number  of  Croatian  representatives  in  the  Reichstag 
was  decreased,  and  Slavic  influence  proportionally  diminished. 
These  and  other  measures,  by  which  the  Magyars  sought  to  keep 
the  power  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Slavs,  might  be  interfered  with 
in  case  the  latter  gained  the  upper-hand  in  Cisleithania.  Toward 
the  Germans,  also,  and  the  German  language,  the  Magyars  dis- 
played a  hostility  in  no  respect  inferior  to  that  of  the  Czechs. 
Not  content  with  driving  out  all  German  officials  of  every  de- 
scription, they  even  went  so  far  as  to  close  the  German  theatre  in 


SETTLEMENT   BETWEEN  AUSTRIA   AND   HUNGARY.      591 

Pesth,  and  took  into  consideration  the  advisability  of  prohibiting 
German  religious  services  among  the  Saxons  of  Transylvania. 

The  finances  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  empire  are,  if  possible, 
in  a  worse  condition  than  those  of  the  western.  Hungarian  finan- 
cial policy  is  notoriously  bad.  The  land  is  rich,  but  each  year 
the  budget  displays  a  deficit.  Little  or  no  money,  however,  is 
laid  out  on  necessary  improvements — as  witness  the  destruction 
of  Szegedin,  in  1879,  by  an  inundation  of  the  Theiss,  owing  to 
defective  and  neglected  dams — all  is  squandered  on  the  Honved 
army.  The  agricultural  system  is  antiquated.  The  administra- 
tive system  is  so  bad,  and  the  rule  of  the  Magyars  so  intolerable, 
that  large  numbers  of  Slavs  and  Germans  have  left  and  are  leav- 
ing the  country,  many  of  the  former  emigrating  to  Bulgaria. 

The  relations  of  Hungary  to  Austria  during  the  period  under 
consideration  are  also  deserving  of  notice.  The  settlement  con- 
cluded by  Beust  in  1867  expired  in  the  year  1877.  That  settle- 
ment had  been  peculiarly  favorable  to  Hungary,  and  the  Magyars 
attempted  to  secure  equally  favorable  conditions  in  the  new  treaty. 
The  point  of  greatest  difficulty  was  the  bank  question.  Although 
the  majority  of  the  stock  was  held  in  Austria,  the  Hungarian  gov- 
ernment insisted  upon  an  equal  share  in  the  administration.  In 
case  this  were  not  conceded  they  threatened  to  establish  a  sepa- 
rate Hungarian  bank,  and  to  regulate  their  tariff  without  any  ref- 
erence to  that  of  Austria.  They  also  refused  to  assume  any  part 
of  the  debt  of  80,000,000  gulden  due  the  bank  from  the  govern- 
ment. The  negotiations  were  protracted  into  the  middle  of  the 
following  year  before  a  settlement  could  be  reached.  It  was 
finally  arranged  that  the  president  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  bank 
should  be  appointed  by  the  emperor  on  the  nomination  of  the 
central  cabinet,  one  vice-president  on  the  nomination  of  the  Aus- 
trian minister  of  finance,  and  one  on  that  of  the  Hungarian  ;  eight 
directors  were  to  be  elected  by  the  share-holders  of  their  own  free 
choice — two  on  the  nomination  of  the  Austrian  government,  and 
two  on  that  of  the  Hungarian.  The  Hungarian  government  also 
consented  to  assume  an  ultimate  responsibility  for  thirty  per  cent, 
of  the  government  debt  to  the  bank.  In  the  matter  of  the  tariff 
it  was  agreed  to  levy  a  high  tax  on  coffee  and  petroleum  in  the  in- 
terest of  Hungary,  where  those  articles  do  not  find  much  sale,  and 
to  put  high  duties  on  manufactured  goods  for  the  benefit  of  Aus- 
trian manufactures. 


592  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT 

In  the  matter  of  religious  liberty  but  slight  progress  was  made 
between  the  years  1876  and  1881.  In  spite  of  loud  protests  from 
the  Roman  Catholic  bishops,  supported  by  the  greater  part  of  the 
inhabitants,  permission  was  granted  to  a  few  Protestant  congre- 
gations in  ultramontane  Tyrol  to  hold  public  religious  services, 
and  in  the  year  1877  the  Old  Catholics  at  last  received  official 
recognition  from  the  state.  But  in  general,  although  before  the 
elections  of  1879  the  Lower  House  of  the  Reichsrath  was  in  favor 
of  full  religious  freedom,  all  attempts  in  that  direction  were  frus- 
trated by  the  Upper  House,  and  still  more  by  the  emperor  him- 
self. By  their  union  with  the  Federalists  in  1879  the  Clericals 
hoped  to  restore  the  schools  to  the  church,  and  otherwise  increase 
the  power  of  the  ecclesiastics ;  but  as  Count  Taaffe's  ministry 
proved  more  concerned  for  federal  than  for  clerical  interests, 
twenty-seven  members  of  the  clerical  party  seceded  from  the 
ministerial  ranks  in  November  of  1881.  By  this  action,  which 
gives  them  the  balance  of  power  in  the  Lower  House,  they  hope 
to  force  the  government  to  concede  what  they  demand. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  mention  two  ministerial 
utterances  which  throw  considerable  light  on  certain  peculiarities 
of  Austrian  administration.  The  first  is  from  Giskra,  who  was 
called  as  a  witness  (January,  1875),  in  a  suit  for  peculation, 
against  Ofenheim,  formerly  director  of  the  Lemberg-Czernowitz 
railroad.  Giskra  unblushingly  averred  in  full  court  that  in  Aus- 
tria every  one  takes  trinkgeld,  from  servants  and  waiters  up  to 
the  highest  officials  of  the  government,  and  instanced  his  own 
acceptance  in  this  way  on  one  occasion  of  100,000  florins,  with 
the  full  knowledge  and  permission  of  the  emperor.  The  other 
is  a  statement  made  by  Prince  Adolf  Auersperg,  while  minister- 
president,  with  reference  to  the  passage  of  the  protective  tariff  in 
1878;  a  measure  which  was  carried  through  the  Reichsrath  only 
by  the  assistance  of  the  Poles,  a  part  of  the  Liberals  opposing  it : 
"  The  official  Press  does  not  cost  a  penny,  but  the  opposition 
Press — that  takes  hush-money.  We  only  needed  a  few  votes  in 
the  Lower  House,  but  it  cost  a  great  deal." 


THE  LIBERALS  IN  POWER.  593 


§34. 

ITALY. 

IN  Italy  the  year  1876  was  marked  by  the  accession  to  power 
of  the  Progressists  (Liberals)  after  sixteen  years  of  Moderate 
(Conservative)  rule.  Minghetti's  ministry  Lad  for  some  time 
been  losing  ground.  Their  weak  policy  in  the  matter  of  ecclesi- 
astical disregard  of  civil  law,  relative  to  the  appointment  and  in- 
stalment of  bishops,  pastors,  and  other  religious  functionaries,  and 
their  apparent  inability  to  put  an  end  to  brigandage  in  Sicily,  had 
largely  reduced  the  number  of  their  supporters  before  the  close 
of  1875.  But  it  was  not  until  the  next  year  that  they  were 
obliged  to  resign,  and  the  question  which  ultimately  brought 
about  their  downfall  was  the  manner  of  raising  the  hated  grist 
tax.  Minghetti's  successor  in  office  was  Depretis,  the  leader  of 
one  section  of  the  Progressists.  This  change  of  ministers  in- 
volved a  dissolution  and  new  elections.  These  resulted  in  an  over- 
whelming victory  for  the  Progressists.  In  the  new  parliament, 
which  met  on  the  20th  of  November,  over  400  out  of  the  total 
number  of  508  seats  were  occupied  by  members  of  the  various 
sections  of  the  Left.  In  January  of  1877  the  antipapal  policy 
of  the  new  ministry  manifested  itself  in  the  introduction  of  a 
bill,  directed  chiefly  against  the  higher  clergy,  to  punish  religious 
functionaries  for  inciting  disobedience  to  the  laws  of  the  state  by 
speech  or  writing.  Although  this  bill  was  thrown  out  by  the 
Senate,  yet  the  evident  determination  of  the  government  to  ex- 
tort from  all  ecclesiastics  strict  obedience  to  the  civil  authori- 
ties had  a  beneficial  effect,  and  about  thirty  of  the  bishops  sub- 
mitted to  the  requirements  of  the  law,  and  received  the  legal 
exequatur  at  the  hands  of  the  Italian  government. 

The  following  year  opened  with  the  death  of  Victor  Emmanuel 
(January  9th),  first  king  of  Italy,  and  the  accession  to  the  throne 
of  his  eldest  son  as  King  Humbert  I.  Parliament  was  re-opened 
on  the  7th  of  March,  and  before  the  close  of  that  month  Depretis 
had  ceased  to  be  prime -minister,  and  Cairoli,  leader  of  the  ex- 
treme Left,  was  directing  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  But  no  min- 


594  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

istry  can  achieve  a  reasonable  degree  of  permanence  so  long  as 
the  majority  is  divided  into  a  number  of  sections  under  various 
chiefs  (Depretis,  Nicotera,  Crispi,  Cairoli),  each  greedy  of  power, 
and  accordingly  Cairoli  in  his  turn  soon  made  place  for  Depretis, 
and  Depretis  for  Cairoli,  and  Cairoli  again  for  Depretis.  During 
Cairoli's  first  ministry  occurred  an  attempt  on  the  life  of  King 
Humbert.  The  Internationale  had  appeared  in  Italy,  republican 
unions  had  been  formed,  and  Barsanti  clubs  abounded.  (Barsanti 
was  a  corporal  who  had  been  executed  by  martial  law  for  the 
murder  of  his  lieutenant,  and  forthwith  exalted  into  a  socialist 
hero.)  The  king  undertook  a  journey  through  the  principal 
cities  of  his  dominion.  In  Bologna,  Pisa,  and  Florence  placards 
appeared  on  the  walls  containing  such  sentiments  as  "  Death  to 
the  king!"  "Down  with  the  monarchy!"  and  letters  were  re- 
ceived announcing  an  intended  attempt  at  assassination.  On  the 
17th  of  November  he  made  his  entrance  into  Naples  in  a  carriage, 
the  other  occupants  of  which  were  the  queen,  the  Prince  of  Na- 
ples, and  Cairoli.  A  cook  named  Giovanni  Passanante,  pressing 
through  the  crowd,  sprung  on  to  the  step  of  the  carriage  and  at- 
tempted to  stab  the  king  with  a  large  knife.  The  first  blow  was 
parried  by  Humbert  himself,  the  second  wounded  Cairoli,  who 
had  thrown  himself  between  the  monarch  and  his  assassin.  In 
Florence  and  Pisa  members  of  the  Internationale  threw  bombs 
among  the  crowd  which  gathered  to  celebrate  the  king's  escape 
from  death,  and  a  number  of  persons  were  killed  or  wounded. 
These  outrages  aroused  the  loyalty  and  indignation  of  the  whole 
nation.  Cairoli  was  forced  to  take  active  measures  against  the 
Internationale,  and  especially  to  suppress  the  Barsanti  clubs,  and 
the  support  of  public  opinion  rendered  his  measures  effective. 
Passanante  himself  was  condemned  to  death,  but  the  king  com- 
muted his  sentence  to  imprisonment  for  life. 

In  1879  a  bill  passed  the  Chamber  making  civil  marriage  an 
obligatory  prerequisite  to  the  performance  of  the  religious  cere- 
mony. Civil  marriage  had  long  been  compulsory,  but  as  the  law 
did  not  require  the  civil  to  precede  the  religious  contract,  many 
had  contented  themselves  with  the  latter  alone,  until  it  was  esti- 
mated that  the  number  of  marriages  of  this  description,  invalid 
in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  must  reach  about  120,000.  The  Pope  and 
his  bishops  vigorously  opposed  the  new  law,  as  was  to  have  been 
expected,  protesting  against  it  as  an  encroachment  by  the  State 


PROGRESSIST  FOREIGN  POLICY.  595 

on  territory  rightfully  belonging  to  the  Church.  An  extension 
of  the  suffrage  had  been  promised  by  the  Progressists  ever  since 
their  accession  to  power,  but  the  first  bill  with  that  end  in  view 
was  not  introduced  until  1879,  and,  after  passing  the  House,  was 
thrown  out  by  the  Senate  in  1880.  After  the  new  elections  of 
May,  1880,  which  resulted  in  the  return  of  346  Progressists  and 
160  Moderates,  the  ministry  introduced  a  second  bill  of  a  slight- 
ly more  radical  character.  Hitherto,  out  of  a  population  of 
30,000,000  souls,  only  500,000  have  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  the 
franchise,  and  not  more  than  one-half  of  the  privileged  few  have 
ever  exercised  their  privilege.  The  proposed  law  practically  be- 
stows the  suffrage  upon  all  males  above  the  age  of  twenty-one 
who  can  sign  their  names,  or  about  one-half  of  the  adult  male 
population.  This  bill  has  already  passed  the  House,  and  it  seems 
probable  that  it  will  be  carried  through  the  Senate  also,*  the  gov- 
ernment having  created  one  hundred  new  Progressist  senators  for 
the  purpose  of  convincing  that  body  of  the  advantages  of  a  Pro- 
gressist policy.  Another  Progressist  measure,  long  demanded  by 
public  opinion,  and  delayed  by  the  necessities  of  the  treasury, 
where  the  receipts  are  always  less  than  the  expenditures,  was  the 
abolition  of  the  tax  on  the  inferior  cereals.  This  was  farther  ac- 
companied by  a  provision  for  the  total  abolition  of  the  grist  tax 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1884. 

In  the  matter  of  foreign  policy  the  tendency  of  the  Liberal 
regime  has  been  toward  estrangement  from  France  and  alliance 
with  Germany,  and  latterly  with  Austria  also.  The  death  of  Vic- 
tor Emmanuel  and  the  accession  of  King  Humbert  were  both  favor- 
able to  the  anti-French  party.  Victor  Emmanuel  felt  himself  un- 
der weighty  obligations  to  the  French  emperor — and,  indeed,  it  was 
only  the  overwhelming  rapidity  of  Napoleon's  defeat  which  pre- 
vented the  Italian  king  from  coming  to  his  assistance — and  was, 
consequently,  well  disposed  toward  a  permanent  French  alliance, 
while  Humbert  was  more  inclined  to  enter  into  closer  relations 
with  Germany.  French  lust  of  aggression  and  French  arrogance 
toward  Italy  finally  converted  the  policy  of  a  party  into  the  senti- 
ment of  a  nation.  Whatever  gratitude  toward  France  the  Italian 
people  still  cherished  was  completely  blotted  out  by  the  conduct 
of  the  French  government  in  regard  to  Tunis  (1880  and  1881), 

*  January,  1882. 


596  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

almost  resulting  in  open  hostilities  with  Italy.  A  riotous  attack 
upon  Italian  laborers  in  Marseilles,  in  the  summer  of  1881,  and 
the  hostile  tone  of  the  French  Press  helped  still  farther  to  widen 
the  breach  between  the  two  nations,  and  to  place  Italy  in  the 
foremost  rank  of  France's  bitterest  foes.  It  has  already  been 
stated  that  Italy  has  entered  into  intimate  relations  with  Austro- 
Hungary ;  but  this  friendship  was  preceded  by  a  period  of  strain- 
ed relations  between  the  two  states,  consequent  upon  the  desire  of 
a  large  part  of  the  Italian  people  to  annex  to  Italy  certain  Italian- 
speaking  districts  in  the  possession  of  their  Austrian  neighbors. 
The  Italia,  irredenta  programme  included  territory  possessed  by 
Switzerland,  France,  England,  and  Austria ;  but  considerations  of 
expediency  induced  the  leaders  of  the  agitation  to  reclaim  the 
Austrian  districts  first.  In  1878  government  encouragement 
caused  this  agitation  to  assume  formidable  proportions,  and,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  the  inevitable  Garibaldi  figured  among  the 
agitators.  It  seems  probable  that  during  the  Russo  -  Turkish 
war  some  sort  of  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  Russia  and  Italy 
for  the  event  of  Austria's  interference  with  Russian  movements 
in  the  Balkan  peninsula.  This  understanding  was  apparently  re- 
newed in  1879,  but  the  conclusion  in  the  same  year  of  an  alliance 
between  Austria  and  Germany  rendered  a  change  of  policy  advis- 
able. Alliance  with  Germany  now  meant  friendly  relations  with 
Austria,  and  alliance  with  Russia  involved  a  breach  with  Ger- 
many ;  accordingly,  official  countenance  was  withdrawn  from  the 
Italia  irredenta  scheme,  and,  for  the  time  being,  the  agitation  was 
deprived  of  its  political  importance.  The  increasing  coolness  be- 
tween Italy  and  the  French  republic  increased  the  necessity  of 
friendly  relations  with  Austro-Hungary,  and  French  hostility  and 
German  friendship,  working  together,  finally  brought  about  a 
friendly  visit  of  the  Italian  royal  pair  in  Vienna,  in  the  autumn 
of  1881,  and  something  like  an  Austro-Italian  alliance. 

Unfortunately  for  Italy,  Italian  history  involves  a  history  of 
the  papacy.  About  a  month  after  the  death  of  Victor  Emman- 
uel, February  7th,  1878,  occurred  that  of  Pope  Pius  IX.,  the 
first  Christian  to  achieve  infallibility.  On  the  20th  of  the  same 
month  Pecci,  cardinal-camerlengo  and  Bishop  of  Perugia,  candi- 
date of  the  Moderate  party,  was  elected  Pope  (Leo  XIII.)  by  a 
vote  of  forty-four  to  eighteen.  Pecci  had  been  appointed  Bishop 
of  Perugia  and  created  cardinal  at  the  instance  of  King  Leopold 


POPE  LEO  XIIL  597 

of  Belgium,  in  the  year  1846  ;  but  the  nomination  was  reserved  in 
petto,  and  Gregory  XVI.  dying  before  it  had  been  made  public, 
he  did  not  receive  the  cardinal's  hood  until  1853.  Under  Pius 
IX.  the  favorites  of  Gregory  XVI.  were  thrust  into  the  back- 
ground, and  the  papal  ear  was  monopolized  by  Cardinal  Anto- 
nelli.  Accordingly,  it  was  not  until  after  the  death  of  the  latter 
(November  6th,  1876)  that  Pecci  was  finally  summoned  to  the 
Vatican  and  appointed  camerlengo  (September  24th,  1877).  It 
was  the  new  Pope's  wish  to  make  an  end  of  the  "  imprisonment" 
in  the  Vatican,  and  appear  publicly  in  the  streets  of  Rome.  With 
this  end  in  view,  lie  inquired  whether,  in  case  of  a  public  corona- 
tion in  St.  Peter's,  the  Italian  government  would  be  able  to  guar- 
antee the  maintenance  of  order.  Crispi,  minister  of  the  interior, 
fearing  that  the  Pope's  adherents  might  be  guilty  of  indiscretions 
which  would  excite  the  fury  of  the  Roman  mob,  and  provoke  dis- 
orders beyond  the  power  of  the  government  to  restrain,  refused  to 
undertake  such  a  guarantee.  Accordingly,  the  coronation  took 
place  in  private,  and  Leo,  like  his  predecessor,  assumed  the  role 
of  "  Prisoner  of  the  Vatican."  It  was  at  first  popularly  supposed 
that,  inasmuch  as  the  new  Pope  belonged  to  the  Moderate  party, 
a  change  of  policy  might  be  expected  in  the  direction  of  recon- 
ciliation with  the  civil  authorities  in  those  states  where  the  policy 
of  Pius  IX.  had  provoked  a  culturkampf.  Time  has  shown, 
however,  that  the  expectation  of  important  concessions  on  the 
part  of  the  papacy  was  based  on  an  erroneous  judgment  of  Leo's 
character  and  position.  Willing  to  make  concessions  in  matters 
of  outward  form,  he  is  as  obstinate  as  bis  predecessor  in  main- 
taining the  supremacy  of  ecclesiastical  over  civil  authority,  and 
his  apparent  readiness  to  conciliate — his  political  affability — only 
renders  him  a  more  dangerous  foe.  Franchi,  a  Moderate,  succeed- 
ed Simeoni,  an  Ultra,  as  secretary  of  state,  and  negotiations  were 
at  once  commenced  with  a  view  to  establishing  political  relations 
with  Prussia,  Switzerland,  and  Russia.  Leo's  demands  were  in 
substance  the  same  as  those  of  Pius.  Owing  to  the  death  of 
Franchi  these  efforts  at  reconciliation  remained  for  the  moment 
fruitless.  In  1881,  however,  negotiations  with  Prussia  and  Russia 
were  again  resumed,  and  resulted  in  the  restoration  of  direct  po- 
litical communications  with  both  those  countries.  A  modus  vivendi 
was  also  found  between  the  government  of  the  former  country 
and  the  Roman  curia,  of  such  a  nature  that  two  of  the  vacant 


598  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

bishoprics  in  Prussia  (Treves  and  Fulda)  were  filled  before  the 
close  of  the  year.  It  is  as  yet  impossible  to  say  what  concessions 
have  been  made  on  either  side,  but  the  necessities  of  Bismarck's 
position  with  regard  to  internal  policy  give  just  ground  for  the 
belief  that  the  essential  concessions  were  on  his  part,  and  those 
of  form  on  that  of  the  Pope. 

A  general  programme  of  Leo's  policy  was  contained  in  his  en- 
cyclica  of  April  21st,  1878,  which  "renewed  and  confirmed  all 
protests  of  his  predecessor  as  against  deprivation  of  the  temporal 
dominion,  so  M!SO  against  infringement  of  the  rights  justly  belong- 
ing to  the  Roman  Church."  In  other  words,  he  assumed  and  prom- 
ised to  carry  out  in  its  general  features  the  policy  of  Pius  IX. 
He  did,  however,  in  so  far  break  with  the  system  of  his  predeces- 
sor as  to  attempt  to  free  the  church  from  the  fetters  of  the 
Jesuits ;  but  in  most  matters  the  power  of  the  latter  has  proved 
too  great  for  him  to  overcome.  In  certain  directions  he  has 
shown  independence  of  their  control.  Ultramontane  and  im- 
practicable as  his  foreign  policy  may  seem  to  outsiders,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Jesuits  it  is  too  liberal  by  far.  Any  attempt  at  ne- 
gotiations with  refractory  governments,  involving  as  it  must  a 
suggestion  of  concession,  is  an  abandonment  of  Pius's  position 
of  non  possumus,  and  hence  unacceptable  to  the  Jesuits.  In  the 
matter  of  the  participation  of  his  Italian  followers  in  the  civil 
elections  also,  Leo  has  broken  with  the  policy  of  his  predecessor. 
Pius  forbade  such  participation  as  implying  recognition  of  the 
usurping  Italian  government.  Leo  has  removed  this  prohibition, 
and  encouraged  his  followers  to  appear  at  the  polls.  As  this 
change  of  base  has  so  far  been  visible  only  in  Roman  municipal 
elections  it  is  too  early  to  predict  its  ultimate  effects  on  Italian 
politics  at  large. 

The  fracas  attending  the  removal  of  the  late  Pope's  body  from 
St.  Peter's  to  the  tomb  prepared  in  the  church  of  St.  Lorenzo,  on 
the  night  of  July  12th-13th,  1881,  disturbed  Leo's  hitherto  good 
relations  with  the  Italian  government,  and  even  raised  the  ques- 
tion of  his  departure  from  Rome.  Permission  had  been  granted 
to  the  executors  of  Pius's  will  to  remove  his  body  on  the  night 
mentioned.  Against  the  wishes  of  the  executors,  permission  had 
also  been  granted  by  the  prefect  of  police,  Bacco,  to  the  members 
of  the  "  Society  for  the  Guardianship  of  Catholic  Interests "  to 
follow  the  hearse  publicly  with  lighted  torches.  This  torch-light 


SUPPKESSION  OF  THE  CARLIST  REVOLT.      599 

procession  in  honor  of  their  ancient  tyrant  naturally  aroused  the 
wrath  of  the  Roman  mob.  No  provisions  had  been  made  for  the 
protection  of  the  procession,  and  a  disgraceful  riot  ensued.  To 
excuse  the  government  for  its  neglect  of  the  most  common  pre- 
cautions, Depretis,  the  prime -minister,  accused  the  late  Pope's 
executors,  and  indirectly  Pope  Leo,  with  breach  of  faith.  The 
whole  affair  was  used  by  Leo's  advisers  to  demonstrate  to  Leo 
himself  and  to  the  world  at  large  the  reality  of  his  "  imprison- 
ment "  and  the  hostility  of  the  civil  authorities.  The  radicals 
made  use  of  the  incident  to  commence  an  agitation  for  the  repeal 
of  the  law  of  papal  guarantees ;  the  indirect  accusation  of  the 
prime-minister  was  repeated  directly,  and  in  public  meetings  and 
the  daily  Press  the  Pope  was  freely  called  a  "  liar."  Feeling  ran 
so  high  that  the  annual  Italian  pilgrimage  was  postponed  for  fear 
of  a  serious  collision.  At  the  same  time  the  Pope  informed  the 
foreign  ambassadors  to  the  Vatican  that  "  if  the  smallest  leaf  on 
the  pontifical  tiara  is  ruffled  "  he  would  leave  Rome  at  once — an 
event  which  seems  improbable ;  for  even  if  Italy  wishes  to  get  rid 
of  him,  no  other  country  wishes  to  receive  him. 


§35. 

SPAIN. 

FOR  Spain  the  period  under  consideration  was  ushered  in  by 
an  event  of  the  most  favorable  nature — the  final  suppression  of 
the  Carlist  revolt  in  the  northern  provinces.  On  the  19th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1876,  Estella,  the  strongest  point  in  Navarre,  surrendered 
unconditionally  to  the  royalist  general  Primo  de  Rivera.  On  the 
21st  King  Alphonso  entered  Tolosa,  and  on  the  following  day 
San  Sebastian.  Lizzaraga,  Dorregaray,  and  Saballs  had  crossed 
the  French  frontier ;  other  Carlist  leaders  had  made  their  submis- 
sion to  the  legitimate  sovereign.  The  Spanish  government  had 
100,000  soldiers  in  the  field,  while  the  pretender,  who  had  retreat- 
ed to  the  historical  valley  of  Roncesvalles,  could  muster  scarcely 
2000  men.  Under  these  circumstances  resistance  was  hopeless. 
On  the  28th  of  February  Don  Carlos  crossed  the  French  frontier, 
his  followers  were  disarmed,  he  himself  was  invited  by  the  French 


600  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

authorities  to  take  up  his  residence  in  some  foreign  country,  and 
the  insurrection  was  at  an  end.  Those  provinces  in  which  the 
Carlists  had  found  their  chief  support,  the  Basque  provinces  (Ala- 
va,  Viscaya,  Guipuzcoa)  and  Navarre,  were  deprived  of  the  fue- 
ros  or  special  privileges  which  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed.  Their 
protest  against  the  military  conscription  was  disregarded,  and 
their  provincial  integrity  in  the  matter  of  taxation  was  abrogated 
in  so  far  that  the  taxes  were  now  levied  directly  by  the  central 
government  and  not  through  the  medium  of  the  provincial  parlia- 
ments. The  retention  of  the  fueros  had  been  promised  in  1875 
in  case  of  immediate  submission  to  Alphonso's  government;  but 
the  fact  that  such  submission  was  not  rendered,  and  that  the  re- 
turn of  the  revolted  provinces  to  their  allegiance  was  effected  by 
force  of  arms,  thus  giving  the  government  the  desired  opportuni- 
ty to  abrogate  the  medieval  privileges  in  question,  must  be  re- 
garded as  a  real  gain  for  Spain.  The  abrogation  of  the  fueros 
met,  however,  with  a  most  obstinate  resistance,  and  it  became 
necessary  to  place  the  recalcitrant  provinces  in  a  state  of  siege. 

In  contrast  with  the  enlightened  and  progressive  conduct  of 
the  Spanish  government  in  the  assertion  of  political  unity  was  its 
retrogressive  and  bigoted  action  with  regard  to  liberty  of  con- 
science. Article  11  of  the  new  constitution,  adopted  by  the 
Cortes  in  May  of  1876,  contained  the  following  provision:  "The 
nation  pledges  itself  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Catholic  religion, 
which  is  the  state  religion — the  support  of  its  clergy  and  wor- 
ship. On  Spanish  soil  no  one  can  be  punished  for  his  religious 
opinions,  or  for  the  practice  of  his  own  peculiar  religious  rites, 
on  condition  that  proper  regard  be  had  to  the  teachings  of  Chris- 
tian morality.  Nevertheless,  no  public  ceremonies  or  demonstra- 
tions will  be  permitted  on  the  part  of  those  not  members  of  the 
state  church."  Castelar  and  Sagasta  advocated  the  restoration 
of  full  religious  freedom,  as  granted  by  the  constitution  of  1869 ; 
the  Clericals,  on  the  other  hand,  most  obstinately  opposed  the 
small  pretence  of  liberty  which  Article  11  conceded.  Rome  re- 
garded the  concordat  of  1851,  which  forbade  the  practice  of  any 
other  religious  rites  than  those  of  the  Romish  church,  as  still  in 
force.  In  this  respect  her  policy  was  the  same  which  it  has  ever 
been,  viz.,  a  concordat  is  a  perpetual  treaty,  and  cannot  be  an- 
nulled except  with  the  consent  of  the  Roman  curia.  The  degree 
of  freedom  actually  granted  by  Article  11  depends  largely  upoi. 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  AND  ARTICLE  ELEVEN.  601 

the  interpretation  put  upon  it  by  the  party  in  power.  What 
Canovas's  interpretation  would  be  had  already  been  clearly  shown 
by  his  reactionary  measures  before  the  adoption  of  the  constitu- 
tion— namely,  the  suspension  of  Protestant  newspapers,  the  clos- 
ing of  Protestant  churches,  the  interference  with  freedom  of  in- 
struction in  the  schools  and  universities,  the  abolition  of  civil 
marriage,  the  restoration  to  churches  and  religious  orders  of  their 
confiscated  property,  and  to  the  clergy  of  their  former  incomes. 
As  might  have  been  expected  from  these  precedents,  so  long  as 
Canovas  del  Castello  remained  in  power,  the  words  "  public  dem- 
onstrations "  received  the  narrowest  possible  interpretation.  No 
notice  of  the  hours  of  service  or  of  the  religious  character  of  the 
building  was  allowed  to  appear  on  the  outer  walls  of  Protestant 
churches;  and  in  Cadiz  (March  29th,  1877)  one  zealous  alcalde 
went  so  far  as  to  send  policemen  into  a  church  to  interrupt  the 
service  on  the  ground  that  the  sound  of  the  preacher's  voice 
could  be  heard  in  the  street,  although  the  doors  were  closed,  and 
that  there  had,  therefore,  been  a  "  public  demonstration."  In  the 
Balearic  Isles,  under  pretence  that  the  introduction  of  the  Prot- 
estant religion  was  being  made  the  vehicle  of  an  English  political 
propaganda,  bigotry  was  allowed  to  have  full  sway,  and  the  au- 
thorities even  consented  to  the  exclusion  of  Protestant  children 
from  the  public  schools,  for  fear  they  might  infect  the  orthodox 
Romanists.  This  regime  of  illiberality  lasted  until  1881.  The 
resignation  of  the  Canovas  ministry  in  the  early  part  of  that  year, 
and  the  Liberal  victory  in  the  August  elections,  which  at  length 
transferred  the  power  to  Sagasta,  brought  about  a  total  change  in 
the  religious  policy  of  the  government.  The  speech  from  the 
throne  on  the  re-assembling  of  the  Cortes  (September  20th,  1881) 
called  attention  to  the  necessity  of  a  liberal  interpretation  of  the 
constitution  in  favor  of  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  reforms  in 
schools  and  universities,  and  promised  the  introduction  of  a  bill 
restoring  civil  marriage. 

In  addition  to  the  Carlist  insurrection  and  the  religious  ques- 
tion, the  financial  situation  constituted  a  third  embarrassment  for 
Alphonso's  government.  In  April  of  1876  Salaverria,  the  minis- 
ter of  finance,  laid  before  the  Cortes  a  statement  regarding  the 
condition  of  the  finances,  to  the  effect  that  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble to  pay  full  interest  on  the  public  debt  until,  by  some  process 
of  consolidation,  the  principal  had  been  so  far  reduced  that  the 

26 


602  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

interest  would  not  exceed  180,000,000  pesetas  (francs).  In  order 
to  conduct  the  government,  and  pay  any  part  of  the  interest  in 
the  mean  time,  it  was  necessary  to  retain  the  extraordinary  war 
tax,  increase  the  other  taxes,  and  reduce  the  salaries  of  all  officials, 
including  the  clergy,  twenty -five  per  cent.  At  the  same  time 
a  loan  of  fifteen  or  twenty  million  piasters  (the  piaster  is  equal 
to  five  francs)  was  obtained  from  a  syndicate  of  Spanish  bankers 
at  ten  per  cent,  interest,  the  Cuban  customs  being  pledged  for  its 
payment.  This  is  a  fair  exhibit  of  the  general  condition  of  Span- 
ish finances.  The  country  is  bankrupt;  the  revenue  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  pay  the  interest  on  the  public  debt ;  and,  like  the  Porte, 
the  Spanish  government  can  no  longer  borrow  except  at  high 
rates  of  interest,  the  payment  of  which  is  secured  by  a  lien  on 
»ome  special  source  of  revenue. 

The  particular  loan  above  referred  to  was  for  the  purpose  of  a 
more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  in  Cuba.  The  insurrection 
which  had  begun  in  1868  still  continued,  and  interference  was 
threatened  on  the  part  of  the  United  States.  The  threat  of  for- 
eign interference  spurred  the  government  to  the  adoption  of  en- 
ergetic measnres,  which  were  at  length  rendered  possible  by  the 
suppression  of  the  Carlist  revolt.  Toward  the  end  of  1876  Gen- 
eral Martinez  Campos  was  despatched  to  Cuba  to  take  command 
of  the  military  operations  there ;  at  the  same  time  the  Spanish 
troops  already  on  the  island  were  re-enforced  by  an  addition  of 
25,000  men.  In  consequence  of  these  measures  Campos  and  Jo- 
vellar,  the  governor-general,  were  able  to  report  in  the  spring  of 
1878  that  the  central  committee  of  the  insurgents  had  submitted 
and  the  revolt  was  at  an  end.  Campos  returned  to  Spain,  to  be- 
come the  advocate  of  reform  and  a  policy  of  justice  toward  the 
colony  he  had  reclaimed.  He  proposed  to  abolish  slavery,  to  re- 
move the  oppressive  restrictions  which  forced  the  Cubans  to  pur- 
chase all  their  supplies  from  Spain  at  exorbitant  prices,  and  in 
general  to  place  Cuba  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  various  prov- 
inces of  the  mother  country.  The  execution  of  all  his  plans  in- 
volved an  immediate  expenditure  by  the  home  government  of 
200,000,000  francs.  As  Canovas  was  unwilling  to  demand  this 
sum  from  the  Cortes  he  resigned,  and  on  the  7th  of  March,  1879, 
Campos  was  intrusted  with  the  formation  of  a  new  ministry.  In 
June  of  the  same  year  he  was  able  to  lay  his  programme  of  re- 
form before  a  newly-elected  Cortes,  but  before  the  year  closed  he 


CUBA.— TWO  ATTEMPTS  ON   THE  KING'S  LIFE.  603 

had  been  relegated  to  the  ranks  of  the  opposition,  and  Canovas  was 
again  in  power.  Under  his  administration  a  bill  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  Antilles  at  length  passed  the  Cortes  (in  January 
of  1881),  and  the  remainder  of  Campos's  programme  was  finally 
so  far  carried  out,  at  least  in  what  must  be  considered  its  essential 
feature — the  bestowal  on  Cubans  of  equal  rights  with  Spaniards 
— that  in  opening  the  newly-elected  Liberal  Cortes  on  the  20th  of 
September,  1881,  the  king  was  able  to  say,  with  reference  to  the 
colonies,  "  The  constitution  has  been  promulgated  and  the  previ- 
ous censorship  of  the  Press  abolished.  In  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico 
the  sons  of  those  provinces  enjoy  already,  as  citizens  of  the  Span- 
ish nation,  the  same  rights  as  their  brethren  in  the  Peninsula." 
These  reforms  have  not  been  without  effect,  and  the  elections  to 
this  same  Cortes  have  shown  that,  although  there  is  a  considera- 
ble party  of  autonomists,  or  home-rulers,  in  Cuba,  yet  the  major- 
ity of  the  inhabitants  are  contented  with  their  present  condition 
and  loyally  disposed  toward  Spain. 

As  in  Germany  and  Italy,  so  also  in  Spain,  the  year  1878  was 
marked  by  a  murderous  attempt  on  the  king's  life,  due  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Internationale.  The  would-be  murderer,  Moncasi 
by  name,  a  cooper  from  Catalonia,  made  the  journey  from  Tarra- 
gona to  Madrid  for  the  express  purpose  of  murdering  his  sover- 
eign. His  attempt  was  unsuccessful,  and  he  was  executed.  A 
like  fate  overtook  Otero,  a  Galician,  who  fired  two  shots  at  the 
king  as  he  was  driving  in  an  open  carriage  with  the  queen  on  the 
30th  of  December,  1879.  In  conclusion,  mention  should  be  made 
of  the  marriage  of  Alphonso  with  his  cousin  Mercedes,  daughter 
of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1878.  Mer- 
cedes died  on  the  26th  of  June  of  the  same  year,  and  on  the  29th 
of  November,  1879,  Alphonso  married  the  Archduchess  Maria 
Christina  of  Austria,  by  whom  he  became  the  father  of  a  daugh- 
ter in  September  of  the  following  year. 


604  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 


§  36. 

BELGIUM,   SWITZERLAND,   HOLLAND,   DENMARK. 

THE  principal  interest  of  Belgian  history  during  the  years 
1876— '81  lies  in  the  battle  there  waged — and  still  being  waged — 
between  liberal  ideas  and  ultramontane  bigotry.  Under  the  Cleri- 
cal regime,  which  began  in  1870,  there  was  much  truth  in  the  boast 
of  Dumortier,  a  Clerical  member  of  parliament,  "  Nowhere  is  the 
Pope  so  truly  Pope  as  in  Belgium ;  in  Belgium  he  is  more  Pope 
than  in  Rome."  The  clergy,  although  paid  by  the  state,  were  ab- 
solutely free  from  all  interference  or  restraint  on  the  part  of  the 
civil  authorities,  and  the  entire  educational  system  of  the  country 
was  practically  in  their  control.  The  attitude  of  the  government 
toward  them  was  well  illustrated  by  the  military  reception  accord- 
ed to  Dechamps,  Archbishop  of  Mechlin,  on  the  21st  of  April, 
1875,  after  his  appointment  as  cardinal,  the  whole  garrison  turn- 
ing out  to  receive  him  with  music  and  the  firing  of  cannons.  In 
view  of  the  recent  pastoral  letters  of  the  Belgian  bishops,  de- 
nouncing Kaiser  Wilhelm,  Bismarck,  and  the  Prussian  ecclesiasti- 
cal policy,  this  reception  had  every  appearance  of  a  hostile  demon- 
stration against  Germany  on  the  part  of  the  Belgian  government, 
and  the  general  attitude  of  the  party  in  power  at  Brussels  cer- 
tainly justified  such  an  interpretation.  The  sympathies  of  the 
Clericals  were  unreservedly  with  France,  in  spite  of  the  scarcely 
concealed  desire  of  the  latter  to  disregard  the  guarantees  of  neu- 
trality and  annex  Belgium  to  herself.  Nor  was  this  annexation 
merely  a  part  of  Napoleon's  plans  of  conquest ;  the  Duke  of 
Broglie,  while  ambassador  in  London  after  the  Franco-Prussian 
war,  openly  announced  France's  willingness  to  leave  Alsace  and 
Lorraine  in  the  hands  of  Germany,  provided  she  should  receive 
Belgium  in  return;  and  Thiers  made  the  same  declaration  to 
Count  Harry  von  Arnim  while  the  latter  was  the  German  repre- 
sentative at  Paris. 

The  overthrow  of  the  Conservative  regime  in  France  in  1878 
exerted  no  small  influence  on  Belgian  politics,  and  contributed 


LIBERALS   IN   POWE«.— BREACH  WITH  THE  VATICAN.    605 

largely  toward  the  attainment  of  the  same  end  in  that  country 
also.  In  accordance  with  the  constitution,  one  -  half  of  both 
Chambers  must  be  changed  every  four  years.  The  quadrennial 
elections  occurred  in  June  of  1878,  and  resulted  in  a  victory  for 
the  Liberals.  The  latter  had  a  majority  of  six  in  the  Senate 
(thirty-six  to  thirty)  and  ten  in  the  lower  House  (seventy-one  to 
sixty-one).  Accordingly,  Malou's  ministry  handed  in  their  resig- 
nations, and  Frere  Orban  was  intrusted  with  the  formation  of  the 
new  cabinet,  which,  to  the  discontent  of  the  Clericals,  comprised 
a  special  minister  of  public  instruction.  The  programme  of  the 
new  ministry  comprised  a  reform  of  the  educational  system,  with 
a  view  to  removing  it  from  the  control  of  the  clergy  and  placing 
it  under  that  of  the  state,  the  more  complete  development  of  the 
system  of  compulsory  military  service,  and  the  introduction  of 
secret  balloting.  The  first  of  these  three  measures,  which  was 
also  by  far  the  most  important,  is  the  only  one  which  specially 
demands  our  attention.  A  bill  laid  before  the  Chambers  in 
April  of  1879  deprived  the  clergy  of  the  supervision  of  the 
schools,  banished  religious  instruction  to  the  time  before  or  after 
the  regular  school  hours,  and  made  education  absolutely  free  for 
the  poorer  classes  of  the  population.  The  opposition  of  the  Cler- 
ical party  assumed  the  most  bitter  character.  Placards  appeared 
threatening  King  Leopold  with  death  in  case  he  signed  the  bill. 
Nevertheless,  it  passed  both  Houses,  and  on  the  1st  of  July  re- 
ceived the  royal  signature.  Placards  now  appeared  advocating 
the  king's  assassination,  one  of  which  was  traced  to  the  Jesuit 
college  in  Brussels.  A  conclave  of  bishops,  held  in  Mechlin  on 
the  1st  of  September,  decided  to  refuse  absolution  to  all  teachers 
in  the  state  schools,  and  to  all  parents  sending  their  children  to 
those  schools.  The  clergy  refused  to  impart  religious  instruction 
under  the  new  law,  and  the  task  accordingly  devolved  upon  lay 
teachers.  The  bishops  held  a  new  conclave,  and  decided  to  refuse 
the  sacrament  to  teachers  in  the  state  schools,  and  to  confirm 
only  those  children,  attendants  of  state  schools,  whose  parents 
demanded  their  exemption  from  the  religious  instruction  of  lay 
teachers.  The  Bishop  of  Tournai  went  so  far  as  to  lay  the  state 
school  in  that  place  under  an  absolute  interdict.  Frere  Orban 
complained  to  the  Pope,  and  the  latter  ostensibly  interfered  in 
behalf  of  the  government,  sending  a  general  vicar  to  replace  the 
Bishop  of  Tournai,  and  calling  upon  the  other  bishops  to  pursue 


606  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

a  more  moderate  course.  Bat  it  soon  transpired  (revealed  by 
Dumont,  Bishop  of  Tournai)  that  either  the  infallible  Pope,  or 
his  secretary  of  state,  Cardinal  Nina,  had  been  guilty  of  double- 
dealing  ;  and  that,  while  ostensibly  counselling  the  bishops  to 
moderation,  the  Pope  was  in  reality  encouraging  them  to  persist 
in  the  course  which  they  had  adopted  with  his  express  approba- 
tion. The  discovery  of  this  deception  induced  the  Belgian  gov- 
ernment to  break  off  all  relations  with  the  Roman  curia.  The 
Belgian  ambassador  at  the  Vatican  was  recalled,  Vanutelli,  the 
papal  nuncius  at  Brussels,  to  whose  intriguing  character  some 
part  of  the  difficulty  is  perhaps  attributable,  was  dismissed,  and 
Frerc  Orban  roundly  accused  the  Pope  of  dishonesty.  Belgium, 
with  its  army  of  30,000  priests  and  18,000  nuns,  the  very  strong- 
hold of  papacy — where  ardent  priests  had  exhibited  to  excited 
multitudes  straws  from  the  imaginary  cell  of  the  "  imprisoned  " 
Pius  IX.,  and  whose  assistance  had  been  counted  on  by  fiery 
ecclesiastics  for  the  restoration  of  the  temporal  dominion  of  the 
Pope — found  itself  suddenly  plunged  into  the  very  centre  of  the 
culturkampf,  a  standard-bearer  of  the  antipapal  legions. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  history  of  Switzerland  during  the 
years  1876-'81  lies,  like  that  of  Belgium,  in  the  strife  with  the 
Vatican.  The  expulsion  of  Bishops  Lachat  and  Mermillod,  and 
the  consequent  severance  of  political  relations  with  the  Vatican 
in  the  year  1875,  had  placed  Switzerland  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
culturkampf.  Berne  and  Geneva  were  the  cantons  specially  con- 
cerned. To  secure  themselves  against  the  hostile  agitation  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  priests  of  the  Jura,  sympathizers  with  Lachat, 
whose  expulsion  had  been  pronounced  unconstitutional  by  the 
federal  government,  and  who  had  accordingly  returned  to  their 
homes,  the  Great  Council  of  the  canton  of  Berne  passed  a  law 
(September  13th,  1875)  punishing  with  fine  and  imprisonment 
any  person  guilty  of  inciting  opposition  to  the  civil  authorities,  or 
instigating  members  of  one  confession  to  hostilities  against  mem- 
bers of  another,  demanding  from  all  ecclesiastics  a  written  pledge 
of  unconditional  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  prohibiting 
the  exercise  of  episcopal  functions  without  express  permission 
from  the  authorities,  and  forbidding  religious  demonstrations  of 
any  description  in  the  streets  or  other  public  places.  An  appeal 
to  the  federal  parliament  against  the  constitutionality  of  these 
measures  was  rejected.  Thereupon  the  Great  Council  went  a  step 


THE  OLD  CATHOLIC  MOVEMENT.         607 

farther,  throwing  open  the  graveyards  to  all  citizens,  without 
distinction  of  belief  or  disbelief,  and  forbidding  any  religious 
pomp  in  connection  with  funeral  processions.  The  canton  of 
Geneva  pursued  a  somewhat  similar  course,  confining  religious 
ceremonies  to  the  churches,  abolishing  religious  orders,  granting 
to  the  Old  Catholics  the  use  of  the  church  of  Notre-Dame,  in 
common  with  the  papists,  and  offering  assistance  toward  the  en- 
dowment of  an  Old  Catholic  bishopric.  About  the  same  time 
the  Clerical  party  suffered  a  defeat  in  the  country  at  large  through 
the  confirmation  by  a  popular  vote  of  a  bill  passed  by  the  federal 
parliament  in  1874,  making  civil  marriage  obligatory.  A  demo- 
cratic provision  of  the  Swiss  constitution  allows  eight  cantons  or 
30,000  citizens  of  the  republic  to  demand  the  submission  of  any 
measure  to  a  plebiscite.  More  than  100,000  signatures  had  been 
gathered,  demanding  the  referendum  in  the  case  of  the  obligatory 
civil  marriage  bill,  and  that  measure  was  accordingly  submitted  to 
the  test  of  a  popular  vote.  The  result  was  the  adoption  of  the 
measure  by  the  small  majority  of  8154  votes  (June,  1875),  212,854 
voting  for,  and  204,700  against  the  introduction  of  compulsory 
civil  marriage. 

For  the  purpose  of  weakening  and  disintegrating  the  Clerical 
party,  the  Liberal  cantons  decided  to  afford  all  possible  assistance 
to  the  Old  Catholic  movement.  Equally  with  the  adherents  of  the 
Pope,  the  Old  Catholics  were  regarded  as  Catholics,  each  parish 
being  allowed  to  determine  by  a  majority  vote  whether  it  would 
have  a  Roman  Catholic  or  an  Old  Catholic  pastor,  or  both  par- 
ties be  allowed  the  use  of  the  parish  church  at  different  hours. 
In  accordance  with  the  non  possumus  theory  of  Pius  IX.,  that 
they  might  not  seem  to  recognize  the  right  of  the  state  to  interfere 
in  ecclesiastical  matters,  many  Roman  Catholics  refrained  from 
voting  in  parish  elections,  thus  greatly  furthering  the  cause  of  the 
Old  Catholics.  In  the  year  1876  out  of  about  1,000,000  nominal 
Catholics  the  Old  Catholics  numbered  73,380,  constituting  fifty- 
five  parishes  and  seventeen  unions  or  clubs.  Their  organization 
was  completed  in  September  of  that  year  by  the  consecration  ov 
Herzog,  pastor  and  professor  in  Berne,  as  bishop  of  the  Swiss 
Old  Catholics — the  cantons  of  Geneva,  Neuchatel,  Solothurn,  and 
Aargau  contributing  to  his  support,  to  which  number  was  add- 
ed in  1877  the  canton  of  Berne.  The  Roman  Catholic  bishops 
greeted  this  unwelcome  colleague  with  a  formal  anathema,  and  a 


608  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

declaration  of  the  invalidity  of  his  consecration  as  lacking  the 
approval  of  the  Pope.  Another  blow  to  papal  authority  in  Switz- 
erland was  the  complete  or  partial  abolition  of  the  cloisters  in 
some  of  the  cantons,  reducing,  according  to  official  statistics,  the 
number  of  monks  and  nuns  from  8566  to  3570  between  the  years 
1871  and  1877.  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  the  Swiss 
cantons  were  engaged  in  this  antipapal  conflict,  or  were  even 
neutral.  In  the  year  1878,  after  the  accession  of  Leo  XIII.  and 
his  unsuccessful  attempt  to  open  negotiations  with  the  Swiss  gov- 
ernment, several  Ultramontane  cantons  protested  against  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  struggle,  and  demanded  the  restoration  of  political 
relations  with  the  Vatican.  The  canton  of  Ticino  (Italian),  which 
had  fallen  completely  into  the  hands  of  the  Clerical  party  in  1875, 
with  the  result,  among  other  things,  of  bringing  the  whole  school 
system  under  the  control  of  the  clergy,  formed  the  extreme  on 
the  one  side,  as  did  Berne  on  the  other.  The  Liberals  in  Ticino, 
like  the  Clericals  in  Berne,  were  continually  appealing  to  the 
federal  parliament.  That  body  showed  itself  ready  to  assist  the 
Liberals  whenever  it  could  consistently  do  so,  among  other  things 
interfering  in  1879  to  prevent  the  admission  of  foreign  monks  to 
capuchin  cloisters  in  Tessin,  and  holding  out  a  prospect  of  the 
ultimate  abolition  of  all  cloisters.  In  general,  however,  the  cnl- 
turkampf  in  Switzerland  has  assumed  a  more  moderate  character 
since  the  accession  of  Leo  XIII.  The  appointment  in  1880  of 
Cosandey  as  Bishop  of  Lausanne  and  Geneva,  in  place  of  the  ob- 
noxious Mermillod,  removed  one  important  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  peace ;  but  in  the  matter  of  Lachat  neither  party  has  yet  dis- 
played an  inclination  to  yield.  Leo's  change  of  policy  with  ref- 
erence to  the  participation  of  his  followers  in  parish  elections  has 
exerted  an  unfavorable  influence  on  the  prospects  of  the  Old  Cath- 
olics, depriving  them  of  a  number  of  parishes  formerly  in  their 
hands,  and  a  corresponding  amount  of  state  support.  The  present 
condition  of  the  religious  question  has  developed  in  several  can- 
tons a  considerable  party  in  favor  of  the  complete  separation  of 
Church  and  State;  but  all  attempts  to  realize  this  desirable  end 
have  so  far  resulted  in  failure. 

The  proverbial  parsimony  of  the  Swiss  people  (which  does  not, 
however,  prevent  the  Swiss  budget,  like  that  of  most  European 
nations,  from  displaying  a  deficit)  was  strikingly  exhibited  in  the 
difficulties  attending  the  completion  of  the  St.  Gothard  tunnel. 


ST.  GOTHARD  TUNNEL.— HOLLAND.  609 

The  cost  of  this  enterprise  had  been  originally  estimated  at 
187,000,000  francs,  but  this  sum  proved  insufficient,  and  a  new 
estimate  set  the  cost  at  289,000,000  francs.  Delegates  from 
Germany,  Italy,  and  Switzerland  met  at  Lucerne  in  June  of  1877 
to  devise  means  for  the  completion  of  the  undertaking  and  ap- 
portion the  additional  expense  between  the  three  countries  con- 
cerned. By  abandoning  certain  costly  features  of  the  original 
enterprise  the  sum  required  was  reduced  from  102,000,000  to 
46,000,000  francs — of  which  8,000,000  was  assigned  to  Switzer- 
land, 10,000,000  each  to  Germany  and  Italy,  and  the  remainder 
was  covered  by  issuing  shares.  Germany  and  Italy  unhesitating- 
ly appropriated  the  sum  allotted  them.  In  Switzerland  the  case 
was  different ;  several  cantons  refused  to  contribute  their  quota, 
and  for  a  time  there  was  danger  that  Switzerland  might  fail  to 
meet  her  obligations  with  regard  to  the  completion  of  the  tunnel. 
The  federal  government  was  obliged  to  interfere.  Then  follow- 
ed an  appeal  to  the  people,  and  it  was  not  until  the  year  1879 
that  the  required  sum  was  finally  appropriated — 4,500,000  by  the 
federal  government,  2,000,000  by  the  cantons  immediately  bene- 
fited, and  1,500,000  by  the  two  railroads  especially  interested. 
The  tunnel  itself  was  finally  completed,  after  eight  years'  work, 
on  the  29th  of  February,  1880,  and  opened  to  traffic  on  the  1st 
of  January,  1882. 

There  was  no  culturkampf  in  Holland,  for  the  reason  that 
neither  concordats  nor  previous  concessions  of  any  description 
afforded  the  Pope  either  reasonable  or  unreasonable  grounds  for 
laying  claim  to  special  rights  and  a  privileged  position  in  relation 
to  the  law.  The  nearest  approach  to  a  religious  contest  was  the 
struggle,  between  the  Liberals  on  the  one  side  and  the  Ultramon- 
tanes  and  extreme  Calvinists  on  the  other,  on  the  question  of  con- 
fessional schools.  In  this  struggle  the  former  have  so  far  had 
the  upper  hand,  thus  keeping  the  schools  entirely  out  of  the 
arena  of  religious  controversy.  The  majority  in  both  Chambers 
has,  during  these  years,  been  steadily  Liberal ;  but  the  Cabinet  has 
been  in  the  main  Conservative — King  William  assuming  a  more 
direct  part  in  the  direction  of  the  .government  than  is  perhaps  al- 
together consonant  with  his  position  as  constitutional  monarch. 
Whether  Liberals  or  Conservatives  have  held  the  tiller,  each 
year's  budget  has  displayed  an  ominous  deficit,  largely  caused 
by  the  interminable  war  in  Atchin,  which  constantly  breaks  out 

26* 


610  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

afresh  just  as  its  termination  has  been  joyfully  announced  or 
hopefully  predicted  by  the  government.  The  death,  without  is- 
sue, of  William,  Prince  of  Orange  (June  llth,  1879),  and  Henry, 
the  king's  younger  brother  (January  13th,  1879),  has  raised 
the  question  of  the  future  disposition  of  Luxemburg.  The 
connection  of  the  grand-duchy  with  Holland  is  not  organic,  but 
merely  personal ;  and,  while  women  may  inherit  in  the  latter,  in 
the  former  the  Salic  law  prevails.  King  William  is  sixty -five 
years  old.  His  only  surviving  son,  Prince  Alexander,  is  weak, 
both  mentally  and  physically,  and  generally  regarded  as  incapa- 
ble of  ascending  the  throne.  The  succession  in  Holland,  there- 
fore, devolves  upon  the  king's  infant  daughter  by  his  second  mar- 
riage (born  August  31st,  1880),  while  the  legal  heir  to  the  grand- 
duchy  of  Luxemburg  is  uncertain,  a  fact  which  involves  future 
danger — the  more  so  as  there  are  grounds  on  which  the  inheri- 
tance may  be  claimed  by  the  King  of  Prussia. 

The  history  of  the  little  kingdom  of  Denmark  during  the 
years  1876— '81  is  little  more  than  the  history  of  a  struggle  be- 
tween the  king  and  the  Landthing,  or  House  of  Lords,  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  Folkething,  or  popular  House  of  Representatives, 
on  the  other.  This  struggle,  which  began  in  a  question  relative 
to  an  appropriation  for  military  purposes,  the  Folkething  disap- 
proving of  the  costly  system  of  fortifications  proposed  by  the 
government,  finally  developed  into  a  permanent  conflict.  The 
House  refuses  to  pass  any  budget  until  the  obnoxious  ministry  is 
removed ;  while  the  king,  supported  by  the  Landthing,  refuses 
to  yield,  maintaining  that  such  a  concession  would  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  Commons  more  power  than  was  intended  by  the 
constitution. 

The  marriage  of  Princess  Thyra,  younger  sister  to  the  Princess 
of  Wales  and  the  Empress  of  Russia,  with  Prince  Ernest  Augustus, 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  son  and  heir  of  the  late  George  V.,  dispos- 
sessed King  of  Hanover,  brought  the  Danish  court  into  bad  odor 
in  Berlin.  After  his  father's  death  (June  12th,  1878)  Ernest 
Augustus,  by  the  advice  of  his  Hanoverian  friends,  and  especially 
Windthorst,  announced  his  intention  to  maintain  his  claims  to  all 
the  late  king's  rights  and  titles.  This  forced  the  Prussian  gov- 
ernment to  regard  him  as  a  pretender,  and  retain  in  its  possession 
the  Guelph  fund  of  16,000,000  thalers,  and  it  also  involves  his 
exclusion  from  the  succession  in  the  duchy  of  Brunswick  in  case 


PRINCESS  THYRA.— A  REPUBLICAN   CONSTITUTION.      611 

of  the  death  of  the  aged  sovereign  of  that  state.  His  marriage 
with  Princess  Thyra  was  the  union  of  two  interests  hostile  to 
Prussia,  the  one  laying  claim  to  North  Schlcswig,  the  other  to 
Hanover,  and  ultimately  Brunswick  also.  The  feeling  of  hostility 
toward  Prussia  entertained  at  Copenhagen  was  farther  emphasized 
by  the  reception  with  marked  honor  of  a  deputation  of  Guelph 
malcontents  from  Hanover  as  an  official  delegation  sent  to  attend 
the  marriage  of  their  king  (December  21st,  1878).  By  way  of 
answer  to  this  demonstration,  in  February  of  1879  the  German 
chancellor  published  the  text  of  an  agreement  entered  into  be- 
tween the  emperors  of  Germany  and  Austria  modifying  the  treaty 
of  Prague  (1866),  and  releasing  Prussia  from  her  obligation  under 
that  treaty  to  surrender  to  Denmark  the  Danish-speaking  north- 
ern districts  of  Schleswig.  The  date  of  this  agreement,  October 
llth,  1878,  marks  it  as  a  partial  payment  on  the  part  of  Austria 
for  the  territory  conferred  upon  her  by  the  treaty  of  Berlin. 


§37. 

FRANCE. 

THE  adoption  of  a  republican  constitution  in  France  antedates, 
properly  speaking,  the  period  under  consideration,  belonging  to 
the  year  1875.  The  majority  of  the  committee  of  thirty  ap- 
pointed to  frame  a  constitution  were  Royalists;  consequently,  the 
constitution  laid  before  the  Assembly  was  of  an  indefinite  char- 
acter, not  recognizing  the  republic  as  final,  but  merely  as  a  septen- 
nate,  the  executive  head  of  which  they  called  the  "  Marshal-presi- 
dent of  the  republic."  To  Wallon,  a  member  of  the  Left  Centre, 
belongs  the  credit  of  proposing  an  amendment  definitively  recog- 
nizing the  republic,  and  so  framed  as  to  meet  the  approval  of  the 
majority  of  the  delegates.  By  this  amendment  it  was  provided 
that  "The  president  of  the  republic  shall  be  elected  by  a  major- 
ity vote  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  convened  in 
joint  session.  He  shall  be  elected  for  seven  years.  He  may  be 
re-elected."  The  Orleanists  joined  with  the  Republicans  in  vot- 
ing for  this  amendment,  which  was  finally  adopted  by  a  majority 
of  200  (449  to  249).  The  organization  of  the  Senate  occasioned 


612  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

a  division  between  these  new  allies.  The  former  wished  to  con- 
fer upon  the  president  the  right  of  appointing  part  of  the  sena- 
tors ;  the  latter  desired  to  assimilate  the  elections  for  the  Senate 
to  those  for  the  Lower  House.  Again  Wallon  proposed  a  com- 
promise which  met  with  the  approval  of  both  parties.  The  Sen- 
ate was  to  consist  of  three  hundred  members,  seventy-five  elected 
by  the  National  Assembly,  and  holding  office  for  life  (vacancies 
to  be  filled  by  the  Senate  itself),  the  remainder  chosen  by  the  de- 
partments and  colonies — their  representatives  in  the  Lower  House, 
the  general  and  district  (arrondissement)  councils  and  municipal 
(commune)  representatives  forming  a  college  for  that  purpose — 
with  a  nine  years'  term  of  office,  one-third  to  be  renewed  each 
three  years.  In  the  matter  of  legislation  both  Houses  were  to 
have  equal  rights,  excepting  that  the  Senate  could  not  initiate 
financial  measures.  This  compromise  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of 
448  to  221 ;  and  by  the  end  of  February,  1875,  the  republican 
constitution  was  A  fait  accompli.  In  June  a  new  school  law  was 
passed  abolishing  the  state  monopoly  of  public  instruction,  grant- 
ing to  all  citizens  the  right  to  establish  schools  and  colleges,  and 
bestowing  the  power  to  confer  degrees  upon  a  jury  composed  of 
representatives  of  the  state  and  free  universities.  The  tendency 
of  this  measure  was  to  give  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood  the 
eventual  control  of  education  in  France.  The  Church  was  willing 
to  expend  larger  sums  for  educational  purposes  than  the  State ; 
moreover,  the  coherence  of  its  organization  and  its  influence  in 
high  circles  opened  to  the  graduates  of  its  institutions  a  better 
chance  of  making  a  career.  In  November  the  mode  of  voting 
for  the  members  of  the  new  House  came  up.  Gambetta  and  the 
Republicans  in  general  were  in  favor  of  the  scrutin  de  liste,  believ- 
ing themselves  more  sure  of  a  majority  in  case  all  the  voters  of 
each  department  voted  for  the  whole  list  of  delegates  from  that 
department.  The  Right  favored  scrutin  d* arrondissement,  since 
the  vote  of  the  conservative  country  population  would  be  more  ef- 
fective in  case  the  electors  of  each  district  voted  for  one  delegate 
only.  Both  methods  have  their  disadvantages.  The  former,  by 
increasing  the  unit  of  suffrage  from  the  district  to  the  depart- 
ment, gives  undue  power  to  the  majority ;  the  latter — which  was 
the  method  actually  adopted  by  a  vote  of  357  to  326 — makes  all 
districts  equal,  giving  one  of  30,000  inhabitants  the  same  repre- 
sentation as  one  of  90,000.  After  choosing  seventy-five  life-sen- 


COLLISION   WITH   THE   CLERICALS.  613 

atovs,  the  majority  Moderate  Republicans,  and  appointing  a  com- 
mittee of  twenty -five  to  represent  it  until  the  new  Chambers 
should  be  convened,  the  National  Assembly,  elected  February  8th, 
1871,  came  to  an  end  on  the  31st  of  December,  1875. 

With  the  year  1876  begins  the  history  of  the  definitive  and 
organized  republic.  The  elections  for  the  Senate,  on  the  30th  of 
January,  resulted  in  a  Monarchical  majority.  Out  of  the  whole 
number  of  300  senators  100  were  Moderate  Republicans,  40  Bo- 
napartists,  and  more  than  120  -Orleanists  and  Legitimists.  The 
elections  to  the  Lower  House,  on  the  other  hand,  resulted  in  the 
return,  in  round  numbers,  of  360  Republicans,  20  of  whom  were 
Radicals,  or  Intransigeants,  90  Monarchists,  and  80  Bonapartists. 
Buffet,  the  minister-president,  failed  of  election  to  either  House. 
In  December  he  failed  to  be  elected  life-senator,  in  January  he 
failed  to  be  elected  ordinary  senator,  and  in  the  February  elec- 
tions to  the  Assembly  he  was  defeated  in  four  different  districts. 
This  rendered  his  resignation  inevitable ;  and  Dufaure,  minister 
of  justice  in  the  late  cabinet,  an  adherent  of  order,  who  was  ready 
to  support  any  form  of  government  provided  it  were  legitimate 
and  orderly,  was  intrusted  with  the  formation  of  a  new  ministry 
from  the  Right  and  Left  Centres.  The  Chambers  were  opened 
March  7th,  1876;  the  Duke  of  Audiffret-Pasquier  was  chosen 
president  of  the  Senate,  and  Jules  Grevy  of  the  House,  and  the 
work  of  the  organized  republic  had  begun.  The  first  efforts  of 
the  Republican  majority  in  the  House  were  directed  toward  the 
removal  of  the  state  of  siege  in  Paris,  Lyons,  Marseilles,  and  Ver- 
sailles, the  repeal  of  the  Clerical  school  laws  of  1875,  and  a  reor- 
ganization of  the  personnel  of  the  prefectures  and  mayoralties  in 
the  interest  of  the  Republicans.  The  first  of  these  measures  met 
with  no  opposition  in  either  House,  and  on  the  4th  of  April  the 
four  cities  in  question  were  restored  to  their  full  rights  and  privi- 
leges. On  the  22d  of  March  Waddington,  as  minister  of  public 
instruction,  brought  forward  a  bill  restoring  to  the  state  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  confer  academic  degrees.  This  measure,  which 
Dtipanloup,  Bishop  of  Orleans  and  a  member  of  the  Senate,  char- 
acterized in  an  open  letter  as  "an  attack  on  religion  and  the 
church,"  passed  the  Assembly  with  a  majority  of  over  200  votes 
(338  to  128),  but  was  thrown  out  in  the  Senate  by  a  majority  of 
five  (144  to  139).  At  the  funeral  of  the  composer  Felicien  Da- 
vid, who,  as  member  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  was  entitled  to  a  mil- 


614  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECEXT   TIMES. 

itary  escort,  the  commanding  officer,  learning  that  in  his  will  the 
deceased  had  expressly  desired  to  be  buried  without  religious  cer- 
emonies, marched  the  escort  back  to  their  barracks.  The  action 
of  the  ministry,  in  view  of  this  act  of  Clerical  impertinence,  was 
weak  and  undecided.  They  lost  respect  in  both  Houses,  and  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  year  Dufaure  was  obliged  to  resign.  Mac- 
Mahon  summoned  Audiffret-Pasquier  to  form  a  new  Cabinet,  but 
the  latter  advised  him  to  call  a  pronounced  Republican  to  office. 
MacMahon  and  his  advisers  believed  that,  if  the  Republicans  were 
once  in  power,  they  would  alarm  the  country  population  by  at- 
tempting to  carry  out  radical  and  revolutionary  measures,  and 
thus  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Conservatives.  Jules  Simon  was 
the  man  chosen  to  bring  the  Republicans  into  discredit.  The 
other  members  of  the  Cabinet  remained  substantially  the  same  as 
before. 

MacMahon's  expectations  were  not  fulfilled.  The  new  ministry 
showed  no  inclination  to  hand  over  the  country  to  radicalism. 
The  elections  to  the  councils-general  which  were  to  participate  in 
the  election  of  seventy-five  new  senators  took  place  before  the 
end  of  1877,  and  therefore  it  was  necessary,  before  that  time  ar- 
rived, to  get  rid  of  Simon  and  his  Republican  cabinet  and  commit 
the  government  to  statesmen  of  the  Right.  Simon  controlled  a 
majority  in  the  House,  and  could  not  be  overthrown  in  a  parlia- 
mentary manner,  hence  it  became  necessary  for  the  marshal- 
president  himself  to  force  resignation  upon  him.  In  April  the 
"  Catholic  Assembly  "  met  in  Paris.  It  was  resolved  to  collect 
among  the  French  Roman  Catholics  signatures  to  a  petition  to 
the  government  regarding  the  Pope's  "imprisonment,"  setting 
forth  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  free  exercise  of  his  spiritual 
functions,  expressing  a  fear  that  he  might  soon  be  forbidden  to 
hold  any  communication  with  the  Roman  Catholic  world,  and 
calling  upon  the  French  government  to  interfere  for  the  restora- 
tion of  his  freedom.  Simon  issued  an  order  directing  all  prefects 
to  prevent  the  circulation  of  this  petition,  as  calculated  to  incite 
French  citizens  to  hostilities  against  a  neighboring  friendly  power. 
Some  of  the  bishops  issued  pastorals  and  open  letters  containing 
still  more  direct  attacks  upon  the  Italian  government,  and  were 
warned  to  desist  from  all  farther  interference  in  matters  of  foreign 
policy.  On  the  3d  of  May,  in  the  Lower  House,  Leblond  interpel- 
lated the  ministry  with  regard  to  the  measures  employed  for  the 


THE  FOURTEENTH  OF  MAY.  615 

repression  of  the  Ultramontane  agitation,  which  he  designated  as 
"a  declaration  of  war  on  Italy."     Simon  detailed  the  measures 
which  had  been  adopted,  and  added,  with  reference  to  the  letters 
of  the  bishops,  that  they  were  based  on  the  theory  of  the  Pope's 
"  imprisonment."     "  It  is,  however,  not  a  fact  that  the  Pope  is  a 
prisoner.      The  statements  made  are,  if  not  altogether  false,  at 
least  exaggerated."     Informed  of  Simon's  words,  the  Pope  took 
the  earliest  possible  opportunity  to  complain  publicly  that  the  ; 
French  minister-president  had  called  him  a  "liar."     On  the  15th  I 
this  complaint  became  known  to  MacMahon,  among  whose  most  1 
intimate  counsellors  were  Madame  MacMahon  and  Bishop  Dupan-  ' 
loup,  her  conscience-holder.     On  the  following  morning  Simon  ; 
received  a  letter  from  the  president,  practically  asking  for  his 
resignation,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  not  exercised  sufficient  in- 
fluence on  the  House  of  Representatives  with  reference  to  the     , 
Press  Bill  then  under  discussion.     (At  a  later  date  the  Duke  of 
Broglie  ascribed  the  president's  action  to  the  undue  influence 
which  Simon  allowed  Gambetta  to  exert  upon  him.)     All  the 
ministers   at  once  handed  in  their  resignations.     Although  the    ' 
Republicans   had   a   majority   of  200    in   the   Lower   House,  a 
Cabinet  was  formed  containing  one  Bonapartist,  two  Legitimists, 
and  three  Orleanists ;  one  of  the  latter,  the  Duke  of  Broglie,  being 
minister-president.     At  the  same  time  the  president  prorogued 
the  Chambers  for  one  month ;   but,  before  they  separated,  363 
members  of  the  House  united  in  a  manifesto  of  protest  to  their 
constituents  against  the  unconstitutional  course  pursued  by  the 
marshal. 

The  new  ministry  displayed  the  greatest  activity  in  the  removal 
of  Republican  officials.  Out  of  87  prefects  50  were  either  trans- 
ferred or  removed  altogether;  150  subprefects,  secretaries-general, 
etc.,  suffered  a  similar  fate,  and  the  new  officials  extended  the  pol- 
icy of  removal  to  those  below  them  in  office.  Repressive  measures 
were  adopted  with  regard  to  clubs,  meetings,  cafes,  and  restaurants 
of  a  Republican  character,  and,  above  all,  the  Press.  The  Chambers 
re-assembled  on  the  16th  of  June.  Broglie  read  a  message  of  the 
president  to  the  Senate,  asking  the  consent  of  the  latter  to  a  disso- 
lution of  the  House.  This  consent  was  granted  by  a  vote  of  150 
to  130,  and  on  the  25th  of  June  the  Chamber  was  dissolved.  The 
electoral  campaign  for  the  new  Chamber  began  at  once.  The  four 
Republican  groups  united  in  supporting  for  re-election  the  363  rep- 


616  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

resentatives  who  had  signed  the  manifesto  of  May  19th.  Gambet- 
ta  was  the  virtual  leader  of  the  Republican  forces.  A  speech  of 
his  at  a  banquet  in  Lille,  on  the  15th  of  August,  gave  the  watch- 
word to  the  party :  "  When  in  the  elections  France  shall  have  pro- 
nounced her  sovereign  verdict,  it  will  be  necessary  either  to  sub- 
mit or  to  resign  (se  soumettre  ou  se  demettre)."  For  these  words 
the  ex-dictator  was  condemned  to  three  months'  imprisonment 
and  fined  2000  francs,  but  the  government  did  not  dare  to  en- 
force the  sentence  for  fear  of  a  popular  vising.  Wherever  the 
Republican  chief  appeared  he  was  greeted  with  popular  demon- 
strations and  public  applause.  The  marshal,  on  the  other  hand, 
who,  pushed  into  the  foreground  by  his  reactionary  ministers, 
undertook  a  tour  of  the  provinces  and  made  political  speeches  at 
various  places,  was  greeted  with  cries  of  "  Long  live  the  Repub- 
lic !"  "  Long  live  the  363  !"  "  Long-  live  Thiers !" 

The  latter,  whose  name  was  a  pledge  of  order  and  patriotism, 
the  Republican  moderator,  who  held  the  various  fractions  togeth- 
er and  was  looked  on  by  Gambetta  as  MacMahon's  successor,  died 
on  the  4th  of  September  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty.  Victor  Hugo 
(Senate)  and  Gambetta  forthwith  issued  a  letter  designating  Jules 
Grevy  as  Thiers's  successor  in  the  representation  of  his  vacant 
Parisian  electoral  district,  in  the  leadership  of  the  363,  and  as 
future  president  of  the  republic. 

September  19th  MacMahon  published  his  electoral  manifesto. 
In  this  he  announced  that  the  government  would  designate  the 
candidates  who  met  with  its  approval,  that  hostile  elections  would 
only  prolong  the  crisis  and  retard  the  course  of  business,  for  he 
would  in  no  case  yield  to  radicalism.  This  called  forth  a  num- 
ber of  counter  manifestoes  from  the  Republican  side.  In  his 
address  to  his  Belleville  electors  Gambetta  declared  that  "  France 
will  condemn  the  dictatorial  policy,  and  leave  the  chief  of  the  ex- 
ecutive power  no  other  choice  than  either  se  soumettre  ou  se  de- 
mettre." For  these  words  he  was  condemned  to  three  months' 
imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  4000  francs ;  but  again  the  govern- 
ment did  not  dare  to  arrest  him.  The  bishops  also  took  part 
in  the  campaign,  and  threw  the  whole  weight  of  their  position 
on  the  side  of  the  government.  A  three  days'  supplication  was 
decreed  for  the  favorable  issue  of  the  elections,  and  papal  ab- 
solution offered  to  all  who  rendered  assistance  to  the  marshal. 
The  electoral  proclamations  of  the  Republicans  were  for  the  in^e*, 


MACMAHON'S  MANIFESTOES.  617 

part  confiscated  by  the  prefects  of  the  departments  in  which  they 
were  issued.  On  the  1 2th  of  October,  two  days  before  the  elec- 
tions, the  president  issued  a  second  manifesto,  in  which  the 
voters  were  appealed  to  in  the  following  language:  "You  will 
vote  for  the  candidates  whom  I  recommend  to  your  free  choice. 
Go  to  the  polls  without  fear.  Follow  my  summons.  I  myself 
am  your  security  for  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  order." 

The  elections  resulted  in  the  return  of  about  320  Republicans 
and  210  Royalists,  112  of  whom  were  Bonapartists.  Both  par- 
ties were  mistaken  in  their  reckoning.  The  Republicans  had  ex- 
pected to  elect  400  delegates  in  place  of  the  original  363,  while 
the  government  had  expected  to  have  a  majority  at  its  disposal. 
The  result  was,  however,  a  Republican  victory,  for  320  delegates 
could  refuse  to  vote  the  budget  as  well  as  363,  and  a  second  dis- 
solution was  impossible,  since  the  thirteen  constitutional  Orleanists 
who  held  the  balance  of  power  in  the  Senate  refused  their  con- 
sent. The  elections  to  the  councils-general,  whose  members  would 
take  part  in  the  election  of  seventy-five  new  senators  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  also  resulted  to  the  advantage  of  the  Republicans.  It 
was  evident  that  the  great  majority  of  all  classes  of  the  popula- 
tion was  against  the  Broglie  ministry ;  still  the  latter  did  not 
resign.  The  Chambers  met  on  the  7th  of  November.  Albert 
Grevy  moved  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  thirty-three 
for  the  investigation  of  abuses  occurring  during  the  late  elec- 
tions. In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  government  the  motion 
was  carried  by  a  vote  of  320  to  203.  The  committee  appointed 
consisted  entirely  of  members  of  the  four  Republican  groups,  as 
the  result  of  whose  labors  ninety -three  members  of  the  Right 
were  ultimately  unseated.  Finally,  on  the  20th  of  November, 
all  the  ministers  resigned.  Still  possessed  of  the  infatuation  that 
he  was  justified  in  rescuing  the  country  from  the  dangers  of  radi- 
calism by  the  interference  of  his  personal  will,  MacMahon  formed 
a  new  ministry  (Rochebouet)  consisting  entirely  of  Royalists  and 
Bonapartists,  differing  from  the  preceding  only  in  the  fact  that 
none  of  its  members  were  sufficiently  prominent  to  have  seats  in 
either  House.  This  Cabinet  presented  itself  to  the  Chambers  on 
the  24th  of  November,  whereupon,  at  Jules  Ferry's  motion,  the 
Lower  House  resolved,  by  a  vote  of  323  to  108,  to  enter  into  no 
relations  with  an  unparliamentary  cabinet.  MacMahon  would  not 
yield.  On  the  26th  the  minister  of  finance  asked  the  Chamber 


618  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

to  vote  the  four  direct  taxes  in  order  that  government  business 
might  not  come  to  a  stand-still.  The  budget  commission,  presided 
over  by  Gambetta,  refused  to  take  any  notice  of  the  measures  of 
the  obnoxious  cabinet.  The  president  saw  himself  obliged  to 
dismiss  Rochebouet  and  summon  Dufaure  to  form  a  new  minis- 
try (December  6th),  but  as  he  still  persisted  in  his  theory  of  per- 
sonal government,  and  wished  to  fill  three  of  the  ministerial  posts 
(foreign  affairs,  war,  and  navy)  with  his  own  followers,  Dufaure 
declined  the  task.  Thereupon  negotiations  with  the  Right  were 
renewed.  Extremists  talked  of  a  coup  d'etat.  Others  proposed 
an  appeal  to  the  people,  and  the  passage  of  the  budget  by  means 
of  a  plebiscite.  There  was  even  a  military  plot  on  foot.  Busi- 
ness came  to  a  stand-still.  Petitions  and  delegations  urged  the 
marshal  to  yield.  This  lasted  a  week,  then  he  surrendered.  Se 
soumettre  was  preferred  to  se  demettre.  Dufaure  was  again  sum- 
moned, and  on  the  14th  the  formation  of  a  new  cabinet  was  com- 
pleted. All  the  ministers,  with  the  exception  of  Borel  (war),  were 
Republicans,  and,  as  though  to  emphasize  the  defeat  of  the  Cleri- 
cals, four  of  them — Waddington,  Say,  Borel,  and  Pothuan  (foreign 
affairs,  finance,  war,  marine) — were  Protestants.  Dufaure  at  once 
introduced  a  bill  granting  amnesty  for  all  political  offences  since 
the  16th  of  May.  Sweeping  changes  were  also  made  in  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  prefectures.  Out  of  eighty-seven  prefects  eighty-two 
were  removed  and  one  transferred.  Then  the  House  adjourned 
until  the  8th  of  January. 

The  victory  was  Gambetta's  victory.  His  power  increased 
every  day.  Experience  had  tempered  his  radicalism  and  taught 
him  moderation.  He  realized  the  danger  arising  from  the  social- 
istic vagaries  and  wild  fanaticism  of  the  extreme  Left,  and  exerted 
all  his  influence  to  restrain  them.  The  power  must  fall  into  the 
hands  of  his  party  if  they  were  patient  and  bided  their  time.  It 
might  elude  them  if  they  grasped  at  it  too  hastily.  The  Radicals 
called  him  an  "  opportunist ;"  but  he  won  the  more  adherents 
among  the  lovers  of  peace  and  order.  His  appearance  in  the 
provinces  was  the  signal  for  a  genuine  ovation.  In  the  autumn 
of  1878  he  made  a  brief  tour,  which  resembled  a  triumphal  pro- 
cession. When  he  appeared  in  the  theatre  the  audience  rose,  the 
representation  was  interrupted,  and  all  joined  in  the  Marseillaise. 
On  this  tour  he  delivered  political  speeches — explanations  of  his 
policy.  In  these  speeches  he  denounced  the  Clericals,  declaring 


GAMBETTA  AND  HIS  ENEMIES.  619 

clericalism  to  be  the  most  dangerous  foe  the  republic  had  to  fear. 
He  would  maintain  the  concordat,'  but  insist  upon  its  strict  ob- 
servance. From  the  report  of  Bardoux,  minister  of  public  in- 
struction, it  appeared  that  out  of  138,252  monks  and  nuns  in  the 
French  republic  20,341  were  educators  of  one  sort  or  another, 
giving  instruction  in  2328  public  and  768  private  schools.  The 
unauthorized  religious  orders  numbered  21,444  members — 7444 
male  and  14,000  female — of  whom  a  large  part,  and  particularly  the 
Jesuits,  busied  themselves  with  education.  This  Gambetta  con- 
ceived to  be  a  source  of  great  danger  to  the  republic,  and  he  ex- 
pressed himself  accordingly,  still  farther  exciting,  if  that  were  pos- 
sible, the  hatred  of  the  Clericals  against  him.  Besides  the  Cleri- 
cals and  the  extreme  radical  wing  of  the  Republicans,  Garnbetta 
also  enjoyed  the  cordial  hatred  of  the  Bonapartists.  lie  was 
scarcely  allowed  to  speak  without  interruptions  from  Cassagnac ; 
nor  was  he  himself  sufficiently  guarded  in  his  language.  In  No- 
vember of  1878  some  hasty  words  directed  against  Fourtou  led, 
in  accordance  with  the  unfortunate  and  foolish  traditions  of 
French  politics,  to  a  challenge,  and  a  duel  was  fought  with  pistols 
at  thirty -five  paces,  but  a  kindly  Providence  interfered  to  save 
each  champion  from  the  other's  deadly  aim. 

As  to  the  marshal-president,  he  seemed  to  have  concluded  to 
allow  the  people  their  own  way.  He  remained  in  office  and  did 
the  honors  of  the  republic  toward  the  numerous  distinguished  and 
princely  visitors  to  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1878.  Chief  in  the 
latter  category  was  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  showed  Gambetta 
marked  attention,  inviting  him  to  breakfast  at  his  hotel,  and 
speaking  of  him  as  an  "  homme  vraiment  superieiir."  France  felt 
that  the  presence  of  so  many  princely  personages  implied  the  full 
and  friendly  recognition  of  the  French  republic  by  the  European 
monarchies,  and  the  Paris  papers  exultingly  expressed  themselves 
to  that  effect.  Only  Germany  refused  to  take  part  in  the  Exposi- 
tion at  large,  reluctantly  consenting  to  participate  in  the  exhibi- 
tion of  painting  and  sculpture.  After  the  foreign  princes  had  de- 
parted, MacMahon  became  more  sensible  of  his  political  impo- 
tence. Whatever  hopes  he  may  have  cherished  of  a  conflict  be- 
tween the  two  Chambers  was  finally  dispelled  by  the  result  of  the 
senatorial  elections  (January  5th,  1879).  Of  the  seventy-five  out- 
going senators  fifty-six,  were  Monarchists  and  nineteen  Republi- 
cans; of  the  seventy-five  incoming  senators  sixty  were  Republi- 


620  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

cans  and  fifteen  Monarchists.  A  Monarchical  majority  of  twenty- 
four  had  been  turned  into  a*Republican  majority  of  fifty-eight. 
The  Republicans,  sure  of  both  Chambers,  at  once  began  a  more 
aggressive  policy.  The  removal  of  a  number  of  Bonapartist  gen- 
erals was  demanded.  The  marshal  would  not  consent  to  the  re- 
moval of  his  old  comrades  in  arms ;  thereupon,  Dufaure  handed 
in  his  resignation.  Once  more  the  marshal  stood  before  the 
alternatives  se  soumettre  ou  se  demettre.  This  time  he  chose  the 
latter.  On  the  morning  of  January  30th  his  letter  of  resignation 
was  read  in  both  Houses,  and  at  six  o'clock  on  the  same  day  Sen- 
ate and  Assembly  met  in  joint  session  to  choose  a  new  president. 
In  accordance  with  the  programme  agreed  to  by  the  various  Re- 
publican factions  in  1877,  Jules  Grevy  was  elected  president,  563 
votes  being  cast  for  him  and  99  for  General  Chanzy.  The  post 
made  vacant  by  Grevy's  elevation  was  filled  the  next  day  by  the 
election  of  Gambetta  to  the  speakership  of  the  House  by  a  vote 
of  314  to  91. 

In  order  to  leave  the  hands  of  the  new  president  free,  Dufaure 
handed  in  his  resignation.  Waddington  was  thereupon  intrusted 
with  the  formation  of  a  new  cabinet.  This  displayed  a  farther 
inclination  toward  the  Left.  Two  of  its  members,  Freycinet  and 
Lepere,  belonged  to  the  Republican  Union — Gambetta's  group — 
the  others  were  taken  from  the  Left  Centre  and  the  Moderate  Left. 
The  four  questions  which  this  cabinet  had  to  solve  were  amnesty, 
the  prosecution  of  the  Broglie  ministry  of  1877,  removal  of  the 
Chambers  from  Versailles  to  Paris,  and  the  secularization  of  edu- 
cation, i.  e.,  the  withdrawal  of  the  control  of  public  instruction 
from  the  hands  of  the  priests.  The  Radicals,  such  as  Victor 
Hugo  (Senate)  and  Louis  Blanc  (House),  had  long  demanded 
complete  amnesty  for  the  criminals  of  the  Commune.  The  greater 
part  of  the  lesser  offenders  had  already  been  pardoned  by  the 
president.  A  bill  was  now  brought  in  granting  amnesty  to  all 
those  not  condemned  for  offences  against  the  common  law.  In 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  both  Radicals  and  Monarchists,  this  bill 
passed  both  Houses,  and  a  credit  of  300,000  francs  was  granted 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  released  Communists  back  from 
New  Caledonia.  The  question  of  the  prosecution  of  Broglie  and 
Rochcbouet,  with  their  associates,  almost  involved  a  ministerial 
crisis.  The  committee  reported  in  favor  of  impeaching  the  mem- 
bers of  both  cabinets.  Waddington  agreed  with  the  committee 


JULES  FERRY   BEGINS  THE  CULTURKAMPF.  621 

as  to  the  grave  character  of  the  crimes  committed,  but  regarded 
an  impeachment  as  impolitic.  Finally,  a  resolution  was  passed  in 
the  Lower  Chamber  to  the  effect  that  the  ministers  of  May  16th 
and  November  23d  (1877)  had  betrayed  the  republic.  This  reso- 
lution the  minister  of  the  interior  was  requested  to  placard  in 
every  commune.  De  Broglie,  Rochebouet,  and  their  colleagues 
protested  against  being  condemned  and  branded  with  infamy 
without  the  formality  of  a  trial ;  but  their  protests  passed  un- 
heeded. The  third  of  the  four  questions  before  the  Waddington 
ministry  was  solved  in  June.  The  Chambers  met  in  joint  session, 
and  repealed  the  ninth  article  of  the  Constitution,  which  desig- 
nated Versailles  as  their  place  of  meeting.  The  constitutional 
difficulty  being  thus  removed,  a  bill  was  passed  in  both  Houses 
providing  for  a  removal  to  Paris. 

The  solution  of  the  fourth  question  involved  a  culturkampf. 
In  France  the  concordat  and  the  organic  laws  were  strict  enough, 
if  enforced,  to  hold  the  clergy  in  obedience ;  but  previous  govern- 
ments had  not  insisted  on  their  observance,  so  that  the  bishops 
and  the  various  religious  orders,  particularly  the  Jesuits,  had  ac- 
quired a  degree  of  power,  especially  in  the  educational  field,  which 
was  both  dangerous  and  intolerable.  To  reduce  this  power  the 
minister  of  public  instruction,  Jules  Ferry,  brought  in  a  bill  de- 
priving the  congregations  (religious  orders)  of  the  right  to  main- 
tain high  -  schools,  or  share  in  conferring  academic  degrees,  and 
forbidding  the  members  of  unauthorized  congregations  to  con- 
duct educational  institutions  of  any  description  whatever,  or  give 
instruction  in  them.  It  was  also  provided  that  only  laymen 
should  in  future  be  eligible  for  the  Educational  Council — a  body 
appointed  by  law  for  the  assistance  of  the  minister  of  public  in- 
struction ;  at  the  same  time  steps  were  taken  to  secure  better 
obedience  to  the  concordat  and  the  organic  laws.  A  circular  was 
issued  ordering  prefects  to  enforce  the  reading  in  the  churches 
of  the  prayer  for  the  republic,  and  directing  them  to  report  at 
once  any  bishop  who  should  absent  himself  from  his  diocese  with- 
out first  obtaining  permission  from  the  government.  The  new 
school  law,  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  was  somewhat  too  polem- 
ical in  its  character,  called  forth  fiery  fulminations  from  the  bish- 
ops and  the  Clerical  party  at  large,  but  the  most  dangerous  op- 
position came  from  the  Republican  Left  Centre  in  the  Senate. 
Jules  Simon  and  his  followers  opposed  the  bill  as  illiberal  and 


622  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

unrepublican  in  its  provisions.  It  passed  the  Lower  Chamber  by 
a  large  majority  in  July  of  1879 ;  but  its  discussion  in  the  Senate 
was  postponed  until  January  of  1880.  In  the  mean  time  Wad- 
dington,  who,  like  Simon,  belonged  to  the  Conservative  Republi- 
cans, was  replaced  by  Frcycinet,  a  member  of  Gambetta's  group, 
and  a  devoted  personal  adherent  of  the  ex-dictator.  This  change 
marked  a  step  on  Gambetta's  road  to  the  open  assumption  of 
power,  and  was  universally  conceded  to  be  a  convincing  proof, 
had  proof  been  wanting,  that  he  it  was  who  dictated  the  policy 
of  France.  This  change  of  ministry  took  place  toward  the  end 
of  December,  1879.  On  the  9th  of  March,  1880,  the  Senate  de- 
bate on  the  school  laws  was  ended.  The  bill  was  returned  to  the 
Lower  Chamber  with  Section  7,  excluding  members  of  unauthor- 
ized religious  orders  from  all  participation  in  the  work  of  educa- 
tion, struck  out.  Freycinet  was  interpellated  as  to  the  course 
which  the  government  intended  to  pursue.  He  replied  that  the 
existing  laws  against  unauthorized  congregations  would  be  en- 
forced. The  Chamber  thereupon  adopted  a  resolution  approving 
of  the  policy  proposed.  There  was  abundant  provision  of  un- 
repealed  laws,  which,  if  enforced,  would  prevent  Jesuits  and  mem- 
bers of  other  unauthorized  congregations  from  engaging  in  edu- 
cation ;  but  it  was  generally  supposed  that  these  laws  had  be- 
come antiquated  and  invalid  from  disuse.  As  the  Senate  refused 
to  exclude  members  of  unauthorized  congregations  from  the 
schools,  the  government  now  had  recourse  to  this  half-forgotten 
legislation.  On  the  30th  of  March  President  Grevy  issued  a 
proclamation  ordering  the  "so-called  society  of  Jesus"  to  dis- 
band, and  vacate  all  institutions  in  its  possession  within  three 
months  (they  had  74  educational  institutions  with  1011  teachers 
and  about  10,000  scholars),  a  period  which  was  extended  to  five 
months  in  the  case  of  educational  establishments  of  a  scientific 
character.  The  other  unauthorized  congregations  were  ordered 
to  submit  their  constitution  and  statutes  to  the  government  for 
approval,  and  to  obtain  recognition  for  each  separate  institution 
before  the  1st  of  July.  These  March  decrees  met  with  the  hearty 
approval  of  the  Lower  Chamber,  and  the  Senate  expressed  no 
formal  disapproval.  Loud  protests  were  raised  by  the  Clericals, 
and  disturbances  predicted;  but  the  protests  passed  unheeded, 
and  the  closing  of  a  number  of  Jesuit  establishments,  which  took 
place  on  the  1st  of  July,  was  attended  by  no  disturbances  of  any 


AMNESTY  OF  THE  COMMUNISTS.  623 

importance.  As  for  the  other  unauthorized  congregations,  al- 
though they  did  not  make  their  submission  by  the  time  appoint- 
ed, no  measures  were  taken  against  them ;  but,  instead,  negotia- 
tions for  a  compromise  were  opened  with  the  Vatican. 

In  the  mean  time  the  question  of  full  amnesty  for  the  criminals 
of  the  Commune  had  again  come  up,  and  at  length  received  a  de- 
finitive solution.  April  20th,  1879,  the  imprisoned  Communist, 
Blanqui,  was  elected  to  the  Chamber  from  Bordeaux.  The  Rad- 
icals once  more  demanded  full  amnesty  for  political  offenders  and 
the  recognition  of  Blanqui's  election ;  but  Gambetta  was  against 
them,  and  the  election  was  annulled  by  an  overwhelming  majority 
(372  to  33).  A  new  election  was  ordered.  Blanqui  was  again  a 
candidate ;  but,  fortunately  for  the  Chamber,  which  was  thus 
rescued  from  an  embarrassing  predicament,  was  defeated  by  a 
member  of  the  Republican  Union.  In  June  of  1880  Blanqui 
was  again  a  prominent  candidate  in  Lyons,  and  another  ineligible 
Communist,  Trinquet,  was  elected  in  one  of  the  Paris  districts.  It 
was  evident  that,  in  the  large  cities  at  least,  public  sentiment  de- 
manded complete  amnesty.  A  new  amnesty  bill  was  brought  be- 
fore the  Chamber.  Gambetta  left  his  president's  chair  to  speak 
in  its  favor.  His  speech  was  greeted  with  thunders  of  applause, 
and  the  measure  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  333  to  140.  But  Jules 
Simon,  Waddington,  and  the  Moderate  Republicans  in  the  Senate 
opposed  the  bill,  and  it  was  finally  returned  so  amended  as  to  be 
unacceptable  to  the  majority  in  the  Chamber.  Another  conflict 
had  arisen  between  the  two  Houses.  But  a  way  out  of  the  diffi- 
culty was  at  length  discovered.  A  bill  was  passed  granting  am- 
nesty to  all  not  convicted  of  murder  or  incendiarism  who  were 
pardoned  before  the  14th  of  July,  and  to  all,  without  exception, 
whose  sentences  were  commuted  before  the  10th  of  the  same 
month.  By  this  means  the  Senate  found  its  conscience  satisfied, 
and  the  House  gained  its  wish.  The  government  granted  the 
necessary  pardons  and  commutations  within  the  time  allotted, 
and  all  the  criminals  of  the  Commune  were  restored  to  their  full 
rights  and  privileges  as  French  citizens. 

Prominent  among  the  returning  Communists  was  the  notorious 
Rochefort,  who  at  once  began  through  the  columns  of  his  paper, 
the  Intransigeant,  an  attack  of  the  most  virulent  description  on 
Gambetta  and  his  "  opportunism."  But  neither  Radicals  nor 
Conservatives  could  shake  Gambetta's  position.  Indeed,  the  very 


624  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

epithets  they  made  use  of,  and  the  ridicule  they  showered  upon 
him,  bore  witness  to  their  consciousness  of  his  absolute  powei. 
A  Bonapartist  journal,  Le  Pays,  designated  him  as  "  Jfonsieur 
Gambetta,  Dictateur"  The  Orleanist  paper  Soldi  said :  "  The 
ministers  are  nothing;  the  president  of  the  republic  is  less  than 
nothing.  Gambetta,  as  has  been  wittily  remarked,  is  the  emperor 
of  the  republic.  He  is  more  than  that ;  he  is  the  republic  itself." 
Radical  journals  used  similar  language.  It  was  manifestly  the 
opinion  of  the  whole  country — of  those  who  feared  and  hated,  as 
well  as  those  who  trusted  and  admired  him — and  in  this  regard 
foreign  nations  also  were  of  the  same  opinion  as  the  French. 
Gambetta's  utterances  on  questions  of  foreign  policy  were  regard- 
ed as  semi-official  utterances  of  the  French  people.  The  National 
Festival  was  celebrated  on  the  14th  of  July,  the  anniversary  of 
the  storming  of  the  Bastile.  There  was  a  grand  military  display, 
and  President  Grevy  presented  436  new  banners  to  the  army. 
The  martial  pageant  revived  national  self-confidence.  It  began 
to  be  felt  that  France  was  ready  to  take  her  revenge  for  Alsace 
and  Lorraine.  This  feeling  colored  Gambetta's  speech  at  a  ban- 
quet in  Cherbourg,  August  9th,  1880.  In  guarded  language  he 
declared  that  on  the  first  favorable  opportunity  France  must  re- 
claim her  lost  provinces.  This  speech  attracted  great  attention, 
especially  in  Germany.  The  question  was,  did  Gambetta  speak 
for  himself  merely,  or  for  France  ?  To  cause  it  to  appear  as 
though  the  former  were  the  case,  Grevy  and  Freycinet  took  every 
opportunity,  in  replying  to  delegations  and  on  other  public  occa- 
sions, to  announce  a  policy  of  peace,  and  the  latter,  in  a  speech  at 
Montauban,  was  understood  to  characterize  Gambetta's  policy  as 
a  "policy  of  adventure." 

It  was  to  his  too  independent  attitude  on  this  occasion  that 
Freycinet's  downfall  seems  to  have  been  due ;  but  the  ostensible 
cause  of  his  resignation  was  a  question  of  internal  policy.  The 
negotiations  with  the  Vatican  had  resulted  in  a  compromise.  The 
Jesuits  were  to  be  abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment, while  the  other  unauthorized  congregations  were  to  re- 
main undisturbed  for  the  present,  on  condition  of  signing  a  sort 
of  general  submission  to  the  laws  of  the  state.  This  arrangement 
was  opposed  by  Constans,  Cazot,  and  Farre  (interior,  justice,  and 
wai-),  Gambetta's  special  adherents  in  the  ministry,  and  after  vari- 
ous attcmnts  at  a  compromise  Freycinet  finally  resigned  (Septenh 


FKEYCINET  DISMISSED.  625 

ber  19th),  and  Jules  Ferry  was  charged  with  the  formation  of  a 
new  cabinet.  That  Freycinet's  fall  might  not  be  attributed  to  his 
Montauban  speech,  it  was  necessary  to  place  in  the  foreign  office 
a  known  advocate  of  peace,  and  accordingly  Barthelemy  St. 
Hilaire,  an  old  friend  of  Thiers  and  an  admirer  of  Bismarck's 
policy,  was  selected  to  discharge  the  duties  of  that  post.  It  was 
more  than  ever  manifest  that  Gambetta  was  the  real,  though 
irresponsible,  dictator  of  French  policy,  and  that  cabinets  existed 
merely  at  his  pleasure.  The  new  cabinet  carried  out  the  March 
decrees  without  compromise.  Early  in  November,  1880,  after 
the  courts  had  declared  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  legal,  the 
Carmelites,  Franciscans,  Capuchins,  Dominicans,  Marists,  Redemp- 
torists,  and  others  were  expelled  from  their  cloisters.  The  total 
number  of  institutions  thus  closed  amounted  to  261.  In  many 
cases  force  was  necessary  to  remove  the  monks  from  their  cells. 
Monasteries  were  besieged.  Here  and  there  the  populace  rose 
in  defence  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  the  military  were  called  in, 
and  blood  was  shed.  Prominent  men,  like  the  Duke  de  Broglie, 
encouraged  the  monks  and  nuns  in  their  resistance,  and  even 
shared  with  them  the  perils  of  a  siege.  A  number  of  officials 
resigned  rather  than  be  concerned  in  the  execution  of  such  god- 
less measures;  others,  who  remained  at  their  posts,  were  excom- 
municated. The  bishops  thundered  and  the  Pope  protested;  but 
the  nation  at  large  was  with  the  government.  The  excitement 
soon  subsided,  and  the  next  local  elections  proved,  by  the  test  of 
increased  Republican  majorities  in  the  country  districts,  that  even 
the  peasants  approved  of  the  course  pursued.  This  encouraged 
the  ministry  to  go  a  step  farther.  The  property  of  religious 
orders  was  subjected  to  taxation,  education  made  compulsory,  and 
religion  practically  excluded  from  the  schools. 

But  public  attention  was  soon  diverted  from  internal  affairs  by 
the  course  of  events  in  Tunis,  Since  1878  France  had  been  mak- 
ing preparations  for  the  annexation  of  the  Regency.  At  the  time 
of  the  treaty  of  Berlin  both  Germany  and  England  had  privately 
signified  their  approbation  of  a  French  occupation.  Bismarck's 
policy  is  to  isolate  France.  He  has  repeatedly  urged  England — 
for  that  is  what  it  amounts  to — to  annex  Egypt,  in  the  hope  of 
thus  causing  a  quarrel  between  the  two  Western  powers.  He 
favored  a  French  occupation  of  Tunis  for  similar  reasons.  That 
enterprise  must,  furthermore,  result  in  the  complete  estrangement 

27 


626  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  REGENT  TIMES. 

of  France  and  Italy,  if  not  in  active  hostility  between  them,  and 
would  probably  involve  complications  with  Spain  and  Turkey. 
In  fact,  it  was  an  undertaking  thoroughly  well  calculated  to  iso- 
late France,  in  addition  to  which  it  might  prove  in  itself  a  task 
of  unexpected  difficulty.  French  statesmen  accepted  the  bait.  In 
the  winter  of  1880-'81  it  became  generally  known  in  France  that 
the  Kroumirs  (nomad  Arabs,  on  the  north-eastern  border  of  Alge- 
ria) were  guilty  of  frequent  predatory  incursions  into  French  ter- 
ritory, and  that  the  Bey  of  Tunis  was  totally  unable  to  restrain 
his  marauding  subjects.  Public  sentiment  was  manufactured.  It 
soon  became  evident  to  all  that  French  troops  ought  to  cross  the 
Tunisian  border  and  chastise  the  miscreants.  There  were  30,000 
Italian  colonists  in  Tunis.  Italy  was  the  country  nearest  to  the 
Regency,  and  most  nearly  concerned  in  its  affairs.  She  intended 
at  some  time  to  annex  it.  This  rendered  speedy  action  and  the 
display  of  considerable-  force  all  the  more  necessary.  In  April 
of  1881  a  French  army  corps,  which  had  been  quietly  collected 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Algeria,  crossed  the  border,  French  troops 
were  landed  on  the  coast,  and  French  ships  proceeded  to  bombard 
a  Tunisian  fort.  The  Bey  protested  against  the  violation  of  his 
territory.  England's  hands  were  tied  by  Salisbury's  concessions, 
and  Granville  could  only  indicate  to  the  French  government  that 
the  Tunisian  policy  must  not  be  repeated  in  Tripoli  or  Morocco. 
The  Porte  protested  against  the  infringement  of  its  sovereign 
rights,  collected  troops  in  Tripoli,  worked  upon  the  religious  fa- 
naticism of  the  Arabs  in  Algeria  and  Tunis  to  incite  them  to  re- 
volt, and  assiduously  cultivated  the  friendship  of  Germany.  Aus- 
tria and  Russia  were  indifferent.  Italy,  unprepared  to  enter 
single-handed  upon  a  war  with  France,  waited  for  future  combi- 
nations to  give  her  an  opportunity  of  revenge.  The  borders 
crossed,  no  Kronmirs  could  be  found.  Nevertheless,  French  troops 
were  sent  to  Tunis,  and  M.  Roustan,  the  French  agent  at  the  court 
of  the  Bey,  extorted  from  the  latter  a  treaty,  involving  in  reality 
a  French  protectorate.  France  assumed  the  direction  of  the  Bey's 
foreign  relations,  occupied  the  Tunisian  coast,  exacted  a  war  in- 
demnity (or  at  least  the  promise  of  one),  and  placed  a  Resident  at 
the  capital  of  the  Regency.  It  was  plain  that  the  semi-fictitious 
Kroumirs  had  been  a  mere  pretext,  and  a  clumsy  one  at  that. 
But  the  territory  annexed  was  commercially  of  considerable  value, 
and  the  price  paid  promised  to  be  small ;  accordingly,  the  French 


GAMBETTA  ASSUMES  OFFICE.  627 

people  showed  themselves  ready  to  overlook  the  doubtful  charac- 
ter of  the  means  employed.  All  was  couleur  de  rose.  But  this 
did  not  last  long.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  the  treaty  ex- 
torted from  the  Bey  was  the  beginning  and  not  the  end  of  the 
matter.  Something  very  like  a  religious  war  broke  out  along 
almost  the  entire  southern  frontier  from  Morocco  to  Tripoli.  In 
Tunis  the  French  held  little  more  than  the  ground  they  camped 
on.  In  Oran,  in  the  extreme  west  of  Algeria,  Bou  Amena  proved 
a  troublesome  foe.  Moreover,  his  operations  involved  the  French 
in  a  foreign  complication.  In  his  raids  he  killed  some  Spanish 
subjects  engaged  in  the  culture  of  esparto  grass,  drove  many  more 
out  of  the  country,  and  destroyed  considerable  property.  This 
caused  bitter  feeling  against  France  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish 
people,  which  was  enhanced  by  the  apprehension  of  an  invasion 
of  Morocco ;  for  the  Spanish  feel  regarding  Morocco  as  the  Ital- 
ians felt  regarding  Tunis.  The  great  extent  of  the  territory  in- 
volved, the  intense  heat,  the  neighborhood  of  the  desert,  the  irreg- 
ular nature  of  the  warfare,  and  the  intangible  character  of  the  as- 
sailants, all  combined  to  increase  the  difficulties  of  the  French  po- 
sition. The  enterprise  assumed  immense  proportions.  By  the 
middle  of  September  (1881)  60,000  men  had  been  put  in  the 
field,  and  more  than  $20,000,000  expended.  The  end  is  not  yet 
in  sight.  It  is  in  many  respects  a  repetition  of  the  recent  English 
experiences  in  Afghanistan  and  the  Transvaal,  only  France  neither 
can  nor  will  recede.  It  must  also  be  added  that  under  this  ex- 
perimental test  the  new  army  organization  has  not  proved  alto- 
gether satisfactory.  All  this  led  to  a  change  of  sentiment  among 
the  French  people,  and  a  general  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with 
the  conduct  of  the  whole  affair  soon  took  the  place  of  the  earlier 
manifestations  of  approval. 

The  Tunisian  expedition  also  completed  the  dislocation  of  an 
already  inharmonious  ministry,  and  forced  Gambetta  to  assume 
the  power  at  last.  The  elections  for  a  new  Assembly  took  place 
in  August.  In  preparation  for  that  event  a  bill  was  introduced 
replacing  the  scrutin  d 'arrondissemcnt  by  the  scrutin  de  liste. 
The  object  of  this  measure  was  to  return  a  compact,  homogene- 
ous Republican  majority,  with  a  definite  programme,  instead  of  a 
number  of  Republican  groups  without  homogeneity  and  with  no 
programme  whatever.  Such  a  result  would  obviously  greatly  in- 
crease Gambetta's  power,  and  render  it  much  easier  and  safer  for 


628  POLITICAL   HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

him  to  assume  office.  Accordingly,  he  entered  the  arena  in  per- 
son, in  order  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  bill.  The  ministry  were 
divided,  and  agreed  to  remain  neutral.  By  the  sheer  force  of  his 
eloquence  and  personal  influence  Gambetta  carried  the  bill  through 
the  Lower  Chamber,  but  in  the  Senate  neither  eloquence  nor  in- 
fluence could  be  exerted.  Simon,  Waddington,  and  the  Moderate 
Republicans  were  opposed  to  the  change,  and  the  measure  was 
finally  defeated  by  a  vote  of  148  to  114  (June  9th).  The  August 
elections  took  place  under  the  old  system,  but  the  result  was,  nev- 
ertheless, a  victory  for  the  Gambettists  (460  Republicans  of  all 
shades,  and  only  90  Bonapartists  and  Monarchists  combined). 
The  new  Chambers  met  on  the  28th  of  October,  the  Ferry  minis- 
try resigned,  and  Gambetta  at  length  took  office.  His  attempt  to 
induce  prominent  politicians,  such  as  Ferry  and  Freycinet,  to  ac- 
cept seats  in  his  cabinet  failed,  and  the  ministry,  which  was  at 
length  announced,  was  generally  regarded  as  being  nothing  but 
Gambetta.  The  appointment  of  Paul  Bert,  an  atheist  of  the 
aggressive  type,  as  minister  of  public  worship  and  instruction,  ex- 
cited universal  surprise.  For  the  present  the  concordat  will  be 
strictly  observed,  but  apparently  the  complete  separation  of  Church 
and  State  is  intended  in  the  not  distant  future. 

Gambetta  himself  assumed  the  portfolio  of  foreign  affairs. 
Since  1871  he  has  been  regarded  as  "the  man  of  revenge."  This 
gave  a  peculiar  significance  to  his  assumption  of  the  foreign  office, 
and  invested  small  actions  with  unusual  importance — such,  for 
example,  as  the  resignation  of  the  Count  St.  Vallier,  the  peace 
ambassador  at  Berlin.  More  significant  than  the  removal  of  St. 
Vallier  was  Count  Chaudordy's  appointment  to  St.  Petersburg. 
Amid  all  his  changes  of  political  party  Chaudordy  has  always  re- 
mained a  consistent  Prussian-hater.  Moreover,  he  passes  for  a 
personal  friend  of  Count  Ignatieff.  France  needs  allies,  and  Gam- 
betta's  present  endeavor  seems  to  be  to  secure  the  friendship  of 
England  and  Russia.  Russia  had  been  alienated  by  the  Hartmann 
episode  in  1880.  England  was  estranged  by  the  Tunis  affair,  and 
the  failure  to  renew  the  commercial  treaty  of  1860.  France, 
which  under  the  empire  adopted  the  principles  of  free-trade,  has 
under  the  republic  become  a  convert  to  the  doctrine  of  protec- 
tion. The  treaty  with  England  expired  in  1881,  and  the  nego- 
tiations for  its  renewal  under  the  Ferry  ministry  were  attended 
with  no  results.  Gambetta  recognized  the  value  of  the  commcr- 


POSSIBILITIES  OF  WAR.— THE  BONAPARTISTS.  629 

cial  treaty  in  the  attempt  to  secure  England's  friendship,  and  has 
appeared  willing  to  make  concessions,  if  need  be,  in  order  to  insure 
a  complete  entente  cordiale.  As  the  world  expects  sooner  or  later 
a  war  between  France  and  Germany,  it  may  be  well  to  observe 
that  since  1871  both  countries  have  been  diligently  fortifying 
their  frontiers  with  such  good  effect  that  a  direct  invasion  from 
either  side  is  practically  impossible.  Future  attacks  must  appar- 
ently be  made  by  way  of  Switzerland  or  Belgium — the  former  of 
which  at  least  is  quite  undefended  on  the  side  toward  France — 
and  both  of  those  countries  arc  rather  more  friendly  to  France  than 
Germany.  The  French  government  has  also  developed  a  thorough 
system  of  sea  transport  for  large  bodies  of  troops ;  an  arm  of  the 
service  which  would  prove  peculiarly  valuable  in  case  of  war  with 
Italy,  for  there  again  the  mountain  barrier  between  the  two  coun- 
tries has  been  so  fortified  as  to  be  practically  impregnable.  In 
regard  to  finances,  the  French  republic  is  certainly  in  a  more  fa- 
vorable condition  than  its  future  foes — if  such  they  are — for  in  spite 
of  an  immense  annual  expenditure  ($780,000,000  for  1882),  almost 
double  that  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  loss  of  half  the  wine  crop,  the 
French  budget  still  shows  an  excess  of  receipts  over  expenditure. 
Within  four  years,  according  to  the  financial  statement  of  1882, 
$200,000,000  of  the  debt  has  been  paid,  and  the  taxes  reduced 
by  $60,000,000.  Even  allowing  for  considerable  "financing," 
this  is  a  brilliant  exhibit,  rendered  all  the  more  so  by  comparison 
with  the  prevailing  deficits  of  European  budgets.  The  senatorial 
elections  of  the  first  days  of  1882  resulted  in  a  victory  for  the 
Republican  Union,  thus  giving  Gambetta  a  working  majority  in 
the  Senate,  and  at  the  same  time  serving  as  a  vote  of  confidence 
in  his  policy. 

To  complete  this  survey  of  French  history  from  1876  to  1881 
it  is  necessary  to  add  a  few  words  concerning  the  death  of  Prince 
Louis  Napoleon,  and  its  effect  on  the  prospects  of  the  Bonapartist 
party.  Anxious  to  attract  the  attention  of  his  countrymen  by 
deeds  of  martial  valor,  the  young  prince  attached  himself  to  the 
English  expedition  against  the  Zulus,  in  South  Africa,  and  was 
killed  while  engaged  in  a  reconnoissance,  June  1st,  1879.  His 
will  was  opened  at  Rouher's  house,  in  the  presence  of  the  leading 
Bonapartists,  on  the  30th  of  the  same  month.  By  that  document 
the  eldest  son  of  Prince  "Jerome"  Napoleon,  the  seventeen-year- 
old  Prince  Victor,  was  named  his  successor  in  the  imperial  pre- 


630  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF   RECENT   TIMES. 

tendership.  This  contravened  a  senatus  consultum  of  the  second 
empire  by  which  Prince  "  Jerome"  (Napoleon  Joseph  Paul  Charles 
Bonaparte,  son  of  Jerome,  King  of  Westphalia — called  by  his  fa- 
ther's name  for  the  sake  of  distinction — popularly  known  by  the 
nickname  "  Plon-Plon  ")  had  been  declared  successor.  The  Bona- 
partists  in  general  recognized  the  senatus  consultum,  and  made 
their  respects  to  Prince  "Jeromeo"  The  latter  accepted  the  in- 
heritance of  head  of  the  family,  but  refused  to  become  an  impe- 
rial pretender.  The  Bonapartists  hated  "Jerome"  for  his  repub- 
licanism and  his  bitter  hostility  to  the  Clerical  party.  Some  of 
them  refused  him  allegiance,  a  few  renounced  Bonapartism  alto- 
gether, the  rest  were  of  necessity  lukewarm  adherents.  For  the 
present  the  party  has  completely  lost  its  strength  and  significance. 


§  38. 

GERMANY. 

AT  the  commencement  of  the  year  1876  the  culturkampf  was 
at  its  height.  Prussia  was  the  centre  of  the  struggle,  but  Baden, 
Wurtemberg,  Bavaria,  and  the  German  Empire  were  also  involved 
to  a  greater  or  less  degree.  On  the  10th  of  February,  1876,  the 
"pulpit  paragraph,"  which  had  been  passed  in  1871  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  Bavarian  cultus-mimsiev,  Lutz,  received  an  exten- 
sion, this  time  also  at  the  wish  of  Bavaria.  The  original  law  pro- 
vided for  the  punishment  of  ecclesiastics  who  prostituted  the  pul- 
pit to  purposes  of  political  agitation ;  the  new  amendment  render- 
ed them  liable  to  punishment  for  the  composition  or,  publication 
of  letters  or  other  documents  calculated  to  disturb  the  public 
peace — a  provision  operative  with  regard  to  papal  encyclicas  and 
pastoral  letters.  This  practically  completed  the  imperial  cultur- 
kampf legislation.  The  compulsory  civil  marriage  law  and  the 
"  pulpit  paragraph "  had  both  been  passed  at  the  instance  of 
Bavaria.  In  that  state  the  king  and  his  ministers  were  liberally 
inclined,  but  the  majority  of  the  Lower  Chamber  was  Ultra- 
montane, and  resisted  every  attempt  to  restrain  the  power  of  the 
clergy,  thus  forcing  the  government,  contrary  to  its  ordinary  pol- 
icy, to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  empire.  Baden  and  Prussia  had  en- 
couraged the  Old  Catholics,  as  a  serviceable  weapon  against  the 


BAVARIA  AND   THE   ROMAN   CURIA.  631 

Pope,  placing  them  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  the  papists,  and 
granting  them  state  support.  In  Bavaria  this  was  rendered  im- 
possible by  the  attitude  of  the  Lower  Chamber,  which  would  have 
thrown  out  such  an  item,  if  inserted  in  the  budget  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  did  summarily  reject  the  petition  of  the  Old  Catho- 
lics. Despite  its  disagreements  with  the  Ultramontane  majority 
of  the  House,  the  relations  of  the  government  with  the  Roman 
Curia  remained  unclouded  until  toward  the  close  of  1876.  At 
that  time  the  government,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
the  concordat,  exercised  its  right  of  nomination  to  the  vacant 
bishoprics  of  Spires  and  Wiirzburg,  and  the  nominees  accepted? 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Pope.  The  latter  withheld  his  con- 
sent, because  the  nominees  were  too  liberal,  and  to  avoid  a  direct 
conflict  the  acceptances  were  withdrawn.  The  government  re- 
fused to  make  new  nominations,  and,  following  the  example  of 
Prussia,  allowed  the  bishoprics  to  remain  vacant.  In  1877  the 
Archbishop  of  Munich  died;  and  as  there  was  no  prospect  that 
Pius  IX.  would  confirm  any  appointee  other  than  an  Ultramontane 
of  the  most  pronounced  description,  the  government  allowed  that 
chair  also  to  remain  unoccupied.  The  accession  of  Leo  XIII.,  and 
the  comparatively  liberal  policy  of  Cardinal  Franchi,  put  an  end 
to  this  incipient  culturkampf.  In  May  of  1878  the  government 
nominated  for  the  vacant  sees  three  ecclesiastics  of  the  same 
moderate  tendencies  as  those  whose  nomination  had  proved  so 
unacceptable  to  Pius  IX. ;  the  Pope  confirmed  them  at  once,  and 
friendly  relations  were  restored. 

In  Bavaria,  out  of  eight  episcopal  sees  three  were  vacant  at  the 
death  of  Pius  IX.  But  the  condition  of  Prussia  was  still  worse, 
for  there  out  of  twelve  bishoprics  eight  were  without  a  bishop, 
and  of  these  eight  vacancies  only  two  were  due  to  the  death  of 
the  incumbents.  (In  July  of  1878  a  ninth  bishopric  was  vacated 
by  death,  and  in  1881  occurred  the  death  of  Forster,  the  exiled 
prince-bishop  of  Breslau.)  The  archbishops  of  Posen  and  Cologne, 
and  the  bishops  of  Breslau,  Paderborn,  Miinster,  and  Limbourg, 
had  been  deposed  for  offences  of  a  more  or  less  serious  character 
against  the  Prussian  church  laws.  In  some  cases  the  offence  con- 
sisted in  encouraging  the  clergy  to  resistance  by  pastoral  letters; 
in  others,  in  disobedience  to  the  law  requiring  bishops  to  obtain 
the  consent  of  the  state  to  all  appointments  of  clergy  (Anzeiye- 
pflicht),  and  the  like.  Some  of  the  offending  bishops  underwent 


632  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

imprisonment ;  all  of  them  were  ultimately  obliged  to  leave  Prns 
sia  and  publish  their  attacks  on  the  government  from  places  of 
safety  in  foreign  lands.  The  contest  assumed  a  most  bitter  char- 
acter, and  the  laws  were  stretched  to  their  utmost  limit  in  the 
attempt  to  silence  the  Ultramontanes.  The  Germania,  the  organ 
of  the  Centre  in  Berlin,  never  failed  to  have  at  least  one  member 
of  its  staff  imprisoned  at  Plotzen-See  for  so-called  libel  against 
the  government.  Indeed,  the  papers  of  the  Roman  Catholic  party 
are  said  to  have  had  on  their  staffs  one  or  more  editors  (Sitz- 
Redakteure)  whose  sole  business  it  was  to  assume  the  responsibil- 
ity for  offensive  articles,  and  serve  out  the  terms  of  imprisonment 
inflicted  by  the  courts.  In  the  imperial  Reichstag  and  the  Prus- 
sian Landtag  the  party  endeavored  to  make  up  for  the  enforced 
reserve  of  its  Press.  In  both  bodies  the  Centre,  marshalled  and 
commanded  by  Windthorst,  formed  a  well-drilled  phalanx  ever 
ready  to  attack  the  chancellor,  and  casting  a  solid  vote  against  all 
his  measures.  After  the  accession  of  Leo  XIII.  negotiations  were 
opened  between  the  Vatican  and  Berlin,  and  for  a  time  the  pros- 
pects of  a  peace  seemed  favorable.  Franchi  was  willing  to  eon- 
cede  the  Anzeigepflicht  (obligation  of  bishops  to  report  nomina- 
tions to  the  government,  and  obtain  its  consent  to  the  same,  as  a 
preliminary  to  instalment  in  office),  and  Bismarck  on  his  part,  in 
return  for  this  concession,  was  willing  to  resume  direct  communi- 
cation with  the  Roman  Curia  by  sending  an  ambassador  to  the 
Vatican.  Franchi  died  while  these  negotiations  were  still  pend- 
ing, and  his  successor,  Cardinal  Nina,  refused  to  make  the  all- 
important  concession  of  the  Anzeigepflicht.  Negotiations  accord- 
ingly came  to  a  stand -still.  So  much  the  world  learned  from 
Bismarck's  own  mouth. 

With  regard  to  the  conditions  offered  by  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment, it  must  be  observed  that  there  was  nothing  which  could 
not  have  been  accepted  by  Roman  Catholics  in  other  countries. 
Intrinsically  they  were  not  inadmissible.  The  attitude  of  the 
Curia  was  rather  that  what  the  Church  has  once  acquired,  whether 
by  constitutional  provisions,  by  concordat,  or  by  use,  cannot  be 
taken  away  without  the  consent  of  the  Church  itself.  Holding, 
therefore,  a  peculiarly  favorable  position  in  Prussia,  through  the 
weakness  or  mistaken  liberality  of  former  administrations,  it  was 
unwilling  to  concede  points  which  were  readily  enough  conceded 
in  other  countries. 


NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  THE  CENTRE.  633 

The  statement  referred  to  above  was  made  by  Prince  Bismarck 
at  a  parliamentary  soiree  at  his  palace  in  Berlin,  on  the  15th  of 
February,  1879.  At  that  very  time  he  was  greatly  in  need  of  the 
support  of  the  Centre  to  carry  through  the  Reichstag  his  new 
financial  policy,  which  without  that  support  was  certain  of  defeat. 
On  the  31st  of  March,  Windthorst,  ex-minister  of  Hanover,  leader 
of  the  Centre  and  Bismarck's  bitter  foe,  who  had  not  exchanged 
a  word  with  him  in  private  for  eleven  years,  called  upon  the 
chancellor  at  his  palace  and  remained  closeted  with  him  for  an 
hour.  The  ostensible  occasion  of  his  visit  was  to  obtain  from 
the  Guelph  fund  in  the  hands  of  the  Prussian  government  a  set- 
tlement for  the  widow  of  King  George  of  Hanover;  but  all  the 
world  felt  sure  that  other  matters  than  that  were  at  the  bot- 
tom of  this  meeting.  The  compromise  concluded  between  the 
Conservatives  and  the  Centre  in  the  Reichstag,  with  reference  to 
the  chancellor's  protective  tariff,  strengthened  the  general  belief, 
which  received  still  farther  confirmation  in  the  resignation  of 
Falk  on  the  13th  of  July.  In  his  place  von  Puttkamer,  an 
orthodox  Lutheran  and  a  strict  Conservative,  was  appointed 
eM/<ws-minister;  while  von  Gossler,  a  man  of  the  same  stamp,  was 
made  minister  of  the  interior.  At  a  later  date  Falk,  whose  resig- 
nation had  been  offered  in  the  previous  year,  but  not  accepted, 
explained  the  purpose  of  the  change  to  be  the  furtherance  of  the 
negotiations  with  the  Vatican,  by  the  removal  of  a  man  person- 
ally obnoxious  to  the  Roman  party  as  the  originator  and  repre- 
sentative of  the  May  laws. 

In  the  early  part  of  1880  those  negotiations  seemed  about  to 
reach  a  successful  issue.  The  Pope  appeared  willing  to  make 
concessions ;  and  small  though  these  turned  out  to  be  when  dip- 
lomatically explained  by  Cardinal  Nina,  they  were  at  least  an  ad- 
vance toward  a  modus  vivendi.  The  Prussian  Landtag  met  on 
the  20th  of  May,  and  the  government  at  once  laid  before  it  a  bill 
modifying  the  existing  church  laws.  There  certainly  was  need 
of  peace.  Out  of  twelve  dioceses  only  four  still  had  a  regular 
administration ;  more  than  one  thousand  parishes  were  vacant ; 
Roman  Catholic  professorships  in  the  theological  faculties  of  the 
universities  were  unoccupied ;  and  Roman  Catholic  children  were 
left  without  religious  instruction  in  the  public  schools.  It  was 
questionable,  however,  whether  the  proposed  law  was  calculated 
to  restore  the  needed  peace.  In  general  it  conferred  upon  tho 

27* 


634  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

king  and  his  ministers  discretionary  power  of  a  most  far-reaching 
character.  The  king  was  authorized  to  dispense  with  the  An- 
zeigepflicht,  and  to  restore  deposed  bishops  to  office.  Ecclesias- 
tical discipline  was  to  be  removed  from  the  courts  of  justice  and 
left  to  the  discretion  of  the  crown.  _  The  existing  ecclesiastical 
laws  were  not  to  be  abolished,  but  their  enforcement  was  to  de- 
pend entirely  upon  the  will  of  the  sovereign.  The  Pope  regarded 
this  two-edged  measure  with  distrust,  as  possibly  more  dangerous 
to  the  Church  by  its  arbitrary  and  discretionary  character  than 
the  severe  laws  already  existing,  and  withdrew,  in  consequence, 
what  slight  concessions  he  had  made.  The  Centre,  accordingly, 
opposed  the  bill.  This  deprived  it  of  all  value  in  Bismarck's  eyes, 
and  he  consequently  took  no  part  in  the  debates  that  ensued, 
leaving  Puttkammer  to  defend  his  own  work.  It  was  even  sup- 
posed that  certain  features  of  the  bill  had  been  adopted  against 
the  chancellor's  wishes  in  consequence  of  pressure  from  above. 
In  detailing  the  difficulties  encountered  by  him  in  the  Schleswig- 
Holstein  affair,  Bismarck  once  laid  considerable  stress  on  the 
opposition  he  had  encountered  "  from  the  ladies  of  the  court." 
Common  and  plausible  report  explained  the  Arnim  episode  as  the 
result  of  a  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the  chancellor,  in  which  some 
of  those  same  ladies,  and  more  especially  the  empress,  were  con- 
cerned, and  the  new  church  bill  was  attributed  to  interference 
from  a  like  source.  The  defection  of  the  Clericals  rendered  the 
co-operation  of  the  National  Liberals  necessary  to  secure  its  pas- 
sage, and  as  the  price  of  that  co-operation  the  Conservatives  were 
compelled  to  abandon  some  of  its  more  obnoxious  features,  par- 
ticularly the  section  permitting  a  minister  to  dispense  with  the 
Anzeigepflicht,  and  that  empowering  the  sovereign  to  reinstate 
deposed  bishops.  But  even  in  its  amended  form  the  bill  granted 
extensive  discretionary  powers  to  the  king  and  his  ministers,  and 
by  authorizing  them  to  dispense  with  the  oath  of  allegiance  until 
January  1st,  1882,  paved  the  way  for  the  appointment  of  bishops 
in  those  bishoprics  rendered  vacant  by  death. 

One  of  the  rejected  clauses  of  the  bill,  that  empowering  the 
king  to  reinstate  deposed  bishops,  had  been  intended  for  the  im- 
mediate purpose  of  restoring  Archbishop  Melchers  of  Cologne  to 
office  in  time  for  the  festival  (Dombaufesf)  at  the  completion  of 
the  Cologne  cathedral.  Begun  in  1248,  the  mighty  Gothic  struct- 
ure was  still  unfinished  when  Cologne  and  the  Rhine  province 


COLOGNE  CATHEDRAL.  635 

were  united  to  Prussia  by  the  partition  which  followed  Napole- 
on's fall.  Shortly  afterward  the  original  plans  were  brought  to 
light  once  more.  In  1824  Frederic  William  III.  restored  and 
repaired  the  choir.  In  1842  Frederic  William  IV.  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  south  portal,  and  appealed  to  the  German  nation  to 
complete  the  work  according  to  the  original  design.  Gifts  poured 
in  from  princes  and  people.  In  1863  the  whole  building,  with 
the  exception  of  the  two  western  towers,  was  finished  and  dedi- 
cated; and  on  the  14th  of  August,  1880,  those  towers  had  reach- 
ed their  full  height  of  160  metres.  In  its  long,  wearisome,  and 
frequently  interrupted  growth  the  massive  structure  was  regarded 
as  a  symbol  of  the  history  of  the  German  n  ition,  so  long  divided 
and  weak,  at  length  united  and  strong.  The  15th  of  October  was 
appointed  for  the  formal  completion  of  the  work.  At  the  in- 
vitation of  the  emperor,  German  princes,  magnates,  and  people 
assembled  to  witness  the  ceremony  and  share  in  the  festivities. 
Cologne  beheld  such  a  pageant  as  her  walls  had  never  seen  be- 
fore. Amid  the  thunder  of  cannon  and  the  ringing  of  bells, 
while  the  assembled  multitude  raised  the  hymn,  "Nun  danket 
alle  Gott,""1  the  key-stone  was  put  in  place,  and  the  cathedral  was 
complete.  The  festivities  were  continued  on  the  following  day 
by  an  historical  procession — arranged  with  special  reference  to  the 
years  1248,  1322,  and  1842 — the  most  important  epochs  in  the 
history  of  the  building.  Only  the  Clericals  held  aloof,  ostenta- 
tiously refusing  to  take  part  in  the  general  rejoicing.  They  had 
demanded  the  recall  of  Archbishop  Melchers,  and  it  had  been 
refused;  consequently  they  declined  to  participate.  Thus  the 
national  event,  which  filled  German  hearts  with  pride,  seemed  to 
have  widened  the  breach  between  Berlin  and  the  Vatican,  and 
dispelled  the  hopes  of  peace  which  had  been  so  bright  a  few 
months  earlier. 

But,  in  spite  of  this  little  contretemps,  the  negotiations  were 
not  broken  off.  The  Prussian  government  began  to  allow  the 
Roman  Catholic  clergy  to  exercise  their  old  influence  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  public  schools.  The  rights  of  the  orders  en- 
gaged in  nursing  the  sick  were  enlarged,  in  accordance  with  the 
recently  adopted  church  laws.  In  other  matters  within  its  dis- 
cretion the  former  harsh  policy  of  the  government  was  changed 
to  a  policy  of  friendliness  and  reconciliation.  Bismarck  needed 
the  assistance  of  the  Centre  to  carry  through  his  reactionary  rneas- 


636  POLITICAL  HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

ures.  Moreover,  it  seemed  possible  to  make  to  Leo  XIII.  con- 
cessions which,  in  the  case  of  Pins  IX.,  would  have  been  attended 
w  ith  the  greatest  danger.  The  culturkampf  had  been  begun  be- 
cause the  Roman  Church  displayed  a  spirit  hostile  to  the  unifi- 
cation of  Germany  under  the  lead  of  Prussia ;  the  danger  which 
that  hostility  threatened  had  now  vanished.  Then,  too,  the  anti- 
Roman  policy  of  the  French  government  seemed  to  render  a  rec- 
onciliation with  the  Vatican  a  possible  means  of  Germanizing 
the  strongly  Roman  Catholic  population  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 
The  papacy  was  no  longer  the  ally  of  France,  and  might  be  of 
service  as  its  foe.  On  the  other  side,  the  increasing  difficulties 
between  Italy  and  the  Roman  Curia  were  of  a  nature  to  render 
the  Pope  more  disposed  toward  peace  than  formerly.  In  the 
summer  of  1881  Dr.  Kurd  von  Schloezer,  German  minister  at 
Washington,  formerly  secretary  of  legation  at  Rome,  and  a  per- 
sona grata  at  the  Vatican,  was  commissioned  by  Bismarck  to 
open  direct  communication  with  the  Holy  Stool.  The  negotia- 
tions were  conducted  with  the  greatest  secrecy.  In  August  Dr. 
Korum,  an  Alsatian,  was  appointed  bishop  of  Troves.  Soon  after, 
Dr.  Kopp  was  nominated  to  the  vacant  sec  of  Fulda.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  the  negotiations  had  been  at  least  partially  successful, 
and  a  modus  vivendi  reached  at  last.  The  mutual  concessions 
were  not  made  public,  but  it  was  announced  before  long  that 
Prussia  was  to  resume  diplomatic  communications  with  the  Vati- 
can. In  the  budget  of  1882-'83  appeared  an  appropriation  of 
90,000  marks  for  that  purpose,  and  Dr.  Schloezer  was  designated 
as  ambassador.  Apparently,  also,  Prussia  agreed  to  modify  the 
oath  of  allegiance  required  from  ecclesiastics,  while  the  Pope,  on 
his  part,  conceded  the  Anzeigepflicht.  The  negotiations  with  the 
Vatican  cast  a  shadow  on  the  good  understanding  with  Italy. 
There  was  even  some  talk  of  the  substitution  of  an  international 
guarantee  of  the  liberty  and  sovereign  independence  of  the  Pope 
in  place  of  the  guarantee  of  Italy  alone.  In  Germany  itself  the 
first  result  of  the  conclusion  of  peace  was  a  partial  union  of  Cleri- 
cals and  Conservatives  in  the  electoral  campaign  for  the  new 
Reichstag,  in  October  of  1881.  After  the  Reichstag  met,  Windt- 
horst  moved  and  carried  a  bill  repealing  the  imperial  law  against 
the  unauthorized  exercise  of  ecclesiastical  offices.  Bismarck,  on 
his  side,  could  depend,  at  least  so  far  as  his  policy  was  reaction- 
ary, upon  the  support  of  a  sort  of  Clerico-conservative  alliance, 


SOCIAL  DEMOCRATS.— ASSASSIN   HODEL.  G37 

as  the  Conservative  contribution  to  which  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment brought  before  the  Landtag,  in  a  somewhat  strengthened 
form,  the  rejected  church  bill  of  1880. 

The  Roman  Catholics  had  been  the  object  of  special  legislation 
as  dangerous  to  the  unification  of  the  empire.  In  1876  the  im- 
perial government  attempted  to  forge  a  similar  weapon  (one  of 
the  so-called  "caoutchouc"  paragraphs)  against  the  Social  Demo- 
crats as  dangerous  not  alone  to  the  political,  but  also  to  the  social 
order  of  the  state.  Bebel,  a  member  of  the  Reichstag,  and  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  more  moderate  wing  of  the  Social  Democrats, 
proclaimed  the  programme  of  the  party  to  be :  Universal,  direct 
si  i  If  rage  of  both  sexes  from  the  age  of  twenty  on,  with  secret 
compulsory  ballot;  direct  legislation  by  the  people  themselves; 
popular  decision  .of  questions  of  peace  or  war ;  citizen  soldiery ; 
free  administration  of  justice ;  free  instruction  in  all  educational 
institutions;  total  separation  of  Church  and  State.  The  party  was 
well  organized  for  purposes  of  agitation  among  the  laboring 
classes.  It  had  twenty-three  political  organs — sixteen  of  which 
were  printed  in  co-operative  Social-democratic  printing  establish- 
ments, with  100,000  regular  subscribers.  It  had  well-paid  officers 
to  direct  its  Press.  Every  year  it  distributed  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  pamphlets  broadcast,  while  145  orators  travelled  from 
place  to  place,  propagating  and -expounding  the  views  of  the 
party.  To  this  agitation  Bismarck  did  not  hesitate  to  ascribe 
both  the  existing  financial  depression  and  also  the  notorious  in- 
feriority of  German  labor  and  German  manufactures  to  the  labor 
and  manufactures  of  France,  Belgium,  and  England.  Neverthe- 
less (in  1876)  all  parties,  excepting  the  Conservatives,  united  in  op- 
posing any  extraordinary  legislation  against  the  Social  Democrats. 

On  the  llth  of  May,  1878,  as  the  emperor,  accompanied  by  his 
daughter,  the  Grand-duchess  of  Baden,  was  driving  up  Unter  den 
Linden  in  an  open  carriage,  a  man  standing  on  the  sidewalk  fired 
two  shots  at  him  from  a  revolver.  The  would-be  regicide  proved 
to  be  a  young  Leipzig  tinsmith,  named  Hodel.  Expelled  by  the 
Social  Democrats  for  dishonest  practices,  he  came  to  Berlin  and 
joined  the  Christian  Socialists,  a  local  party  organized  by  court- 
preacher  Stockcr,  with  the  support  and  sympathy  of  the  court,  for 
the  homoeopathic  purpose  of  combating  one  form  of  socialism 
by  another.  Hodel's  attempt  was  laid  to  the  account  of  the  So- 
cial Democrats.  He  himself  was  ultimately  executed,  and  an 


638  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

antisocialist  bill  of  most  stringent  character,  adopted  by  the  Bun- 
desrath  at  the  motion  of  Prussia,  was  laid  before  the  Reichstag. 
Once  more,  however,  all  parties  united  against  the  Conservatives, 
and  the  bill  was  defeated. 

On  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  June  2d,  as  the  emperor,  quite 
unattended,  was  driving  down  Unter  den  Linden  in  an  open  car- 
riage, two  shots  were  fired  in  rapid  succession  from  the  window 
of  No.  18.  The  weapon  used  was  a  double-barrelled  shot-gun, 
charged  with  small  buckshot.  The  emperor  was  wounded  in  the 
head  and  arms.  His  helmet  was  perforated  by  so  many  pellets 
that  it  resembled  a  sieve.  As  they  brought  him  back  to  his 
palace  his  first  words  were,  "  I  do  not  understand  why  I  am  for- 
ever shot  at."  The  assassin  was  Dr.  Charles  Nobiling,  an  erratic, 
aspiring  egotist,  and  an  unsuccessful  applicant  f°r  office.  He 
was  a  Social  Democrat,  and  there  seems  good  reason  to  believe 
that  his  attempt  was  planned,  or  at  least  approved  by,  the  Inter- 
nationale in  London.  He  resisted  desperately  the  attempt  to  capt- 
ure him,  breaking  the  jaw  of  one  of  his  captors,  and  inflicting  on 
himself  a  wound  which  ultimately  proved  fatal. 

As  the  emperor's  wounds,  although  not  necessarily  fatal,  were 
nevertheless  of  a  very  serious  character,  the  duties  of  government 
devolved  for  a  time  upon  the  crown  prince.  In  the  Bundesrath 
Prussia  moved  the  dissolution  of  the  Reichstag,  which  had  refused 
to  pass  a  socialist  bill,  and  her  motion  was  carried.  This  amount- 
ed to  an  appeal  to  the  people  on  the  question  of  special  laws 
against  the  Social  Democrats.  In  the  mean  time  the  existing 
laws  were  interpreted  with  the  greatest  possible  severity.  The 
elections  for  the  new  Reichstag  took  place  on  the  31st  of  July, 
and  resulted  in  the  return  of  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  Con- 
servatives of  all  shades,  and  about  the  same  number  of  Clericals. 
The  Liberals  and  Progressists  combined  also  numbered  about  one 
hundred.  The  Conservatives  were  the  only  gainers  by  the  elec- 
tion, polling  525,000  more  votes  than  in  the  previous  year,  about 
one-half  of  the  increase  being  due  to  an  absolute  increase  in  the 
total  vote.  The  other  important  parties  all  showed  a  small  fall- 
ing off.  The  Social  Democrats,  who  disclaimed  all  responsibility  for 
the  attempts  of  Hodel  and  Nobiling,  polled  415,485  votes,  65,513 
less  than  they  had  obtained  the  year  before,  returning  nine  mem- 
bers, six  of  whom  were  from  Saxony.  In  Berlin,  out  of  153,600 
votes  cast,  56,000  were  for  the  candidates  of  the  Social  Democracy. 


ANTISOCIALIST  LEGISLATION.  639 

The  Bundesrath  met  on  the  14th  of  August,  and  prepared  a 
new  socialist  bill  to  be  submitted  to  the  Reichstag.  The  latter 
came  together  on  the  9th  of  September.  Bismarck  himself  en- 
tered the  lists  for  the  government  measure.  The  debate  was  of 
the  most  animated  description.  Both  the  Progressists  and  the 
Social  Democrats  charged  Bismarck  with  having  formerly  encour- 
aged the  latter,  as  a  weapon  to  be  used  against  the  Progressists 
and  progressive  liberalism  in  general ;  a  charge  which  he,  for  his 
part,  indignantly,  if  not  altogether  successfully,  denied.  The 
National  Liberals  and  some  independent  fractions  united  with  the 
Conservatives,  and  the  bill  was  finally  passed  (October  19th)  by  a 
vote  of  221  to  149.  It  provided  for  the  suppression  of  Social- 
democratic  meetings,  the  confiscation  and  prohibition  of  Social- 
democratic  newspapers,  periodicals,  and  the  like,  and  empowered 
the  government  to  place  in  a  state  of  lesser,  or  civil,  siege  those 
places  in  which  the  public  safety  was  endangered  by  socialistic 
agitation.  The  declaration  of  the  state  of  siege  involved  the 
power  of  forbidding  any  or  all  public  meetings,  the  expulsion  of 
persons  without  visible  means  of  support,  the  prohibition  of  the 
possession  of  weapons,  and  strict  police  supervision  of  all  inhabi- 
tants. By  a  Liberal  amendment  the  operation  of  this  measure 
was  limited  to  two  and  a  half  years,  namely,  until  the  31st  of 
March,  1881. 

The  new  law  was  energetically  enforced.  One  hundred  and 
fifty-three  Social -democratic  clubs  and  local  organizations  and 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  newspapers  were  forbidden  before 
the  2d  of  December.  Berlin  was  declared  in  a  state  of  siege,  and 
forty-two  persons,  including  two  members  of  the  Reichstag,  were 
expelled,  as  dangerous  to  the  public  peace.  On  the  5th  of  De- 
cember the  emperor,  restored  to  health  once  more,  returned  amid 
popular  rejoicings  to  a  capital  subjected  to  a  police  supervision  of 
a  most  minute  and  aggravating  description. 

In  April  of  1880  the  government  asked  for  an  extension  of  the 
antisocialist  bill,  and  the  parties  which  had  originally  united  to 
pass  the  bill  united  once  more  to  extend  the  time  of  its  operation 
to  the  30tli  of  September,  1884.  The  state  of  siege,  ultimately 
suspended  over  Hamburg  and  Leipzig  as  well  as  Berlin,  was  re- 
newed from  year  to  year.  The  special  laws  were  enforced  with 
the  greatest  severity ;  but  the  greater  the  severity  exercised  the 
greater  the  severity  required.  Freedom  of  the  Press  vanished. 


640  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

Vast  power  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  government,  both  di- 
rectly and  indirectly  endangering  the  liberty  of  all  subjects  ;  but 
the  end  aimed  at  was  not  attained.  The  Social  Democrats  re- 
tained their  organization  and  increased  their  power.  Their  ora- 
tors were  forbidden  to  address  the  people,  their  electoral  assem- 
blies were  prohibited,  their  papers  were  suppressed,  their  leaders 
were  expelled.  A  division  occurred  in  their  own  ranks.  Most, 
editor  of  Freiheit  (London),  the  leader  of  the  more  radical 
wing  of  the  party,  was  expelled,  and  his  teachings  disowned,  al- 
though the  moderate  Social  Democrats  were  sufficiently  revolu- 
tionary to  announce  their  sympathy  with  the  Russian  Nihilists. 
Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  persecutions  without  and  divisions  with- 
in, in  the  elections  of  1881  the  party  showed  an  increase  of 
strength,  and  with  their  allies  succeeded  in  returning  twelve  rep- 
resentatives in  place  of  the  nine  of  1878. 

Besides  the  Social  Democrats  each  Reichstag  contains  a  small 
number  of  particularists,  who  are  hostile  to  the  empire — Poles, 
Danes,  Guelphs,  or  Hanoverians  (who  aim  at  the  re-establishment 
of  the  Hanoverian  kingdom),  and  representatives  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine.  The  thorough  amalgamation  of  the  last-named  prov- 
inces in  the  German  Empire  proved  a  task  of  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty. In  1874  a  Landesausschuss,  or  territorial  commission,  was 
created  by  an  edict  of  the  emperor.  This  body  had,  however, 
merely  a  consultative  character,  and  the  Reichstag  continued,  as 
before,  to  legislate  for  the  imperial  lands.  In  1877  it  was  judged 
safe  to  enlarge  the  powers  of  this  commission  by  removing  from 
the  province  of  the  Reichstag  all  ordinary  legislation  for  Alsace 
and  Lorraine,  and  making  the  consent  of  the  Landesausschuss  to 
the  measures  of  the  Bundesrath  requisite  in  all  matters  of  the 
budget  or  local  affairs.  In  June  of  1879  another  step  was  taken, 
and  the  imperial  lands  received  a  constitution.  The  executive 
power  was  to  consist  of  a  stadtholder  appointed  by  the  emperor, 
whose  measures  required  the  counter-signature  of  a  secretary  of 
state,  also  appointed  by  the  emperor.  The  stadtholder's  council, 
a  sort  of  senate,  was  to  consist  of  twelve  persons,  four  of  them 
the  holders  of  certain  offices  in  the  appointment  of  the  emperor 
or  the  stadtholder,  eight  of  them  confirmed  by  the  emperor  on 
nomination  of  the  Landesausschuss,  and  holding  office  for  three 
years.  The  Landesausschuss,  or  Lower  House,  was  to  be  increased 
to  fifty-eight  members — thirty-four  to  be  chosen  by  the  various 


ALSACE-LORRAINE.— BISMARCK'S  USE  OF  PARTIES.      641 

district  assemblies,  and  twenty-four  by  indirect  suffrage  of  the 
people,  their  term  of  office  to  be  three  years.  Where  local  in- 
terests were  concerned  Alsace-Lorraine  was  to  be  represented  in 
the  Bundesrath  by  deliberating  members  without  a  vote.  Gen- 
eral Mantcuffel  was  appointed  stadtholder,  and  filled  the  office 
with  great  tact  and  discretion,  doing  away  with  some  petty  re- 
strictions of  a  galling  character,  and  displaying  a  commendably 
conciliatory  spirit. 

The  sentiments  of  the  population  remained  French,  but  the 
aggressive  Gallicism  of  the  first  years  of  the  annexation  died 
away.  The  emperor  visited  Strasburg  and  Metz  in  1877,  and  was 
received  with  enthusiasm.  An  autonomist  party,  which  accepted 
the  existing  situation,  but  bestowed  its  loyalty  on  the  province  in- 
stead of  the  empire,  began  little  by  little  to  supplant  the  irrec- 
oncilable party  of  protest.  But  young  men  of  the  better  class 
were  still  sent  to  French  universities  instead  of  to  the  magnifi- 
cently equipped  German  university  at  Strasburg,  and  many  pre- 
ferred expatriation  to  service  in  the  German  army.  The  French, 
language  was  persistently  retained,  and  even  the  debates  of  the 
Landesausschuss  were  conducted  in  that  tongue,  although  the  na- 
tive and  natural  language  of  the  majority  of  the  population  was 
German. 

Opposition  to  the  policy  of  centralization  pursued  by  the  im- 
perial chancellor  and  his  august  master  was  also  encountered  from 
the  governments  of  the  various  German  states,  especially  Bavaria, 
Wurtembcrg,  and  Saxony.  They  were  afraid  of  being  "  Prussian- 
ized." It  was  Bismarck's  aim  to  reduce  these  separate  govern- 
ments to  nonentities,  and  constitute  a  strong  imperial  government, 
in  which  the  dominant  influence  must  of  necessity  be  Prussian. 
To  attain  this  end  he  was  willing  to  use  any  tools ;  as  he  himself 
said,  "  to  take  his  allies  where  he  could  find  them."  At  first  he 
relied  on  the  National  Liberals.  When  their  constitutional  and 
parliamentary  theories  began  to  interfere  with  his  schemes,  he 
threw  them  aside  and  inaugurated  a  Conservative  reaction.  Con- 
stantly seeking  to  divide  the  ranks  of  his  opponents,  he  thus 
fostered  the  growth  of  small  parties,  a  coalition  of  two  or  more 
of  which  is  necessary  to  form  a  majority.  With  different  parties 
he  must  of  necessity  pursue  different  tactics.  With  the  National 
Liberals  lie  had  been  a  free-trader ;  to  obtain  the  support  of  the 
Conservative  landholders  he  became  a  protectionist ;  as  a  bait  to 


642  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  EECENT   TIMES. 

the  laboring  classes  lie  advocated  state  socialism,  and  proposed, 
among  other  measures,  the  support  of  disabled  laborers  by  the 
state,  by  means  of  a  compulsory  system  of  accident  insurance  on 
the  part  of  employers.  Surveying  his  changes  of  policy  in  these 
respects,  it  becomes  evident  that  the  prince-chancellor  himself  be- 
longed to  no  party  and  could  belong  to  none.  He  regarded  him- 
self as  above  party  programmes  and  party  principles.  To  him 
free-trade  or  protection  were  not  permanent  principles  of  legisla- 
tion, but  merely  a  means  of  acquiring  votes,  to  be  adopted  or  cast 
aside  as  the  immediate  occasion  required.  In  his  eyes  any  measures 
were  justified  which  would  strengthen  the  imperial  government  with 
Prussia  at  its  head.  It  must  be  farther  premised  that,  from  the 
very  nature  of  his  political  genius  and  previous  activity,  he  tended 
to  look  at  all  matters  from  the  point  of  view  of  foreign  policy. 
He  made  combinations  of  parties,  and  played  one  against  an- 
other, as  though  they  were  all  so  many  foreign  states,  primarily 
to  strengthen  the  central  power,  not  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  people.  The  government,  not  the  people,  occupied  the  place 
of  importance  in  his  eyes,  and  in  so  far  his  policy  was  essentially 
autocratic. 

Bismarck's  breach  with  his  former  financial  policy  and  with 
his  National  Liberal  supporters  began  in  1876,  although  it  was 
not  consummated  until  the  winter  of  1877— '78,  when  the  latter 
flatly  refused  to  take  office  on  condition  of  supporting  his  scheme 
of  a  government  tobacco  monopoly.  On  the  25th  of  April,  1876, 
Delbruck,  Prussian  minister  of  state,  and  president  of  the  impe- 
rial chancery,  who  had  guided  the  financial  policy,  first  of  the 
North  German  Confederation,  and  afterward  of  the  German  Em- 
pire, since  1867,  retired  from  office,  and  was  succeeded  by  Hof- 
mann,  Hessian  minister  -  president.  His  resignation  was — acci- 
dentally, it  was  claimed  —  coincident  with  the  introduction  of 
Bismarck's  railroad  bill  in  the  Prussian  Landtag. 

Since  1874  the  imperial  government  had  been  endeavoring  to 
gain  control  over  the  German  railroad  system.  A  special  impe- 
rial railroad  department  had  been  created,  and  bills  giving  the 
empire  the  general  supervision  and  control  of  the  state  and  pri- 
vate railroads  in  the  various  German  states  had  been  laid  before 
the  Bundesrath'.  Saxony  and  the  south  German  states  opposed 
such  a  measure,  as  conferring  too  much  power  on  the  empire — 
i.  e.,  in  the  last  resort,  Prussia — at  the  expense  of  the  individual 


STATE  RAILROADS.— FINANCIAL  POLICY.  643 

members.  Finding  it  impracticable  to  carry  directly  a  bill  giving 
the  empire  the  power  desired,  Bismarck  next  endeavored  to  use 
Prussia  as  a  lever  to  force  the  other  states  to  terms.  According- 
ly, a  bill  was  carried  through  the  Prussian  Landtag  (May,  1876) 
empowering  the  Prussian  government  to  sell  to  the  empire  all 
railroads  in  its  possession,  and  at  the  same  time  to  transfer  its 
right  of  control  over  private  roads.  But  as  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  Bundesrath  opposed  the  acquisition  of  railroads 
by  the  empire,  this  method  of  exerting  pressure  on  the  other  states 
had  to  be  abandoned.  The  chancellor's  resources  were  not  yet 
exhausted,  however.  In  November  of  1879  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment carried  through  the  Landtag  a  bill  authorizing  the  state  to 
purchase  the  private  railroads.  In  this  way  Prussia  will  ultimate- 
ly acquire  control  over  about  seventy-seven  per  cent,  of  the  total 
railroad  system  of  Germany,  and  be  in  a  position  to  coerce  the 
other  states  in  somewhat  the  same  way  in  which  she  formerly 
forced  the  middle  states  to  join  the  Customs'  Union  whether 
they  would  or  no. 

Oue  important  result  of  the  acquisition  of  the  railroads  by  the 
empire  would  be  to  diminish  the  financial  dependence  of  the  lat- 
ter on  the  individual  states.  The  proposed  government  monop- 
oly of  tobacco  and  the  tariff  revision  both  had  the  same  object  in 
view.  In  1875  Bismarck  had  advocated  an  exclusively  revenue 
tariff,  in  which  the  revenue  should  be  raised  by  duties  on  such 
articles  of  import  as  coffee,  tea,  tobacco,  petroleum,  and  the  like. 
On  the  15th  of  December,  1878,  he  laid  before  the  Bundesrath 
the  principles  of  a  tariff  reform  intended  to  increase  the  revenues 
of  the  empire  by  an  increase  of  the  indirect  taxes,  and  thus  de- 
crease the  amount  of  the  annual  quotas  of  the  separate  states. 
Emancipated  from  the  influence  of  Delbriick  and  his  free-trade 
principles,  he  proposed  to  return  to  the  system  which  had  pre- 
vailed in  Prussia  from  1818  to  1865,  according  to  which  all  arti- 
cles imported  pay  duty,  with  the  protective  modification  that  raw 
material  intended  for  manufacturing  purposes,  not  produced  in 
Germany,  or  produced  in  insignificant  quantities,  should  be  admit- 
ted free.  A  commission  was  at  once  appointed  to  frame  a  new 
tariff,  and  Varnbuler,  of  Wiirtemberg,  a  pronounced  protectionist, 
who  had  himself  brought  a  protective  bill  before  the  Reichstag 
in  the  previous  year,  was  appointed  president  of  the  commission. 

The  bill  proposed  by  the  commission,  in  harmony  with  Bis- 


644  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

marck's  suggestions,  was  accepted  by  the  Bundesrath  on  the  3d 
of  April,  1879,  and  laid  before  the  Reichstag  on  the  following 
day.  The  motive  of  the  bill,  as  set  forth  by  the  chancellor,  was 
the  necessity,  "  not  alone  of  assisting  individual  branches  of  in- 
dustry by  special  protective  duties,  but  still  more  to  secure  to 
native  industry  in  all  branches  an  advantage  over  foreign  indus- 
try in  the  home  market,"  and  to  increase  the  exportability  of 
native  goods.  The  chancellor  was  sure  of  the  support  of  the 
Conservatives,  for  whose  benefit  the  tax  on  corn  and  agricultural 
products  in  general  was  materially  increased.  The  attitude  of 
the  National  Liberals  was  uncertain.  The  left  wing  of  the  par- 
ty, under  Lasker,  was  either  in  favor  of  absolute  free-trade  or  at 
least  against  the  increase  of  the  corn-tax,  and  the  majority,  under 
Bennigsen,  was  only  partially  reliable.  The  Progressists  were,  as 
usual,  in  opposition,  being  pronounced  free-traders.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  vote  of  the  Centre  was  necessary  for  the  pas- 
sage of  the  government  measure.  The  successful  negotiations 
with  that  party  have  already  been  referred  to.  By  the  union  of 
Centre  and  Conservatives  the  bill  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  217 
to  117  (July  13th),  and  Germany  joined  the  majority  of  the  Eu- 
ropean states  in  the  adoption  of  a  protective  tariff.  Hobrecht 
and  Friedenthal,  Prussian  ministers  of  finance  and  agriculture,  re- 
signed; pronounced  Conservatives  were  appointed  in  their  stead, 
and  the  last  trace  of  Liberal  ascendency  in  the  councils  of  Prince 
Bismarck  had  vanished. 

The  new  financial  scheme  did  not  end  at  the  change  from  free- 
trade  to  protection.  The  new  tariff  was  a  Conservative  measure, 
favoring  the  landholders  and  capitalists.  Other  measures  were 
necessary  to  win  the  support  of  the  lower  classes.  One  project, 
intended  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  government,  and  at  the 
same  time  secure  support  among  the  laboring  men,  was  the  to- 
bacco monopoly.  But  this  met  with  little  favor  in  the  Reichstag, 
and  although,  like  the  quadrennial  elections  and  the  biennial  ses- 
sions and  biennial  budgets — measures  intended  to  strengthen  the 
imperial  government  at  the  expense  of  the  imperial  parliament 
— brought  up  year  after  year,  was  always  rejected. 

In  September  of  1880  Bismarck  assumed  in  person  the  port- 
folio of  commerce  and  industry,  and  by  an  exercise  of  the  pre- 
rogative of  the  Prussian  king  created  for  himself  an  Economical 
Council,  in  which  commerce,  agriculture,  and  manufactures  were 


RESCRIPT  AND  REACTION.  645 

all  to  be  represented,  part  of  its  members  being  chosen  from  the 
laboring  classes.  The  attempt  to  create  an  imperial  Economical 
Council  failed,  owing  to  the  refusal  of  the  Reichstag  to  vote  the 
necessary  appropriation.  The  project  of  compulsory  state  acci- 
dent insurance  also  met  with  small  favor  in  the  Reichstag.  But 
the  indefatigable  chancellor,  accustomed,  by  a  skilful  manipula- 
tion of  parties,  to  carry  his  object  in  the  face  of  a  hostile  major- 
ity, would  not  abandon  his  nlans.  He  was  sure  of  the  emperor's 
support  and  approval,  and  relied  on  that  sense  of  his  indispen- 
sableness  which  was  so  strongly  felt  by  the  nation  at  large,  even 
by  many  of  those  who  could  not  approve  of  his  policy.  In  the 
elections  of  1881  his  new  economical  and  financial  projects  were 
submitted  to  the  direct  vote  of  the  people.  No  efforts  were 
spared  on  the  part  of  the  government.  Unlimited  abuse  was 
heaped  on  all  opponents  of  the  government  measures,  and  their 
personal  and  political  motives  aspersed,  but  a  similar  tone  toward 
the  government  was  punished  by  fines  and  imprisonment  as  libel. 
The  emperor  was  dragged  into  the  struggle,  and  the  chancellor's 
schemes  represented  as  the  cherished  wishes  of  the  aged  mon- 
arch's heart.  The  result  was  a  practical  defeat  of  the  govern- 
ment. The  alluring  bait  of  measures  for  the  laboring  classes 
(among  other  things  the  proceeds  of  the  tobacco  monopoly  were 
to  be  devoted  to  the  insurance  of  laborers  against  accidents) 
failed  of  the  desired  effect,  and  the  candidates  for  whose  election 
the  government  had  made  the  greatest  exertions  were  defeated. 
The  total  returns  were :  Conservatives,  76 ;  Clericals  and  Guelphs 
combined,  107  ;  National  Liberals,  43  ;  Secessionists  (formerly 
the  left  wing  of  National  Liberals),  47  ;  Progressists,  68 ;  Social 
Democrats,  with  their  allies,  12;  Alsace- Lorrainers,  15;  Poles,  18; 
Danes,  2  ;  Independents,  8.  The  previous  Clerico  -  conservative 
majority  of  220  was  accordingly  converted  into  a  minority  of  183. 
This  defeat  caused  no  change  in  Bismarck's  policy.  The  em- 
peror's message  to  the  new  Reichstag  (October  17th,  1881)  called 
only  the  more  urgently  for  the  establishment  of  an  imperial  Eco- 
nomical Council,  a  state  monopoly  of  tobacco,  state  insurance  of 
working-men,  quadrennial  elections,  and  biennial  sessions.  Both 
in  the  Reichstag  and  in  the  Prussian  Landtag  Bismarck  was  se- 
verely criticised  for  bringing  the  emperor's  person  into  the  fore- 
ground, and  seeking  to  pass  his  own  measures  by  an  improper 
use  of  the  emperor's  personal  prestige  and  popularity.  In  answer 


646  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  KECEXT  TIMES. 

to  these  attacks  appeared  the  royal  rescript  of  January  4th,  1882, 
in  which  the  emperor,  speaking  in  his  character  as  king  of  Prus- 
sia, says :  "  The  government  acts  of  the  king  require  the  counter- 
signature  of  a  minister,  and,  as  was  also  the  case  before  the  con- 
stitution was  issued,  have  to  be  represented  by  the  king's  minis- 
ters, but  they  nevertheless  remain  government  acts  of  the  king, 
from  whose  decisions  they  result,  and  who  thereby  constitution- 
ally expresses  his  will  and  pleasure.  It  is,  therefore,  my  will 
that  both  in  Prussia  and  in  the  legislative  bodies  of  the  empire 
there  may  be  no  doubt  left  as  to  my  own  constitutional  right, 
and  that  of  ray  successors,  to  personally  conduct  the  policy  of  my 
government,  and  that  the  theory  shall  always  be  gainsaid  that 
the  inviolability  of  the  king,  which  has  always  existed  in  Prussia, 
and  is  enunciated  by  article  43  of  the  constitution,  or  the  neces- 
sity of  a  responsible  counter-signature  of  my  government  acts,  de- 
prives them  of  the  character  of  royal  and  independent  decisions." 
This  extraordinary  rescript,  affecting  primarily  Prussia,  and  sec- 
ondarily the  empire,  faithfully  reflected  the  reactionary  policy  of 
the  chancellor.  Officials  and  private  individuals  were  decorated 
for  activity  in  assisting  government  candidates  or  inventing  mo- 
narchical theories.  Men  talked  of  a  renewal  of  the  struggle  of 
1862.  The  native  Press  scarcely  ventured  to  comment  upon  the 
rescript,  and  various  foreign  papers,  which  criticised  it  too  freely, 
were  confiscated.  The  Press  censorship  was  so  exercised  as  to 
bring  attacks  on  the  government  policy  under  the  head  of  libels 
of  the  sovereign  or  his  ministers.* 

*  Copies  of  Punch  containing  a  cartoon  on  the  rescript  were  seized  in  the 
Berlin  cafes.  The  amount  of  freedom  enjoyed  by  the  Press  under  the  pres- 
ent Press  laws  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  incidents :  An  editor  in 
Breslau  was  fined  3000  marks  for  putting  his  paper  in  mourning  for  the 
death  of  Forster,  Prince-bishop  of  Breslau,  and  speaking  of  him  in  an  obitu- 
ary notice  as  having  died  in  banishment.  Another  editor  was  imprisoned  for 
hinting  that  some  of  the  numerous  threatening  letters  received  by  Bismarck 
were  composed  at  his  own  command,  adducing  the  analogy  of  the  threatening 
letters  received  by  Xapoleon  III.  Prof.  Mommsen,  the  historian,  is  on  trial 
(February,  1882)  for  insulting  Bismarck  in  a  campaign  document,  the  insult 
consisting  in  accusing  him  of  having  "dispossessed  the  Prussian  Crown." 
The  sale  of  some  of  Heine's  works,  including  the  "  Zeitgeschichte,"  has  been 
forbidden  in  Berlin.  These  facts  will  suffice  to  show  that  freedom  of  speech 
and  pen,  as  understood  in  England  and  America,  do  not  exist  in  Germany  at 
the  present  time. 


AN  IMPERIAL  CODE.  647 

A  step  of  a  different  character  toward  the  consolidation  of 
the  empire  was  the  adoption  of  an  imperial  code.  January  18th, 
1875,  a  committee  of  twenty-eight  had  been  appointed  by  the 
Reichstag  to  frame  a  code.  Their  work  was  laid  before  that  body 
in  November  of  1876,  and  the  completed  code  was  adopted  in  the 
following  month.  In  the  matter  of  the  location  of  the  imperial 
supreme  court,  however,  particularism  gained  a  signal  victory. 
Influenced  by  jealousy  of  Prussia,  the  governments  of  the  various 
states  by  their  delegates  in  the  Bundesrath  elected  Leipzig  by  a 
majority  of  thirty  to  twenty-eight.  The  same  distrust  and  jeal- 
ousy of  Prussian  ascendency  displayed  itself  in  the  Reichstag. 
Saxons,  Wurtembergers,  and  Bavarians  voted  almost  without  ex- 
ception against  Berlin  in  favor  of  Leipzig.  The  various  anti-im- 
perial factions  —  Poles,  Alsace-Lorrainers,  Social  Democrats,  and 
Centre — as  well  as  the  Party  of  Progress,  also  voted  against  Berlin, 
giving  a  majority  of  213  to  142  in  favor  of  Leipzig.  This  vote, 
showing  clearly  that  jealousy  of  Prussia  was  not  confined  to  the 
governments  of  the  individual  states,  but  also  shared  by  the  peo- 
ple at  large,  was  just  in  so  far  an  unfavorable  omen  for  the  speedy 
consolidation  of  the  empire,  as  such  consolidation  signified  an  in- 
crease of  Prussian  ascendency. 

Another  measure  with  consolidation  in  view  was  the  compul- 
sion exerted  on  Hamburg  to  force  it  to  enter  the  Customs'  Union. 
By  the  provisions  of  the  imperial  constitution  of  1871  Bremen 
and  Hamburg,  "  with  a  district  suitable  to  the  purpose,  either  of 
their  own-  or  of  the  surrounding  territory,  are  to  remain  free  ports 
outside  of  the  common  customs  limit  until  they  themselves  apply 
to  be  included  in  the  same."  As  they  showed  no  inclination  to 
make  such  application  of  their  own  accord,  Bismarck  determined 
to  take  the  initiative,  and  in  May  of  1879  addressed  to  the  sen- 
ates of  both  cities  an  official  letter  requiring  them  to  surrender 
their  special  free-port  privileges  and  enter  the  German  Customs' 
Union.  Both  cities  refused  to  take  the  step  required. 

At  the  time  of  the  annexation  of  the  duchies  of  Schleswig  and 
Holstein,  in  1867,  as  an  act  of  friendship  toward  Hamburg, 
Altona  was  left  outside  of  the  customs  limits.  Bismarck  now 
made  use  of  Altona  as  a  means  of  coercing  Hamburg.  On  the 
22d  of  April,  1880,  Prussia  moved  in  the  Bundesrath  the  in- 
clusion within  the  customs  limits  of  Altona  and  the  Hamburg 
suburb  of  St.  Pauli,  defending  the  inclusion  of  the  latter  on  the 


048  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

ground  that  it  was  impossible  to  establish  a  satisfactory  customs 
frontier  between  Altona  and  St.  Pauli,  while  the  situation  of  the 
latter  rendered  such  a  frontier  between  it  and  Hamburg  feasible. 
Hamburg  brought  in  a  counter -motion  to  the  effect  that  the 
proposed  incorporation  in  the  customs  territory  of  the  suburb 
of  St.  Pauli  without  the  consent  of  Hamburg  was  contrary  to  the 
terms  of  the  constitution.  St.  Pauli  contained  53,000  inhabi- 
tants, was  an  integral  part  of  Hamburg,  and  with  Altona  com- 
prised commercially  the  most  important  part  of  the  whole  city. 
The1  measure  would  no  doubt  have  met  with  violent  opposition 
if  it  had  been  laid  before  the  Reichstag,  and  consequently,  in 
spite  of  Progressists  and  Liberals,  the  chancellor  claimed  that  it 
pertained  solely  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bundesrath.  On  the 
22d  of  May  the  latter  body  voted  to  accept  the  measure  pro- 
posed by  Prussia,  only  in  so  far  modified  that  a  part  and  not  the 
whole  of  St.  Pauli  was  included.  The  chancellor  followed  up  this 
coercive  measure  by  another,  once  more  ignoring  the  claims  of 
the  Progressists  and  Liberals  in  the  Reichstag  to  co-ordinate 
jurisdiction,  namely,  the  removal  of  the  customs  line  from  a 
point  above  to  a  point  below  Hamburg.  This  was  calculated  to 
hamper  the  commerce  of  the  latter  city  by  subjecting  it  to  annoy- 
ing customs  regulations.  To  a  deputation  from  Hamburg  he 
announced  his  intention  of  building  a  direct  railroad  from  Altona 
to  Berlin  and  Magdeburg,  and  of  using  all  his  power  to  build  up 
Altona  at  the  expense  of  Hamburg.  These  various  measures  had 
the  desired  effect,  and  in  1881  the  Hamburg  senate  sued  for 
admission  to  the  Customs'  Union,  the  empire  agreeing  to  pay 
40,000,000  marks  toward  defraying  the  expenses  involved.  This 
left  Bremen  the  only  free  port  in  the  empire,  and  afforded  the 
chancellor  a  precedent  to  be  used  in  forcing  that  city  also  to  sur- 
render its  special  privileges. 

This  brief  survey  of  the  internal  history  of  Germany  in  the 
years  18T6-'81  would  be  incomplete  without  some  mention  of 
the  Juden-hetze,  or  Jew-baiting,  which  began  in  1879.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  agitation  was  Berlin,  as  the  point  where  the  Jews 
were  most  numerous  and  most  wealthy ;  but  Pomerania  was  the 
only  place  where  it  resulted  in  open  noting.  It  was  a  well- 
organized  movement,  deriving  its  main  .support  from  the  Con- 
servatives, with  their  native  abhorrence  of  Jews  and  commerce, 
but  owing  its  active  inspiration  to  that  aggressive  Teutonism 


INCREASE   OF  TUB  ARMY.  649 

which  had  been  developed  in  Germany,  and  more  especially  in 
Prussia,  since  the  war  of  1870.  The  leaders  of  the  movement 
circulated  an  anti-Semitic  petition  (1880)  advocating  restriction 
of  Jewish  immigration  from  Russia,  and  curtailment  of  the  polit- 
ical rights  of  the  Jews.  A  violent  war  was  waged  in  pamphlets 
and  in  the  Press.  A  society  was  formed  whose  members  pledged 
themselves  not  to  buy  of  Jews,  or  patronize  cafes  or  restaurants 
frequented  by  them.  In  Berlin,  in  the  winter  of  18 80-' 81,  feel- 
ing on  both  sides  ran  so  high  that  a  number  of  personal  encoun- 
ters occurred,  and  the  Jews  were  continually  exposed  to  person- 
al insults.  Ardent  anti-Semites  violently  ejected  the  obnoxious 
Semites  from  the  principal  cafes  and  restaurants,  the  police  observ- 
ing the  while  a  strict  neutrality.  The  Berlin  university  was  like- 
wise the  scene  of  disgraceful  disturbances,  even  the  professors  tak- 
ing active  part  for  or  against  the  Jews.  The  army  officers  did  their 
part  by  placing  the  Jews  under  a  social  ban,  and  effectually  bar- 
ring against  them  the  military  career.  The  Conservative  Luther- 
an clergy  of  Prussia  also  joined  in  the  universal  hue-and-cry.  The 
crown  prince,  to  his  credit,  manifested  a  strong  repugnance  to 
this  illiberal  agitation,  but  for  a  long  time  it  was  generally  sup- 
posed that  it  was  not  displeasing  to  the  emperor  and  the  court  in 
general.  The  elections  to  the  Reichstag  in  October  of  1881  re- 
sulted in  the  defeat  of  the  agitators  in  Berlin,  and  showed  the 
agitation  itself  to  be  on  the  decline.  But  it  had  already  spread 
across  the  border,  and  led  to  frightful  excesses  in  Russia,  to  which 
allusion  has  already  been  made.  In  Kief,  Odessa,  Warsaw,  and  a 
number  of  lesser  towns  and  villages,  the  Jews  were  plundered  and 
abused,  or  even  outraged  and  murdered,  the  authorities  remaining 
inactive,  and  the  judges  at  the  trials  not  hesitating  to  express 
their  sympathy  with  the  rioters.  It  was  the  same  agitation,  dif- 
ferentiated by  the  character  and  civilization  of  the  two  nations. 

The  important  military  law  of  1880,  and  the  consequent  in- 
crease of  the  German  army,  has  been  reserved  for  later  notice  on 
account  of  its  bearing  on  the  foreign  relations  of  the  empire. 
The  army  law  adopted  in  1874,  based  on  the  census  of  1867, 
regulating  the  annual  conscription  and  the  annual  budget,  was  to 
expire  on  the  31st  of  December,  1881.  The  new  law,  based  on 
the  census  of  1875,  and  covering  the  period  from  April  1st,  1881, 
to  March  31st,  1888,  proposed  both  an  absolute  and  a  relative  in- 
crease of  the  military  strength  of  the  empire,  giving  as  the  motive 

28 


650  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

for  this  increase  the  magnitude  of  the  French  and  Russian  armies* 
While  the  German  army  on  a  peace  footing  numbered  402,000 
men,  the  French  army  numbered  497,000,  and  that  of  Russia 
800,000.  And  while  the  total  period  of  military  service  in  Ger- 
many was  twelve  years  (active,  three  ;  reserve,  four  ;  landwehr,  or 
second  reserve,  five),  in  France  it  was  twenty,  and  in  Russia  fif- 
teen ;  thus  making  the  discrepancy  on  a  war  footing  still  greater. 
The  new  bill  proposed  to  include  in  the  conscription  for  active 
service  several  classes  which  had  hitherto  been  enrolled  in  the  re- 
serve, and  to  increase  the  peace  footing  of  the  army  to  one  per 
cent,  of  the  total  population.  This  involved  an  increase  in  the 
peace  footing  of  about  26,000  (from  401,659  to  427,250),  and  in 
the  war  footing  of  more  than  100,000,  and  a  permanent  addition 
to  the  budget  of  more  than  17,000,000  marks.  The  bill  was 
defended  by  von  Moltke,  who  laid  great  stress  on  the  military 
preparations  of  France  and  Russia,  and  the  necessity  of  counter- 
preparations  on  the  part  of  Germany.  The  opposition  was  based 
on  the  economical  ground  that  the  already  overburdened  people 
could  not  stand  the  fresh  burden  thus  laid  upon  them,  and  on  the 
parliamentary  ground  that  it  was  not  advisable  to  place  the  army 
beyond  the  control  of  parliament,  by  voting  the  military  budget 
for  seven  years  instead  of  one ;  but,  through  a  union  of  Conserva- 
tives and  National  Liberals,  the  bill  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  186 
to  128. 

The  attitude  of  Bismarck  in  the  Berlin  Congress  of  1878  had 
resulted  in  a  breach  of  the  alliance  of  the  three  emperors.  He 
had  favored  the  interests  of  Austria  at  the  expense  of  Russia. 
Gortchakoff  made  no  secret  of  his  anger  against  Germany,  and 
openly  announced  his  preference  for  France.  Count  Shouvaloff, 
Russian  ambassador  at  the  court  of  St.  James,  was  recalled  on 
account  of  his  German  proclivities,  and  replaced  by  Prince  Loba- 
noff,  a  German  hater.  A  Russian  agent  endeavored  to  negotiate 
a  formal  alliance  with  France,  and  Russian  grand-dukes  appeared 
at  the  French  capital.  Russian  troops  were  massed  on  the  Ger- 
man border,  the  Russian  official  Press  indulged  in  the  most  vio- 
lent diatribes  against  Germany  and  all  things  German,  and  Alex- 
ander himself  wrote  to  the  German  emperor,  "  Your  Majesty's 
chancellor  has  forgotten  the  promises  of  1870." 

Emperor  William  was  personally  anxious  to  maintain  good 
relations  witli  Russia  at  any  price,  and  accordingly,  without  the 


ALLIANCE   WITH  AUSTRIA.  651 

assistance  of  bis  chancellor,  through  the  agency  of  General  Man- 
teuffel,  he  arranged  a  personal  interview  with  his  nephew,  the 
Russian  emperor,  at  the  border  town  of  Alexandrovo,  September 
3d,  1879.  But  this  interview,  although  an  evidence  of  the  personal 
friendship  of  the  two  sovereigns,  had  no  apparent  effect  on  the 
policy  of  the  two  empires.  Bismarck,  on  the  other  hand,  sought 
to  form  a  closer  alliance  with  Austro-Hungary.  On  the  28th  of 
August  he  met  Andrassy  in  Gastein,  and  on  the  22d  of  September 
followed  up  this  interview  by  a  visit  to  Vienna.  The  result  was 
a  defensive  alliance,  providing  that  any  attack  upon  the  one  state 
should  be  regarded  as  an  attack  on  both,  and  that  Oriental  affairs 
should  be  settled  in  accordance  with  the  decisions  of  the  Berlin 
treaty.  As  this  was  manifestly  aimed  at  Russia,  it  was  with  the 
greatest  reluctance  that  the  emperor  gave  his  consent.  It  was 
only  Bismarck's  determination  to  resign,  if  his  policy  of  an  Aus- 
trian alliance  were  not  adopted,  which  induced  him  to  yield. 
The  situation  was  so  serious  that  the  foreign  committee  of  the 
Bundesrath  was  summoned  to  meet  in  Berlin  in  October,  to  con- 
sider the  measures  taken  by  the  government.  In  Russia  the  im- 
mediate effect  of  the  new  alliance  was  the  adoption  by  the  Press, 
at  the  command  of  the  minister  of  the  interior,  of  a  somewhat 
less  warlike  and  offensive  tone  toward  both  Germany  and  Austria; 
the  visits  of  the  Czarevitch  in  Berlin  and  Vienna,  on  his  way  home 
from  Cannes,  at  the  emperor's  express  command,  and  much  against 
his  own  wishes,  and  even  a  visit  from  Gortchakoff  himself. 

In  alliance  with  Austria,  Bismarck  felt  himself  strong  enough 
to  meet  the  combined  forces  of  France  and  Russia.  At  the  same 
time  diplomacy  was  preferred  to  war.  Austria  was  to  thwart 
Russian  pan-Slavism,  and  supplant  Russian  influence  in  the  Bal- 
kan peninsula,  and  both  France  and  Russia  were  to  be  involved  in 
complications  which  would  dispel  all  lust  for  aggressive  measures. 
The  success  of  this  policy  in  the  case  of  France  has  already  been 
reviewed,  as  well  as  the  internal  disturbances  which  came  to  the 
assistance  of  the  German  chancellor  in  paralyzing  Russia, 

It  remains  to  notice  the  attitude  of  Germany  toward  the  Sul- 
tan. The  latter  showed  a  readiness  to  make  concessions  to  the 
mighty  chancellor,  which  finds  its  explanation  in  his  hope  of 
gaining  in  Germany  an  ally  against  Russia.  This  enabled  Ger- 
many to  dictate  to  the  Porte  where  the  threats  of  other  nations 
proved  unavailing  (in  reference  to  Greece  and  Montenegro).  The 


652  POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

invasion  of  Tunis  by  th':  French  redoubled  the  Sultan's  friend- 
ship. At  the  request  of  Germany  he  withdrew  his  protest  against 
Austria's  introduction  of  the  military  conscription  in  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina,  and  as  a  sign  of  special  favor  he  bestowed  upon 
Emperor  William  an  Ottoman  order.  The  latter,  in  his  turn,  be- 
stowed upon  the  Sultan  the  Order  of  the  Black  Eagle.  The  chan- 
cellor's policy,  manifestly,  was  to  encourage  the  Sultan  without 
compromising  Germany  by  direct  promises  or  tangible  treaty  en- 
gagements; thus  greatly  increasing  the  French  embarrassments 
in  Northern  Africa,  and  holding  out  a  constant  threat  to  Russia 
without  incurring  any  actual  responsibility. 


§  39. 

SOUTH    AMERICA. 

IN  Mexico  the  liberal  church  laws  of  1874  had  afforded  a  fa- 
natical priesthood  renewed  occasion  to  incite  the  hot-blooded  na- 
tives to  excesses  against  Protestantism  and  the  national  religious 
reform  movement  of  the  Church  of  Jesus.  Disturbances  occurred 
in  various  places,  especially  in  Acapulco,  where  the  reformers  were 
attacked  while  at  worship,  six  of  them  killed  outright,  and  nine 
wounded.  Early  in  1876  a  revolt  broke  out  against  the  govern- 
ment of  President  Lerdo  de  Tejada.  The  leader  of  this  move- 
ment was  General  Porfirio  Diaz,  whose  head-quarters  were  at  Mat- 
amoras.  At  the  outset  the  government  troops  were  successful ; 
and  on  the  24th  of  July  Lerdo  was  re-elected  president  by  a  large 
majority.  Iglesias,  chief -justice  of  the  supreme  court,  and,  by 
virtue  of  that  office,  vice-president  of  the  republic,  contested  the 
validity  of  his  election,  and  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  in  Leon, 
in  the  state  of  Guanajuato,  his  soldiers  attacking  the  American 
mission-houses  at  that  place  with  the  cry,  "  Death  to  the  Protes- 
tants!"  In  the  mean  time  the  fortunes  of  General  Diaz  had 
changed.  November  15th  he  won  a  decisive  victory  over  the 
government  troops,  and  on  the  1st  of  December  entered  the  capi- 
tal. The  other  two  presidents  fled  to  Mazatlan  and  embarked  for 
foreign  parts.  Diaz  assumed  the  presidency,  and  was  confirmed 
in  that  office  by  Congress  on  the  4th  of  May,  1877,  he  of  his  own 


SAN  SALVADOR.— VENEZUELA.  65? 

will  declaring  that  he  would  not  accept  a  re-election.  In  Diaz 
religious  liberty  found  a  .protector,  and  the  reform  movement 
spread  rapidly,  so  that  in  1878  it  numbered  12,000  members. 
This  excited  the  bitterest  feeling  among  the  Roman  Catholic 
priesthood ;  and  in  Atzala,  in  the  fanatical  state  of  Puebla,  or- 
thodox zeal  found  vent  in  a  mass?cre  of  the  heretics.  Diaz  laid 
dowii  his  office  in  1882,  and  was  succeeded  by  General  Gonzales, 
his  minister  of  war,  in  whose  cabinet  he  in  his  turn  became  min- 
ister of  public  works. 

In  the  republic  of  San  Salvador  a  conflict  between  the  govern- 
ment and  the  bishop  led  to  an  insurrection  in  the  capital  in  June 
of  1875.  The  government  had  forbidden  the  publication  of  an 
inflammatory  letter  of  the  bishop's,  whereupon  the  clergy  incited 
the  people  to  revolt.  After  a  few  prominent  citizens  had  been 
murdered  and  several  houses  burned,  the  troops  succeeded  in  restor- 
ing order,  and  by  the  command  of  President  Gonzales  fifty  of  the 
insurgents  were  shot.  Some  of  the  prisoners,  in  the  examination 
before  the  authorities,  implicated  the  clergy,  who,  it  seems,  had 
told  them  that  they  might  plunder  with  impunity  the  houses  of 
the  rich,  provided  only  they  gave  a  part  of  their  booty  to  the 
Church. 

In  Venezuela  the  claims  of  the  Roman  Curia  led  to  a  conflict 
with  Guzman  Blanco's  government,  in  which  the  latter  won  a 
signal  victory.  Archbishop  Guevara  had  been  deposed  for  dis- 
obedience to  the  laws  of  the  state,  and  Bishop  Arroyo  of  Gnayana 
appointed  in  his  stead.  The  Pope  refused  to  acknowledge  Gue- 
vara's deposition,  or  confirm  Arroyo,  and  the  latter  accordingly 
declined  the  honor  conferred  upon  him.  May  9th,  1876,  Blanco 
laid  before  Congress  a  church  bill  making  the  Venezuelan  Church 
independent  of  the  Roman  bishop — the  pastors  to  be  elected  by 
the  congregations,  the  bishops  by  the  pastors,  and  the  archbishop 
by  Congress.  Congress  passed  the  bill  in  a  still  sharper  form, 
and  elected  Dr.  Jose  Ponte  archbishop.  Afraid  of  the  complete 
loss  of  Venezuela,  the  Pope  now  yielded.  Roca  Cocchia,  the 
papal  nuncio,  appeared  in  Caraccas,  Guevara's  deposition  was  ap- 
proved, and  Ponte's  appointment  confirmed.  The  new  archbishop 
took  the  objectionable  oath  of  absolute  obedience  to  the  laws  of 
the  land,  and  flatteringly  compared  Blanco  to  Pericles,  Augustus, 
and  Charlemagne ;  and  Congress,  at  the  recommendation  of  the 
president,  repealed  the  May  Laws,  which  had  only  been  intended 


POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  RECENT  TIMES. 

to  force  the  Pope  to  yield.  A  difficulty  with  Holland,  almost 
resulting  in  war,  arose  from  the  facilities  afforded  to  Venezuelan 
refugees  in  the  Dutch  island  of  Curasao  to  plan  and  carry  out 
hostile  expeditions  against  their  native  country. 

In  the  republic  of  Ecuador  the  unlimited  sway  of  the  Jesuits 
was  brought  to  a  close  by  the  murder  of  President  Moreno,  on 
the  12th  of  August,  1875.  The  Freemasons  were  accused  of  be- 
ing the  authors  of  this  deed,  and  renewed  curses  were  pronounced 
upon  them.  The  result  of  the  vote  for  a  new  president  showed 
that  the  people  were  thoroughly  tired  of  unlimited  priest  rule. 
Dr.  Borrero,  the  Liberal  candidate,  was  elected  by  38,637  votes, 
against  6000  cast  for  both  the  other  candidates  together ;  the 
banished  Liberals  were  recalled,  and  Jesuit  rule  was  in  some  de- 
gree restricted. 

In  the  empire  of  Brazil  the  strife  with  the  Vatican  terminated 
in  1875.  The  measures  adopted  by  the  bishops  of  Olinda  and 
Para  against  the  Freemasons  and  other  secret  societies,  being  con- 
trary to  the  law  of  the  land,  had  led  to  the  imprisonment  of  the 
bishops.  The  administrator  of  the  diocese  of  Olinda  refused  to 
remove  the  interdict  laid  by  the  bishop,  and  was  also  imprisoned. 
The  administrator  of  the  diocese  of  Para,  as  well  as  several  of  the 
minor  clergy,  met  with  a  similar  fate.  At  the  special  request  of 
the  Pope  the  imprisoned  clergy  were  all  pardoned  on  the  17th 
of  September,  1875,  whereupon  the  interdict  was  removed  and 
the  conflict  at  an  end.  Some  slight  insurrections  in  the  northern 
provinces,  due  to  the  conflict  with  the  Church,  were  speedily  put 
down,  and  six  Italian  Jesuits,  who  had  incited  the  people  to  re- 
volt, were  expelled  from  the  country.  In  the  year  1878  the  Lib- 
erals came  into  power.  In  1879  the  question  of  extending  the 
suffrage  to  non-Catholics  (50,000  German  Protestants)  led  to  a 
change  of  ministry,  the  Liberals,  however,  still  remaining  in  power. 
The  law  adopted  in  1880,  by  which  all  naturalized  citizens  and 
non-Catholics  were  ineligible  for  election  to  office,  was  sufficiently 
illiberal  to  lead  Don  Pedro  to  direct  the  Brazilian  ambassador 
and  consuls  in  Germany  to  publish  the  fact  that  this  restriction 
was  contrary  to  his  personal  wishes. 

To  the  world  at  large  the  principal  interest  of  South  American 
history  during  the  years  1875-'81  lies  in  the  war  between  Chili 
and  Peru.  The  origin  of  the  struggle  was  a  border  strife  between 
Chili  and  Bolivia.  The  latter  state  claimed  the  whole  of  the 


province  of  Atacamba,  between  Chili  and  Peru,  while  the  former 
claimed  the  southern  part  of  the  province,  which  contained  rich 
deposits  of  nitrate  and  guano.  A  treaty  was  concluded  between 
the  disputants  in  1866  by  which  the  territory  in  question  was  to 
be  common  property  in  so  far  as  taxation  and  the  division  of 
revenue  were  concerned,  Bolivia  also  pledging  herself  to  interfere 
in  no  way  with  the  Chilian  subjects  who  were  in  possession  of 
the  saltpetre  mines.  In  the  hands  of  enterprising  Chilians  those 
mines  and  guano  deposits  of  Atacamba  proved  dangerous  compet- 
itors for  Peruvian  nitrate  and  guano,  and  served  to  increase  the 
rivalry  and  bitter  feeling  which  had  already  sprung  up  between 
the  two  countries.  In  1873  a  secret  treaty  of  offence  and  de- 
fence was  concluded  between  Peru  and  Bolivia.  Supported  by 
Peru,  Bolivia  felt  strong  enough  to  disregard  the  treaty  of  1866 
and  make  good  her  claim  to  the  whole  province  of  Atacamba. 
Finally,  an  arbitrary  contribution  was  demanded  from  a  Chilian 
mercantile  company  in  Antofagasta.  The  company  refused  to  pay 
the  sum  required,  whereupon  the  Bolivian  authorities  arrested 
some  of  its  employes.  Chili  at  once  sent  an  armed  force  to 
Antofagasta,  with  instructions  to  take  possession  of  the  whole 
saltpetre  region,  and  on  the  6th  of  April,  1879,  war  was  declared. 
At  this  very  time  Chili  was  involved  in  a  controversy  with  the 
Argentine  Republic  regarding  the  respective  boundaries  of  the 
two  countries  in  Patagonia.  Taking  advantage  of  that  fact,  the 
allies  endeavored  to  persuade  La  Plata  also  to  declare  war  upon 
Chili.  This  attempt  was  so  far  successful  that  the  Argentine 
Congress  rejected  the  Patagonian  treaty  just  concluded  by  Chili- 
an and  Argentine  plenipotentiaries,  and  voted  an  extraordinary 
credit  for  military  preparations ;  but  the  speedy  success  of  the 
Chilians  against  the  Peruvians  and  Bolivians  led  to  a  reconsidera- 
tion of  the  subject,  and  the  ultimate  observance  of  a  strict  neu- 
trality. 

The  population  of  the  two  allied  states  was  more  than  double 
that  of  Chili ;  but  the  latter  country  had  the  advantage  of  supe- 
rior intelligence  and  enterprise,  as  well  as  greater  density  of  pop- 
ulation and  relative  wealth.  The  first  step  of  the  Chilian  gov- 
ernment was  to  use  its  supposed  naval  ^superiority  to  blockade 
Iquique  and  the  southern  coast  of  Peru,  from  which  saltpetre  and 
guano  were  exported.  But  the  Peruvian  iron-clad  Huascar  proved 
superior  to  the  Chilian  fleet,  inflicting  upon  the  latter  considerable 


656  POLITICAL   HISTORY   OF  RECENT   TIMES. 

loss,  and  forcing  it  to  raise  the  blockade.  This  led  to  a  popular 
demonstration  in  Santiago  de  Chili,  and  the  Chilian  admiral  and 
minister  of  war  were  both  obliged  to  resign.  Finally,  on  the  8th 
of  October,  the  Huascar  was  captured,  and  the  brief  triumph  of 
the  allies  came  to  an  end.  On  the  2d  of  November,  after  a  five 
hours'  bombardment  by  land  and  sea,  the  Chilians  took  the  sea- 
port town  of  Pisagua.  On  the  19th  the  allied  Peruvian  and 
Bolivian  army  was  defeated  at  Dolores.  On  the  23d  Iquique 
was  occupied.  On  the  27th  an  indecisive  battle  was  fonght  be- 
tween the  Chilians  and  Peruvians  near  the  town  of  Tarapaca,  but 
the  Peruvians  ultimately  retreated,  and  the  whole  province,  with 
its  rich  deposits  of  nitrate  and  gnano,  was  occupied  by  Chilian 
troops. 

These  disasters  caused  a  revolution  in  both  the  allied  republics. 
In  Bolivia,  Daza — himself  an  usurper,  was  overthrown,  and  Cam- 
pero  made  provisional  president — or,  rather,  a  period  of  anarchy 
set  in.  In  Peru,  Pierola,  who  had  been  already  for  several  years  at 
the  head  of  an  insurrection,  succeeded  in  making  himself  dictator; 
while  General  Prado,  the  regularly  elected  president,  fled  from  the 
country.  But  these  changes  of  government  brought  about  no 
change  in  the  fortunes  of  the  war.  May  27tb,  1880,  the  allied 
Peruvians  and  Bolivians  were  once  more  defeated  at  Tacna,  where- 
upon the  latter  abandoned  the  war  and  went  home,  burning  and 
plundering  Peruvian  villages  on  the  way.  On  the  7th  of  June 
Arica  was  captured.  The  United  States  had  already  tendered  its 
good  offices  for  the  restoration  of  peace,  and  now  (October  22d) 
plenipotentiaries  of  the  three  belligerent  states  met  on  the  neutral 
ground  of  a  United  States  man-of-war  to  consult  regarding  terms. 
Chili  demanded  the  cession  by  Bolivia  and  Peru  of  the  territory  al- 
ready occupied  by  her  (Atacamba  and  Tarapaca),  including  the  salt- 
petre mines,  and  the  payment  of  a  war  indemnity  of  $20,000,000, 
Moquehua,  Tacna,  £nd  Arica  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  the 
Chilians  until  the  indemnity  was  paid.  These  terms  the  allies 
rejected,  declaring  themselves  ready,  however,  to  submit  the  terms 
of  peace  absolutely  to  the  decision  of  the  United  States.  This 
the  victorious  Chilians  on  their  part  naturally  refused  to  do,  and 
the  war  continued. 

Peru  was  no  longer  able  to  offer  any  serious  resistance.  The 
Chilians  took  the  capital,  Lima,  and  overran  the  whole  country, 
but  found  it  impossible  to  conclude  peace.  The  country  was 


PERU  OVERRUN  BY   THE   CHILIANS.  657 

completely  bankrupt;  no  responsible  government  existed — merely 
an  anarchy  of  rival  dictators  and  presidents — but  a  guerilla  war- 
fare still  continued.  Before  peace  could  be  concluded  it  became 
necessary  to  restore  order  and  create  a  government  capable  of  con- 
cluding a  peace.  This  task,  difficult  in  any  case,  was  rendered 
doubly  difficult  by  the  hope  entertained  in  Peru  of  the  inter- 
ference in  her  behalf  of  some  foreign  country,  particularly  the 
United  States,  and  at  the  beginning  of  1882  the  desired  end 
seemed  still  as  far  removed  as  ever. 

In  Colombia,  Uruguay,  and  the  Argentine  Republic  occurred 
a  number  of  revolutions,  insurrections,  and  minor  disturbances, 
including  among  others  a  popular  attack  upon  the  Jesuits  in 
Buenos  Ayres — the  latter  defending  themselves  against  the  mob 
with  daggers.  Nicaragua  insulted  a  German  consul,  and  refused 
to  make  satisfaction  for  the  offence  until  it  was  exacted,  after 
long  negotiations,  by  German  men-of-war. 

This  brief  sketch  will  serve  to  demonstrate  that  there  exists  in 
most  parts  of  South  America  a  turbulent,  unsettled  population, 
among  whom  an  intolerant,  fanatical  priesthood  attempts — often 
with  total  unscrupulousness  as  to  the  means  employed — to  main- 
tain and  extend  unhindered  the  sway  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  thus  repairing  in  America  the  losses  sustained  by  that 
Church  in  Europe. 

28* 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


ABYSSINIAN  expedition,  396. 

Act  of  Confederation,  German,  6. 

Administrative  order,  Russian,  570,  5T4. 

Afghanistan  :  first  English  invasion,  154 ; 
Busman  embassy,  57T ;  war,  peace,  mas- 
sacre, 573 ;  second  invasion,  579 ;  inter- 
nal feuds,  580. 

Agende,  Prussian,  22. 

Alabama  claims,  394. 

Albanian  league,  562. 

Algeria:  invaded  by  French,  99;  conquer- 
ed, 181,  1S2;  plebiscite,  393;  Tunisian 
war,  627. 

Alliances:  Holy  Alliance,  2;  three  Eastern 
powers  (1820),  32 :  quadruple  (Spain,  Port- 
ugal, England,  France),  144;  quadruple 
(England,  Austria,  Russia,  Prussia),  159 ; 
France,  England,  Turkey,  Sardinia,  Aus- 
tria, 200;  Austria  and  Prussia,  257;  Aus- 
tria and  Turkey,  257 ;  France  and  Sar- 
dinia, 278;  Prussia  and  Austria,  312; 
Prussian-Italian,  327 ;  French-Austrian, 
331 ;  Prussia  and  South  German  states, 
361 ;  three  emperors,  494 ;  Russian-Rou- 
manian, 536 ;  German-Austrian,  651. 

Alsace-Lorraine:  ceded  to  Germany,  458; 
imperial  dictatorship,  468;  legislation, 
497;  elections,  498;  constitution,  640; 
partial  change  of  sentiment,  641. 

Anhalt,  463,  note. 

Anzeigepflicht,  631,  632,  634, 636. 

Apostolics,  52. 

Argentine  Republic:  formation,  53 ;  war 
with  Paraguay,  299 ;  partisan  struggles, 
493, 657. 

Armenia :  Berlin  congress,  552. 

Armies:  Austria,  376,  5S9;  Egypt,  465; 
England,  64,  488  (Indian)  299;  France, 
177, 351,  372,  473,  650;  Germany,  420, 496, 
650;  Holland,  4S9;  Italy,  340;  Prussia, 
304, 305, 341 ;  Roumania,  397, 530;  Russia, 
486,  536,  568,  650 ;  Saxony,  342  ;  South 
German  states,  3SO,  420  ;  Sweden,  490. 

Army  of  Faith,  47. 

Article  45  (French  constitution),  197, 198. 

Ashantee  war,  488. 

Assassinations :  Kotzebne,  15 ;  Kapodis- 
trias,  84;  Duke  of  Berry,  94  ;  Count  Ros- 


si, 204 ;  Prim,  478 ;  Hussein  Pasha,  520; 
Mehemed  Ali,  562;  Mesenzoff,  570;  Kra- 
potkin,  571 ;  Alexander  II.,  574 ;  Moreno, 
654. 

Atchin,  war  with  Holland,  487,489,  610. 

Athens :  taken  by  Turks,  79  ;  capital  of 
Greece,  85. 

Austria:  (1816-'30)  absolutism,  religions 
intolerance,  5;  condition  in  1816,  5,  6; 
intervenes  in  Naples,  34;  Piedmont,  40; 
(1830-'48)  second  intervention  in  Italy, 
132 ;  accession  of  Ferdinand  I.,  163  ;  in- 
ternal condition,  164 ;  (184S-'63)  rebellion 
in  Lombardy,  208 ;  war  with  Sardinia, 
209 ;  Austria  victorious,  210 ;  Vienna  un- 
ruly, 221;  insurrection  in  Prague  sup- 
pressed, 222 ;  Reichstag  and  revolution, 
223 ;  siege  of  Vienna,  224 ;  Francis  Jo- 
seph emperor,  reaction,  225 ;  Hungarian 
revolt,  240-245;  Interim,  248;  Austria 
all-powerful  in  Germany,  250 ;  alliance 
with  Turkey,  257;  enters  principalities, 
258 ;  Crimean  war,  257-264 ;  power  at 
disposal,  271,  272 :  position  in  Italy,  274, 
275;  Italian  war,  279-2S6 -.  (1864-'69)  Oc- 
tober diploma,  301 ;  February  patent, 
302;  constitution  "inhibited,"  303;  Da- 
nish war,  312-317  ;  Austria  and  Prussia 
in  Elbe  duchies,  318-323;  Gastein  con- 
vention, 323  ;  prepares  for  war,  326,  327 : 
Austrian  and  Prussian  circulars,  328; 
peace  congress  fails,  329;  French-Aus- 
trian treaty,  331,  332 ;  Austro  -  Prussian 
war,  335-368;  political  reorganization, 
dnal  empire,  373, 374 ;  confessional  laws, 
375;  finances  and  army,  376;  (1870-75) 
French  friendship,  424 ;  autonomists  in 
power,  483 ;  electoral  reform  and  Church 
laws,  484, 485  ;  (1876-'81)  Herzegovinian 
revolt,  507,  510;  difficult  position,  521, 
544;  objects  to  treaty  of  San  Stefano, 
547 ;  Berlin  congress,  550-554 ;  occupies 
Bosnia,  555,  587 ;  federalist  triumph,  588; 
army  bill,  589 ;  race  feeling,  590 ;  treaty 
with  Hungary,  591 ;  religious  liberty, 
venality,  592 ;  agreement  with  Prussia, 
611 ;  German  alliance,  651. 

AuBtro-Prussiau  war :  Austrian  strength, 


660 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


335 ;  Prussians  in  Hanover,  336 :  Bava- 
rian-Austrian treaty,  336;  Prussians  in 
Cassel,  33T  ;  Hanoverian  army  surren- 
ders, 339;  Italian  indifference,  339;  Ital- 
ians defeated,  340;  Prussians  occupy 
Saxony,  341  ;  Austrian  and  Prussian  ar- 
mies, 342,  343 ;  Beuedek's  error,  343  ; 
Prussians  invade  Bohemia,  341;  Stein- 
metz  defeats  Austrians,  345;  other  suc- 
cesses, 346;  battle  of  Sadowa,  347,348; 
losses,  349 ;  cession  of  Venetia  to  France, 
350;  France  unable  to  interfere,  351 ; 
Prussians  before  Vienna,  353  ;  truce,  354 ; 
preliminaries  of  peace,  355;  peace  of 
Prague,  356;  Napoleon's  threats,  357; 
war  in  Italy,  battle  of  Lissa,  358 ;  peace 
with  Italy,  359 ;  South-German  forces, 
360 ;  defeated,  361-363  :  peace,  364 ;  terms 
and  alliances,  3C5, 366 ;  Prussian  annex- 
ations, 367;  North  German  Confedera- 
tion, 36S. 

BADEN:  constitution,  9;  heads  liberal 
movement,  213;  revolution,  234;  tri- 
umphant, 235;  Prussian  interference, 
238;  Austro-Prussian  war,  335-367,  377 ; 
customs'  treaty,  379 ;  army,  330 ;  cus- 
toms' parliament,  3S1 ;  national  feeling, 
384;  Franco-Prussian  war,  419-4CO;  joins 
Confederation,  462,463,496;  Old  Catho- 
lics, 630. 

Baltic  provinces  of  Russia:  serfdom  abol- 
ished, 86 ;  Russianizing,  400, 5C7. 

Barcelona:  besieged  by  French, 51 ;  bom- 
barded by  Espartero,  147. 

Barsanti  clubs,  594. 

Bashi-Bazouks,  515, 516. 

Basle:  stadt  and  landschaft,  129,  169; 
struggle  with  bishop,  491. 

Battles,  laud :  Aladsha,  543  ;  Alma,  260  ; 
Alsen,  316;  Artenay,  447;  Aspromonte, 
291;  Ayacucho,55;'Balaklava,260;  Bel- 
fort,  454;  Beylan,  156;  Blumeuau,  354; 
Borny,  433 ;  Castelfldardo,  289 ;  Colom- 
bey-Nouilly,  433;  Custozza,  (first)  210, 
(second)  340 ;  Dengiltepe,  575 ;  Deve- 
Boyun,  543  ;  Dolores,  655;  Duppel,  314; 
Estella,  481;  Etuz,  453  ;  Eupatoria,  261 , 
Godollii,  242 ;  Gravelotte,  435 ;  Grochow, 
138;  Horns,  156;  Inkerman,  260;  Isan- 
dula,  581;  Isly,  182;  Istedt,  247;  Knya- 
zebac,  R09;  Konich,  156;  Kiiniggratz, 
347;  Kopolna,  242;'  Kulevdcha,  89; 
Kushk-i-Nakhoud,  579;  Laugensalza, 
338;  Luchana,  144 ;  Magenta,  280;  Men- 
tana,  401 ;  Nisib,  158  ;  Noisseville,  448  ; 
Novara,  (first)  40,  (second)  210;  Oever- 
see,  313;  Orleans,  450;  Ostrolenka,  139 ; 
Plevna,  (first)  535,  (second  and  third) 
536;  Rieti,  35;  Saarbrucken,  427 ;  Sado- 
wa, 347;  Sangiri,  580;  Sevin,  542;  Solfe- 
rino,  281;  Sommorostro,  481 ;  St.  Quen- 
tin,  453:  Tacna,  050 .  Ulundi,  582:  Vel- 


letri,  205;  Vionville,  434;  Waghausel, 
238;  Warsaw,  141;  Weisseubnrg,  428; 
Worth,  428.  Naval:  Heligoland,  314, 
Lissa,  358;  Navarino,  82  ;  Riigen,  314. 

Bavaria :  constitution,  9 ;  accession  of 
King  Louis  I.,  21 ;  reaction,  162 ;  abdica- 
tion, 214 ;  revolt  in  Palatinate,  233 ;  Prus- 
sian assistance,  238;  Austro-Prussian 
war,  335-368,  378;  customs'  treaty,  37!); 
army  and  customs'  parliament,  381,384  ; 
ultramontane  triumph,  387,  417 ;  Franco- 
Prussian  war,  419-460;  Bavarian  de- 
mands, 461 ;  reserved  rights,  462  ;  joins 
empire,  463, 404 ;  embassies,  490  ;  Cultur- 
kampf,  030. 

Belgium:  condition  after  Napoleon's  fall, 
112,  113;  Dutch  oppression,  113,  114; 
popular  rising  in  Brussels,  115;  Dutch 
troops  defeated,  117;  separation  from 
Holland,  119;  King  Leopold  I.,  120; 
Dutch  invasion  and  intervention  of 
powers,  120, 121 ;  Paris  convention,  390 ; 
clerical  rule,  490, 604  ;  Liberals  in  power, 
breach  with  Vatican, 605. 

Berlin  congress:  meets,  550;  Bulgaria 
and  East  Ilouinelhi,  551;  Armenia,  Turk- 
ish reforms,  Cyprus,  Tunis,  552;  Bosnia, 
Herzegovina,  Danube,  other  questions, 
553;  Montenegro,  Servia,  Roumauia, 
Greece,  554. 

Benin,  IIS,  129,  109,  492,  603,  607. 

Bokhara,  Russian  vassal  state,  399. 

Bolivia:  war  with  Chili, 655,  656. 

Bonapnrtists:  under  Louis  Philippe,  173 ; 
in  power,  201 ;  in  National  Assembly, 
474;  numbers,  613,  617,  628;  disunion, 
030. 

Bosnia:  revolt,  511,  519,  543;  at  Berlin 
congress,  553 ;  Austrian  occupation,  555, 
587. 

Brazil:  constitution,  57;  independence, 
58;  war  with  Paraguay,  299;  Freema- 
sons and  Church,  493,  054. 

Bremen,  463. 

British  interests,  545,  5S1. 

Brunswick:  misrule,  123;  revolution,  124; 
in  empire,  463  ;  church  trouble,  499. 

Bulgaria :  revolt,  514 ;  massacre,  515-517  ; 
treaty  of  San  Stefano,  546  ;  Berlin  con- 
gress, 551 ;  Austrian  occupation,  555, 
587  ;  constitution,  556  ;  coup  d'etat,  557 ; 
population,  566,  note. 

Bundesrath :  North  German,  379, 383 ;  Ger- 
.  man,  constitution  of,  463,  note. 

Burschenschaft :  general  meeting  at  Wart- 
burg,  12;  suppressed  in  Prussia,  IT. 

Burmah:  English  war,  154. 

CADRE  law,  473. 

Camarilla:  Naples, 287;  Spain,  44,46, 144, 
Cantonese,  491. 

Carbonari:  origin  and  aims, 24;  in  power, 
29;  outlawed  in  Naples,  35;  spread,  129. 


GENERAL  IXDEX. 


661 


Carlists:  origin,  53;  first  rebellion,  144,1-15; 
secoud  rebellion,  481 ;  suppressed,  599. 

Carlsbad  decrees,  IT,  13. 

Caucasus,  subjngation  of,  143. 

Central  congregations,  27. 

Chambre  imrouvable,  92. 

Charte  coustitutioiielle,90. 

Chartists,  151. 

Cliili:  independence,  55;  church  troubles, 
493;  war  with  Bolivia  and  Peru,  655-C57. 

China:  opium  war,  154 ;  war  with  England 
and  France,  155 ;  Kuldsha  question,  5T5. 

Chios:  massacre, 73. 

Christian  Socialists,  637. 

Christiuos,  53, 144. 

Civil  marriage:  declared  concubinage  in 
France,  96;  permitted  in  Austria,  375; 
obligatory  in  Germany,  502— Italy,  594 — 
Switzerland,  607;  abolished  in  Spain,  601. 

Clericals  (in  Germany) :  oppose  army  bill, 
495  ;  strength,  498,  632  ;  compromise, 
633;  church  laws,  634;  Cologne  Cathe- 
dral, 635;  compromise,  636;  strength, 
C45. 

Cloture  in  English  Parliament,  585. 

Cologne  Cathedral,  635. 

Colombia,  Republic  of,  55,  C57. 

Commune,  446;  established  in  Paris,  469; 
excesses,  470,  471 ;  suppressed,  471 ;  am- 
nesty, 620,  623. 

Concordats:  Austria,  271,  301,  374;  Bava- 
ria, 631 ;  France,  621 ;  Spain,  600. 

Conferences — see  Oonyrettff. 

Congregations  in  France,  621,  C22,  624. 

Congresses  (conferences):  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
10,  13,  93;  Bamberg,  257;  Berlin,  cus- 
toms' conference,  319 — congress,  550-554 
—after  conference,  560,  561 ;  Brussels,  in- 
ternational peace  congress,  486;  Carls- 
bad, 17;  Constantinople,  527;  Dresden, 
252;  Frankfort,  convention  of  princes, 
303;  Laibach,  337;  London,  on  Belgian 
question,  119— Danish  question,  315— 
Pontns conference,  485;  Olmutz,247, 250; 
Paris,  Cretan  question,  398 ;  Troppan,  32 ; 
Verona,  48,  75;  Vienna,  17;  ministerial 
conferences  (1834),  161. 

Conservatives  in  Germany :  weakness,  498 ; 
alliance  with  clericals,  633 ;  with  Nation- 
al Liberals,  634,  636,  637,  638,  644,  645,  650. 

Conspiracies:  in  Milan,  41;  in  Portugal, 
55;  Thistlewood,in  England,  65  ;  in  Rus- 
sia, 81:  Fenian,  153;  Frankfort,  160;  in 
Poland,  269 ;  in  Hungary,  544. 

Constitutions:  Austria,  301-303,  373;  Ba- 
den, 9;  Bavaria,  9;  Belgium,  119;  Bra- 
zil, 57  ;  Brunswick,  125;  Bulgaria,  556; 
Denmark,  309;  France,  90  — imperial, 
201— revised,  39-2— republican,  611,  612; 
Greece,  85 ;  Hanover,  127— repealed,  162 ; 
Hesse-Cassel,  125— repealed,  271 ;  Hesse- 
Darmstadt,  9  ;  Hungary,  373 ;  Naples, 
29— repealed,  35  ;  Nassau,  9;  North  Ger- 


man Confederation,  36S;  Portugal,  57— 
changes  in,  148 ,  Prussia,  230,  243 ;  Koine, 
204— repealed,  205 :  Sardinia,  208;  Saxe- 
Weimar,  8;  Saxony,  126;  Spain,  46,  146, 
147,  407;  Switzerland,  changes  in  can- 
tons, 129  ;  New  Helvetian,  173 — revision, 
491 ;  Turkey,  527 ;  Wurtemberg,  9. 

Conventions:  London,  295;  Soledad,  295; 
Gasteiu,  323 ;  Paris  (with  Belgium),  390 ; 
military,  between  Prussia  and  Baden, 
462. 

Corn-laws,  63,  63. 

Coup  d'etat  in  France,  199. 

Cracow :  annexed  to  Austria,  164 

Crete :  devastated  by  Egyptians,  78  ;  re- 
bellion, 267;  398,  543,  554,  559. 

Crimean  war :  war  declared,  256 ;  Eng- 
land, France,  and  Austria,  257 ;  Russians 
defeated,  258 ;  allied  fleet  in  the  Baltic, 
258 ;  allies  at  Varna,  259 ;  in  Crimea, 
Alma,  Balaklava,  Inkerman,  260 ;  Aus- 
tria and  Sardinia  join  allies,  death  of 
Nicholas,  261  •  siege  of  Sebastopol,  262- 
264;  allied  fleet  in  Sea  of  Azov,  262;  iu 
Baltic,  264  ;  peace  of  Paris,  264. 

Cuba :  rebellion,  407,  493,  602. 

Culturkampf :  iu  general,  597,  598 ;  Bava- 
ria, 631 ;  Belgium,  605,  606;  Brazil,  493; 
France,  021 ;  Italy,  594,  597,  599  ;  Prns- 
sia,  begins,  500 ;  May  laws,  501 ;  corre- 
spondence, 502;  encyclica,  503 ;  negotia- 
tions, 632 ;  modus  vicendi,  636 ;  Swit- 
zerland, 493,  606,  607,  60S;  Venezuela, 
653. 

Customs'  parliament,  381,416. 

Cyprus:  surrendered  to  England,  552. 

DANISH  war:  Anstro-Prnssian  alliance  and 
invasion,  312:  Danes  defeated,  313;  Diip- 
pel,  Rugen, Heligoland,  314;  London  con- 
ference, 314— fails,  315;  battle  of  Alseu, 
315  ;  peace  of  Vienna,  317. 

Danube  question,  553. 

Daunbian  principalities  (\Vallachia,  Mol- 
davia) :  raid  of  Ypsilauti,  71 ;  treaty  of 
Akerman,  87;  semi -in  dependence,  90; 
occupied  by  Russians,  256 ;  by  Ans- 
trians,  258 ;  consolidated  in  Roumauia, 
266. 

Denmark:  Schleswig-Holstein  question, 
and  war  with  Germany,  218 ;  second 
campaign  and  peace,  245,  246 ;  battle  of 
Istedt,  247 ;  incorporates  Schleswig,  309; 
Danish  war,  312-317;  West  India  colo- 
nies, 394;  attitude  in  Franco-Prussian 
war,  4-24;  constitutional  struggle,  490, 
610;  Hanoverian  marriage,  611. 

Diet,  7 ;  Brunswick  question,  125 ;  resolu- 
tions of  1S32, 101 ;  rejects  complaint  of 
Hanover,  163;  disgraceful  conduct,  212; 
makes  concessions,  215;  disbands,  216; 
re-established,  249,  252 ;  Hessian  appeal, 
250 ;  Schleswig-HolBtein  succession,  251 ; 


662 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


repeals  Hessian  constitution,  271 ;  orders 
execution  in  Holstein,  310 ;  Saxon-Prus- 
sian decision,  319 ;  votes  disarmament, 
32S;  mobilization,  335;  evacuates  Frank- 
fort, 362 ;  final  dissolution,  3GT. 

EASTEBN  question :  first  collective  inter- 
ference of  great  powers,  15S.  See  also 
under  respective  countries. 

East  India  Company,  292;  dissolved,  294. 

East  Roumelia :  Berlin  congress,  551 ;  or- 
ganization, 557,  558;  population,  506, 
note. 

Ecuador:  independence,  55;  Jesuit  rule, 
493;  liberal  triumph,  654. 

Egypt:  revolt  of  Mehemed  Ali,  155-159; 
annexation  of  Darfur,  436 ;  financial  trou- 
bles, 564;  English  and  French  control, 
565;  revolt,  566. 

Encyclicas :  1864,  402 ;  1S73, 492  ;  1S75, 503 ; 
of  Leo  XIII.,  593. 

England:  (1S16-'30)  industrial  condition, 
63;  Corn -laws  agitation,  65;  royal  di- 
vorce suit,  66;  Canning's  foreign  policy, 
67 ;  domestic  policy,  63 ;  tories  in  pow- 
er, 69 ;  (1S30-'4S)  effects  of  French  Revo- 
lution, 122 ;  Reform  Bill,  149, 150 ;  Chart- 
ist agitation  and  repeal  of  Corn-laws, 
151 ;  Irish  repeal  agitation,  152;  Jews  in 
Parliament,  Orangemen,  153 ;  accession 
of  Victoria,  154  ;  wars  in  Asia,  154, 155  ; 
interference  in  Turkish  affairs,  157-159 ; 
(1S4S-'G3)  Schleswig-Holstein  question, 
246;  rejects  proposals  of  Nicholas,  254 ; 
Crimean  war,  257-264;  cedes  Ionian  Isl- 
ands, 267;  Indian  Mutiny,  292-294  ;  in- 
tervention in  Mexico,  295 ;  (1864-'69)  dip- 
lomatic intervention  in  Denmark,  315; 
Geneva  arbitration,  Irish  disestablish- 
ment, 395;  Abyssinian  expedition,  396 ; 
Cretan  revolt,  393 ;  (1870-75)  Ashantee 
war,  487  ;  Gladstone  overthrown,  4SS  ; 
(1S76-'81)  Herzegoviuian  revolt,  507,  510; 
obstructive  policy,  512,  513 ;  Bulgarian 
massacres,  520  ;  Turkish  policy,  525, 523, 
529,  532;  fleet  at  Besika  Bay,  534;  at- 
tempts mediation,  544;  war  credit,  fleet 
in  Dardanelles,  545;  objects  to  treaty, 
prepares  for  war,  547 ;  secret  treaty,  54S ; 
interference  in  Greece,  550  ;  Berlin  con- 
gress, 550-554  ;  occupies  Cyprus,  554 ; 
naval  demonstration,  563 ;  policy  in 
Egypt,  564-566;  imperial  title,  576;  In- 
dian empire,  577  ;  Afghan  war  and  mas- 
sacre, 573 ;  second  invasion,  579 ;  evac- 
uation, 580  ;  Transvaal  occupied,  531 ; 
Znlu  war,  582 ;  war  with  Boers,  583 ; 
Irish  obstruction,  584;  elections,  584; 
Land  League,  535 ;  land  laws,  585,  586. 

Emancipation,  Roman  Catholic,  68,  69. 

Exaltados,  47. 

Executive  commission,  French,  193;  re- 
tires, 195. 


Expositions:  Paris  (1S67),  372;  Vienna 
(1873),  485 ;  Paris  (1878),  619. 

FEHRUARY  Revolution,  186-196. 

Fenians,  153,  395. 

Finances:  in  Austria,  303,  376,  537,  590; 
England,  63;  Egypt,  564-566;  France, 
176,  192,  201,  472,  629  ;  Holland,  114,  609  ; 
Hungary,  591;  Italy,  595;  Russia,  525; 
Spain,  44,  47,  602;  Switzerland,  60S; 
Turkey,  513. 

Fortschritt  party,  German  :  anti-national, 
381;  opposes -army  bill,  495;  Socialist 
bill,  639;  protective  tariff,  644;  strength 
of,  649. 

France:  (1S16~'30)  interferes  in  Spain,  50; 
in  Greece,  83 ;  restoration  of  Louis 
XVIII.,  90;  reaction,  92;  assassination 
of  Berry,  94 ;  death  of  Louis,  95 ;  acces- 
sion of  Charles  X.,  96  ;  illiberal  policy, 
97-99;  war  with  Algeria,  99;  preparing 
for  revolution,  100, 101 ;  (1S30-'4S)  Louis 
Philippe,  102-104;  street  fighting  in 
Paris,  104-107;  Revolution  victorious, 
municipal  committee,  107;  Louis  Phil- 
ippe lieutenant-general,  109;  king,  112; 
intervenes  in  Belgium,  121 ;  occupies 
Aucona,  133;  interference  in  Turkish- 
Egyptian  affairs,  156-159  ;  isolation,  159 ; 
Louis  Philippe's  policy  toward  repub- 
licans, 173,  174;  Duchess  of  Berry,  175; 
dissatisfaction,  176,  177 ;  attempts  on 
king's  life,  177, 173 ;  Louis  Napoleon  at 
Strasburg  and  Boulogne,  179,  ISO;  con- 
quest of  Algeria,  181,182;  symptoms  of 
dissolution,  133 ;  Reform  banquets,  184, 
185 ;  (1843^63)  February  Revolution,  136, 
187;  king  abdicates,  188;  Chambers  over- 
thrown, 189;  provisional  government, 
191;  national  workshops,  192;  Social 
Democrats,  193;  National  Assembly 
and  executive  commission,  193;  city 
hall  government,  194;  Social  Democrat- 
ic insurrection  suppressed,  195 ;  presi- 
dential election,  Napoleon  president, 
196;  preparing  for  empire,  197, 198 ;  coup 
ffetat,  199 ;  plebiscite,  200 ;  empire  pro- 
claimed, 201;  intervention  in  Rome, 
205:  Crimean  war,  257-264;  France  su- 
preme, 265  ;  intervention  in  Syria,  266; 
Orsini  bombs,  277;  Italian  war,  279-286; 
evacuates  Rome,  292 ;  intervention  in 
Mexico,  295-298;  (1364- '69)  decay  of 
army,  351 ;  reorganization,  372 ;  hatred 
of  Prussia,  333;  plan  of  campaign,  389; 
internal  affairs,  elections,  390,  391;  con- 
stitution, 392;  plebiscite,  393;  Roman 
intervention,  401 ;  (1870-'75)  government 
bent  on  war  with  Prussia,  410-414 ;  war 
declared,  415;  Franco -Prussian  war, 
420-4GO  ;  Commune,  469-471 ;  clerical  ac- 
tivity, 472 ;  payment  of  indemnity,  army 
law,  473;  parties,  474;  MacMahon  presi- 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


663 


dent,  4T5;  (187G-'81)  Berlin  congress, 
560-554 ;  Egyptian  affairs,  564-566  ;  con- 
stitution adopted,  611,  612;  elections, 
collision  with  clericals,  613,  614;  14th 
of  May,  015;  electoral  campaign,  616; 
liberal  triumph,  61T ;  conflict  with  pres- 
ident, 61T,  61S;  Gambetta's  power,  618, 
619 ;  Grevy  president,  620 ;  party  policy, 
620,  621 ;  Ferry  begins  Culturkampf,  621, 
622;  amnesty  of  Communists,  624;  Cher- 
bourg speech,  624 ;  cloisters  closed,  625 ; 
Tunisian  expedition,  625-627;  Gambetta 
assumes  office,  628 ;  finances,  629 ;  Bona- 
partists,  630;  Gambetta's  fall — see  preface. 

Franco  -  Prussian  war:  war  declared, 
French  sentiment,  415 ;  German  senti- 
ment, 417,  420  ;  war  credit,  418  ;  South 
Germany,  419;  German  strength,  420: 
plan  of  campaign,  421,422;  French  plan, 
423  ;  Denmark,  Austria,  and  Italy,  424, 
425;  Russia,  426;  French  dispositions, 
426;  Saarbriicken,  427;  Weisseuburg 
and  Worth,  428,  429;  Spichern,  430; 
France  on  the  defensive,  431;  plans 
against  Bazaiue,  battle  of  Boruy,  433 ; 
Viouville,434;  Gravelotte,  435, 436 ;  Mac- 
Mahou  ordered  to  relieve  Metz,  437;  at 
Sedan,  438;  battle,  Napoleon  prisoner, 
439 ;  losses,  Germans  before  Paris,  440  ; 
empire  overthrown,  441 ;  Government  of 
National  Defence,  442;  Gambetta  in 
Tours,  443  ;  diplomacy,  444,  445;  sortie, 
insurrection,  446 ;  army  of  Loire,  447 ; 
fall  of  Strasburg,  448 ;  of  Metz,  449  ;  Or- 
leans, 450;  Le  Mans,  451 ;  army  of  the 
north,  451,  452;  war  in  the  east,  453; 
battle  of  Belfort,  454;  French  driven 
into  Switzerland,  455;  sorties,  456;  Par- 
is capitulates,  457 ;  elections  and  peace, 
458;  statistics,  459— cf.  preface ;  defini- 
tive peace,  460. 

Frankfort:  conspiracy,  160;  annexed  to 
Prussia,  367. 

Freemasons:  in  Russia,  86;  excommuni- 
cated, 493;  in  Brazil,  493,  654;  in  Ecua- 
dor, 654. 

Frontiers,  Grecian,  85,  559,  561. 

Fneros,  600. 

GAG  bills,  65. 

Garde  Mobile,  193, 415. 

Geneva :  struggle  with  Pope,  492,  607. 

Germany:  (1816-'30)  condition  ofinlSIC, 
7-10 ;  (1S30-'4S)  effect  of  French  Revolu- 
tion, 123-127;  Hambach  festival  and 
Frankfort  conspiracy,  159,  160;  reac- 
tionary measures,  161 ;  Zollverein,  165 ; 
(184S-'64)  discontent,  212;  sympathy 
with  Schleswig-Holstein,  213;  liberal 
movement  in  Baden,  213;  spreads,  214; 
preliminary  parliament,  215;  National 
Assembly,  216 ;  intervention  in  Schles- 
wig-Holstein, 218;  armistice,  219;  radi- 


cal excesses,  220,  230 ;  seeking  a  head, 
231,  232 ;  revolt  in  Saxony,  233 ;  in  Ba- 
den, 234,  235 ;  schism  in  National  As- 
sembly, 236 ;  National  Assembly  dis- 
banded, 237 ;  Prussian  interference  in 
Budeu  and  Palatinate,  238  ;  second  cam- 
paign in  Schleswig-Holsteiu  and  foreign 
interference,  245,  246;  league  of  three 
kings,  Interim,  Union,  248;  Hessian 
troubles,  humiliation  of  Olmfitz,  249, 
250;  Schleswig-Holstein  and  London 
protocol,  251 ;  Dresden  conference  and 
reaction,  252 ;  Bamberg  conference,  257; 
Italian  war,  283;  (1864-'69)  Schleswig- 
Holsteiu  agitation,  310 ;  execution  in 
Holstein,  311 ;  Frankfort  Abgeordneten- 
tag,  327;  Austrian  and  Prussian  circu- 
lars, 328  ;  Austro-Prnssian  war,  335-367 ; 
North  German  Confederation,  368;  posi- 
tion of  South  Germany,  377,  373 ;  cus- 
toms' treaties,  379;  army  reorganiza- 
tion in  South  Germany,  380;  customs' 
parliament,  381;  South  German  opposi- 
tion, 384;  individual  states,  384-387;  Old 
Catholics,  405;  (1870-75)  attitude  to- 
ward France,  418,  419 ;  Franco-Prussian 
war,  420-460;  negotiations  with  South 
German  states,  461,  462;  states  of  em- 
pire, 463;  empire  proclaimed,  465 ;  first 
Reichstag,  466,  467  ;  Alsace  -  Lorraine, 
468;  royal  visits,  Aruim  trial,  494;  army 
bill,  495;  embassies,  496;  Alsace-Lor- 
raine, 497;  elections,  498;  pulpit  para- 
graph, 500 ;  civil  marriage,  502 ;  attempt 
on  Bismarck,  503;  (1876-'81)  relations 
to  Russia,  567,  568 ;  not  represented  at 
Paris  exposition,  619  ;  Cnlturkampf  leg- 
islation, 500,  630 ;  Social  Democrats,  637 ; 
attempts  on  emperor,  637,  638 ;  elections, 
638;  anti-Socialist  legislation,  639;  Al- 
sace-Lorraine, 640,  641 ;  Bismarck's  use 
of  parties,  641,  642  ;  state  railroads,  643  ; 
protective  tariff,  644 ;  Socialism  and  re- 
action, 645  ;  royal  rescript,  646  ;  imperial 
code,  647;  Hamburg  and  customs'  union, 
647,  648;  Jew-baiting,  649;  army  in- 
crease, 650 ;  alliance  with  Austria,  651. 
See  also  under  separate  states. 

Gold  Coast  colony,  488. 

Gottingeu  seven,  163. 

Government  of  National  Defence,  French, 
442. 

Great  Britain— see  England. 

Great  week,  104-111. 

Greece;  revolt  breaks  out,  72;  national 
assembly,  73 ;  massacre  of  Chios,  73 ; 
naval  exploit,  74;  congress  of  Verona, 
75;  disunion,  76;  massacre  of  Psara,  76; 
European  sympathy,  77;  Egyptians  in 
Morea,  78 ;  "fall  of  Mesolonghi,  79 ;  of 
Athens,  80;  treaty  between  England, 
France,  and  Russia,  81 ;  battle  of  Nava- 
rino,  S3;  misgovernment  of  Kapodis- 


664 


GENERAL  IXDEX. 


trias,  assassination ,  84 ;  Otho  made  king, 
85;  French  troops  in  Athens,  258  ;  revo- 
lution, King  George,  266 ;  acquires  Io- 
nian Islands,  26T;  Cretan  revolt,  398; 
Lauriou  mines,  487;  invades  Thessaly, 
543,  550 ;  Berlin  congress,  554  ;  frontier 
question,  559-561. 

Grossdeutsche,  231,  385, 418. 

Guatemala :  independence,  55. 

Gnelphs,  611, 640, 645. 

Guelph  fund,  610. 

HABEAS  corpus:  suspended  in  England, 
65— in  Ireland,  585. 

Hamburg:  in  empire,  463;  forced  into 
customs'  union,  647,  648. 

Hanover:  constitution  adopted,  127;  ac- 
cession of  Ernest  Augustus,  repeal  of 
constitution,  162,  163;  Austro- Prussian 
war,  336-367 ;  annexed  to  Prussia,  367. 

Hegelian  philosophy,  23. 

Herzegovina:  revolt,  487;  its  origin,  506; 
strength  of  rebels,  507;  Turkish  prom- 
ises, 508;  Berlin  congress,  553 ;  Austrian 
occupation,  555, 587. 

Hesse-Cassel :  absurdities  of  restoration, 
8,  9 ;  revolution,  125 ;  before  Diet,  249, 
250;  tyranny,  251;  Austro-Prussiau  war, 
335-367 ;  annexed  to  Prussia,  367. 

Hesse- Darmstadt :  constitution  granted, 
9;  insurrection,  126  ;  Austro  -  Prussian 
war,  335-368,  378 ;  customs'  treaty,  379 ; 
army,  customs'  parliament,  381,  384; 
Franco  -  Prussian  war,  419-460;  joins 
Confederation,  462,  463. 

Hetaeria,  70. 

Hohenzolleru  candidacy,  408,  410, 412. 

Holland:  oppressive  rule  in  Belgium,  113, 
114;  troops  defeated  by  Belgian  insur- 
gents, 117;  separation  of  Belgium,  119; 
war  with  Belgium  and  interference  of 
powers,  120, 121 ;  Luxembourg  question, 
370,  371 ;  colonial  transfer,  4S7  ;  Atchin 
war,  489 ;  compulsory  military  service, 
489;  school  question,  609;  succession, 
610;  trouble  with  Venezuela,  654. 

Holy  Alliance:  origin,  2;  interference  in 
Naples,  32,  33;  in  Sardinia,  40,  41;  in 
Spain,  48,  49 ;  attempts  interference  in 
South  America,  55. 

Home  rule,  Irish,  584,  586. 

Honveds,  240, 245,  591. 

Hungary:  Reichstag  summoned,  7;  oppo- 
sition, 164;  Hungarians  defeated  at  Vi- 
enna, 224;  discontent,  239,  240;  revolu- 
tion, 241 ;  successes  against  Anstrians, 
242;  republic, 243;  Russian  intervention, 
insurrection  suppressed,  244,  245 ;  con- 
stitution and  discontent,  301,  304;  con- 
stitution and  personal  union,  373; 
financial  settlement,  375 ;  friendship  for 
Turks,  521,  544;  auti- German  feeling, 
590;  finances,  treaty  with  Austria,  591. 


INUIA:  Sikhs  subdued,  154;  Mutiny,  292- 
294;  imperial  title  and  policy,  576, 577. 

Insurrections:  in  St.  Petersburg, 87  ;  Tur- 
key, 88;  peasants  in  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
126;  Gottingeu,  127 ;  Portugal,  148 ;  Cra- 
cow and  Galicia,  164;  Vendee,  175;  Ly- 
ons and  Paris  (1834),  177 ;  Social  Demo- 
crats in  Paris,  195 ;  Commune,  469  ;  Car- 
tageua,  480;  Carlist,  4S1 ;  in  Roumania, 
487;  Herzegovina,  506;  Bosnia,  511; 
Bulgaria,  515;  Crete,  543;  Thessaly,  550 ; 
Macedonia,  558;  Cuba,  407, 493,  002. 

Internationale:  aims,  468;  in  Paris,  469  ; 
attempts  in  Italy,  594;  in  Spain,  602;  in 
Germany,  638. 

Intrausigeants,  613. 

lutranf  igeutes,  479. 

Ionian  Islands:  ceded  to  Greece,  267. 

Ireland:  emancipation  agitation,  69 ;  re- 
peal agitation,  152;  Fenians,  153,  395; 
disestablishment,  395;  first  land  bill, 
university  bill,  home  rule,  488;  griev- 
ances, 584;  Laud  League,  585 ;  land  laws, 
585. 

Irreconcilables,  390. 

Italia  irredenta,  596. 

Italiauissimi,  291. 

Italian  war:  Austriaus  defeated  at  Ma- 
genta, 280— at  Solferino,  281 ;  inefficien- 
cy, truce  of  Villafranca,  282  ;  reasons  for 
truce,  283  ;  uncertain  attitude  of  Prus- 
sia, 284 ;  Kossuth  and  the  Hungarians, 
285,  iwte ;  peace  of  Zurich,  286. 

Italy:  condition  in  1816,  23;  in  third  dec- 
ade, 42  ;  effect  of  French  Revolution  of 
1830,  129-133;  of  French  Revolution  of 
1848,  202-211;  political  condition,  274; 
kingdom,  290;  internal  organization, 
291,  292;  Prussian  alliance,  327;  arme, 
333;  Austro-Prussian  war,  335-359;  Ve- 
netia  annexed,  359;  Roman  expedition, 
400 ;  (1870-'75)  negotiations  with  France, 
4-25;  annexes  Rome,  476;  (IS76-'81)  Pro- 
gressists in  power,  593 ;  attempt  on  king, 
594;  electoral  law,  595;  foreign  policy, 
596 ;  Papal  stool,  597-599.  See  also  un- 
der separate  states. 

JANISSARIES  suppressed,  88. 

Japan  :  opened  to  foreigners,  155. 

Jesuits:  reiiistitutiou  of  order,  25;  expul- 
sion from  Spain,  47;  restored,  52;  in 
France,  96,  97;  expelled  from  Saxony, 
126;  from  Spain,  146;  in  Switzerland, 
171;  in  power  at  Rome,  274,375;  insti- 
gate Franco-Prussian  war,  393,  414 ;  Pa- 
pal infallibility,  402-404;  expelled  from 
Spaiu,  400;  activity  in  France,  472;  as- 
sist Carlists,  4S2;  in  Ecuador,  493,  654; 
expelled  from  Germany,  500 ;  Leo  XIII., 
598;  in  Belgium,  605;  expelled  from 
France,  622,  625 ;  in  Brazil,  654 ;  Buenos 
Ayres,  657. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


665 


Jews:  Jew  condemned  to  death  by  Inqui- 
sition, 25;  admitted  to  Parliament,  153; 
persecution  in  Bohemia,  326;  emanci- 
pation in  Servia,  503  ;  Rnumania,  564; 
numbers,  500,  note;  Russian  riots,  576, 
649  ;  Jew-baiting  in  Germany,  648,  619. 

Josetiuos,  44. 

Junkers,  306. 

KHIVA,  399,  4S6. 

Khokaud:  annexed  by  Russia,  399,  486. 

Kroumirs,  626. 

Kuldsha,  5T5. 

LANI>  laws,  Irish,  585. 

Land  League,  5S5,  536. 

Laudsturm,  305. 

Landwehr,  305 ;  called  out,  327. 

Lauenbnrg :  ceded  to  Prussia,  323. 

Legitimists  in  France:  under  Louis  Phi- 
lippe, 173  ;  under  republic,  197 ;  fusion, 
474. 

Lippe,  463,  note. 

Lombardy :  Austrian  rule,  27 ;  rebels,  20S ; 
Sardinian  aid,  209;  Austria  victorious, 
210;  discontent,  275;  annexed  to  Sar- 
dinia, 2S8. 

Lnbeck,  463,  note. 

Luxembourg:  divided,  120;  Prussian  ally, 
336;  Luxembourg  question,  3S9V370;  set- 
tlement, 371. 

Luzerne,  128, 129,169,171. 

MAFFIA,  478. 

March  decrees,  622,  625. 

Massacres :  Peterloo,  65 ;  Chios,  73 ;  Psara, 
76;  in  Crete,  78;  Forli,132;  in  Algeria, 
182;  in  Syria,  260;  Cawupore,  293 ;  Pod- 
gorizza,  505;  Bulgarian,  515-517 ;  Cabul, 
578;  Atzala,  653. 

Mayence  commission,  21. 

May  laws,  501. 

Mecklenburg:  antiquated  system,  271; 
Prussian  ally,  336 ;  votes  in  Bundes- 
rath,  463,  note. 

Mesolonghi — see  Sieges. 

Mexico:  independence,  54  ;  foreign  inter- 
vention, 295;  Maximilian  emperor,  296 ; 
withdrawal  of  French,  fall  of  empire, 
298,299;  cloisters  abolished,  493;  revo- 
lution, 052  ;  religious  disturbances,  653. 

Mixed  marriages:  controversy  in  Prussia, 
165;  Austria,  375. 

Modena:  insurrection,  130,  208;  tyranny, 
274;  nnited  to  Sardinia,  281,  2S7. 

Moderados,  47. 

Monastic  orders:  Belgium,  490, 606;  France, 
619,  625;  Italy,  477;  Mexico,  abolished 
in,  493;  Portugal,  62 ;  Spain,  47,  52, 145 ; 
Switzerland,  171,  60S. 

Montenegro:  massacre  of  Podgorizza, 
505;  war  with  Turkey,  518;  successes, 
524 ;  negotiations,  527 ;  invades  Albania, 


543;  treaty  of  San  Stefano,  546;  Berlin 
congress,  553 ;  execution  of  treaty,  562, 
563. 

Morocco:  war  with  Spain,  148;  with 
France,  182. 

NAPLES  :  after  restoration,  27 ;  revolution, 
29;  intervention  of  Austria,  34  ;  revolt 
in  Sicily,  206;  revolt  suppressed,  207; 
reaction,  274;  Garibaldi's  expedition, 
2SS ;  absorbed  in  Italy,  290. 

Nassau:  constitution,  9~;  Austro-Prussian 
war,  336-367 ;  annexed  to  Prussia,  36T. 

National  Assembly,  French,  193 ;  dissolved 
by  Napoleon,  200. 

National  Assembly,  French  :  elected,  458 ; 
removes  to  Versailles,  408,  472  ;  parties, 
474;  constitution  adopted,  612;  dis- 
solved, 613. 

National  Assembly,  German,  216  ;  weak- 
ness, 217,  231 ;  withdrawal  of  moderates, 
236;  forcibly  disbanded,  237. 

National  Guard,  French  :  disbanded,  97  ; 
Lafayette,  commander,  107,  173  ;  Feb- 
ruary revolution,  186,  193 ;  suppress  re- 
volt, 194;  Changarnier,  commander,  195; 
Commune,  469. 

National  Liberal  party,  German,  466 ;  army 
bill,  495;  strength,  498;  634,  638,  641, 
642,  645,  650. 

National  workshops,  192 ;  suppressed,  196. 

Naval  demonstration,  563. 

Navies :  Austria,  6  ;  Prussia,  305. 

Negros,  Spanish  party,  52. 

Neuchatel :  disturbance  in,  129  ;  ceded  to 
Switzerland,  272. 

Nicaragua :  trouble  with  Germany,  657. 

Nihilists  :  origin  and  demands,  569,  570  ; 
assassinations  and  incendiarism,  572, 
573 ;  murder  of  emperor,  574. 

North  German  Confederation  :  created, 
368  ;  Luxembourg  question,  371 ;  proc- 
ess of  amalgamation,  382  ;  Reichstag, 
383 ;  Franco-Prussian  war,  419-460 ;  de- 
velops into  empire,  461^165. 

Norway,  490. 

Ou>  Catholics,  405 ;  in  Austria,  484 ;  Switz- 
erland, 492,  607 ;  Germany,  504,  630,  631. 

Oldenburg:  sides  with  Prussia,  336;  vote 
in  Bundesrath,  463,  note. 

Orange  league,  153. 

Ordinances,  five,  French,  100, 101, 104. 

Orleanists:  under  republic,  197;  fusion, 
474. 

PAPAI,  stool :  Leo  XIII.,  Pope,  relations  to 
Prussia,  Switzerland,  Russia,  597  ;  gen- 
eral policy,  59S ;  relations  to  Italy,  599  ; 
Belgium,  606 ;  Switzerland,  608 ;  Bava- 
ria, 631 ;  negotiations  with  Prussia,  632, 
633;  modiis  vivendi,  C36;  trouble  in  Ven- 
ezuela, 653— see  also  under  States  of  the 
Church. 


666 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


Paraguay:  independence,  55;  war  with 
Brazil  and  allies,  209. 

Parma:  insurrection,  31,  SOS;  tmited  to 
Sardinia,  281,  287. 

Parties  (partial  lint;  see  also  under  spe- 
cial headings')  :  Austria,  autonomists, 
4S3  —  Conservatives,  Constitutionalists, 
Federalists,  Liberals,  588 ;  Belgium, 
Clericals,  Liberals,  490,  604  ;  England, 
Tories,  Whigs,  69— Chartists,  151— Con- 
servatives, Liberals,  4SS — Home-rulers, 
584;  France,  Constitutionalists,  Inde- 
pendents, Doctrinaires,  Republicans, 
Bonapartists,  Ultras,  90  —  Legitimists, 
173 — Orleanists,  197— Irreconcilables,  390 
— lutransigeama,  613 ;  Germany,  Gross- 
deutsche,  231— Junker,  306— Fortschritt, 
3St— Patriots,  3S7— Reichs  party,  466— 
Alsatians,  498 — Democrats,  496 — Conser- 
vatives, 49S  —  Clericals,  495 — National 
Liberals,  466 — Social  Democrats,  495— 
Christian  Socialists,  637  —  Gnelphs,  Se- 
cessionists, Poles,  Danes,  645 ;  Holland, 
Conservatives,  Liberals,  609 ;  Italy,  Ita- 
lianissimi,  291— Moderates,  Progressists, 
593 ;  Russia,  People's  party,  Terrorists, 
569;  Spain,  Josefinos,  44 — Exaltados,  47 
— Negros,  52  ;  Carlists,  Chris-linos,  144 — 
Moderados,  Progressists,  146 — Intransi- 
gentes,  479;  Switzerland,  Cantonese,  491. 

Party  of  Progress— see  Fortschritt  party. 

Patriots :  Bavarian  ul tramontanes,  387,498. 

Peace:  of  Paris,  264— modified,  485;  of 
Zurich,  286  ;  of  Vienna,  317 :  of  Prague, 
356,  modified,  611;  Austro-Italian,  359; 
Franco-Prussian,  45S,  400 ;  San  Stefauo, 
545;  Gundamak,  578. 

Peers,  in  France :  creation  of,  93,  97  ;  loss 
of  hereditary  character,  176. 

Persia:  war  with  Russia,  87;  Khotur 
ceded  to,  552. 

Peru:  independence,  55;  partisan  strug- 
gles, 493;  war  with  Chili,  655-657. 

Peterloo — see  Massacres. 

Plebiscite :  in  France,  200,  393  ;  in  Italian 
duchies  and  Savoy,  287;  in  TJmbria,  289 ; 
in  Mexico,  296 ;  in  Veuetia,  359  ;  in 
Rome,  477. 

Poland:  under  Alexander  I.,  86;  Nicho- 
las, 134 ;  revolution  in  preparation,  135 ; 
outbreak,  136;  Russian  successes,  138, 
139;  disunion,  140 ;  revolution  suppress- 
ed, 142;  dissatisfaction,  2GS  ;  insurrec- 
tion, 2C9 ;  incorporated  in  Russia,  399. 

Portugal :  military  dictatorship  of  Beres- 
ford,  56;  revolution,  57 ;  constitution 
proclaimed,  58 ;  usurpation  of  Miguel, 
60  ;  success  of  Pedrists,  61 ;  subsequent 
history,  US. 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  53. 

Progressists,  German  —  see  Fortschritt 
party. 

Protective  tariff:  in  Austro-Hnugary,591 ; 


France,  475, 62S ;  Germany,  633,  643,  644; 
Russia,  567. 

Protocols:  London,  251,  315;  in  Turkish 
affairs,  52S. 

Provisional  government,  in  France,  191- 
193. 

Prussia:  (1816-'30)  reaction,  11,  IS,  19; 
(1830-'4S)  Zollverein,  164 ;  contest  with 
Pope,  165 ;  parliamentary  aspirations, 
166 ,  relisrious  and  philosophical  thought, 
167;  United  Landtag,  168;  (184S-'63) 
armistice  with  Denmark,  219 ;  popular 
discontent,  226  ;  revolution,  227  ;  con- 
stitutional convention,  228;  revolution 
suppressed,  229  ;  empire  refused,  232; 
intervention  in  Saxony,  233  ;  in  Baden 
and  Palatinate,  235,237,  238 ;  acquisition 
ofHoheuzollern-Sigmaringen,  23S;  trea- 
ty with  Denmark,  24C  ;  league  of  three 
kings,  Interim,  248 ;  hnmiliation  of  Ol- 
mtitz,  250;  alliance  with  Austria,  257; 
treaty  with  Russia,  270 ;  weak  policy, 
272 ;  William  I.  kins,  273 ;  Italian  war, 
2S4 ;  (1SC4-'G9)  army,  304,  305  ;  Bis- 
marck's policy,  307 ;  Danish  war,  312- 
317 ;  high-handed  policy,  318-322  :  Gas- 
tein  convention,  323;  alliance  with  Italy, 
prepares  for  war,  327 ;  circulars,  328 ; 
negotiations  with  Napoleon,  329,  330; 
occupies  Holstein,  333:  secedes,  335; 
Anstro-Prussiau  war,  335-368  ;  Luxem- 
bourg treaty,  371  ;  negotiations  with 
Denmark,  372;  customs'  treaties,  379; 
plan  of  French  campaign,  3SS ;  (1870- 
'75)  understanding  with  Russia,  409; 
France  declares  war,  415 ;  Franco-Prus- 
sian war,  420-460  ;  vote  in  Bundesrath, 
463,  note;  Culturkampf  begins, 500  ;  May 
laws,  501 ;  attempt  on  Bismarck,  503 ; 
interdict,  503  ;  (1S76-'81)  Gnelph  fund, 
610  ;  agreement  with  Austria,  611 ;  re- 
lations to  Rome,  631,  632 ;  church  laws, 
634 ;  Cologne  cathedral,  635 ;  modus  vi- 
vendi,  636 ;  attempts  on  emperor,  C37, 638; 
economical  council,  644;  royal  rescript, 
646 ;  Hamburg  question,  647. 

Psara — see  Massacres. 

Pulpit  paragraph,  500,  630. 

RAILROADS:  French-Belgian  convention, 
390 ;  Alsace  -  Lorraine,  460 ;  Germany, 
643. 

Rebellions:  Cuba,  407;  Grecian,  72-83; 
Polish,  136-141,269;  Sepoy,  292-294 ;  Sic- 
ily, 206 — see  also  Insurrections. 

Reform  banquets,  184. 

Reform  bill,  149. 

Reich?  party,  466. 

Reichsrath,  Hungarian,  373. 

Reichstag:  Austrian,  223— dissolved,  225 — 
constitution  of,  374;  German,  constitu- 
tion of,  4C3,  note;  Hungarian,  7,  240, 241; 
North  German,  363,  381. 


GENERAL  IXDEX. 


667 


Repeal,  152. 

Rescript,  646. 

Reuss,  older  and  younger  line,  vote  in 
Bundesrath,  463,  note. 

Revolutions:  Austria,  223;  Baden,  234; 
Belgium,  115-119;  Brunswick,  124; 
France,  (1830)  10T,  (1848)  1SC-197,  (1851) 
199,  200,  (1S70)  441  ;  Greece,  72-83,  206; 
Hesse-Cassel,  125  ;  Hungary,  241 ;  Mex- 
ico, 652;  Naples,  29;  Poland,  136-141; 
Portugal,  57 ;  Prussia,  227 ;  Sardinia,  38 ; 
Saxony,  233 ;  Sicily,  30  ;  Spain,  45,  400, 
482;  States  of  Church,  204;  Switzerland, 
129;  Turkey,  514;  Tuscany,  204. 

Right  to  labor,  192. 

Roumania  :  created,  266 ;  army  reorgan- 
ized, 397;  disturbances,  487;  convention 
with  Russia,  530;  alliance,  530;  army  at 
Plevna,  530,  540;  Viddin,  541 ;  treaty  of 
San  Stefano,  546;  vain  protests,  549; 
Berlin  congress,  553,  554  ;  Jewish  ques- 
tion, kingdom,  504;  population,  566,note. 

Russia :  (1S16-'30)  under  Alexander  I.,  86 ; 
accession  of  Nicholas,  87;  war  with 
Turkey,  treaty  of  Adrianople,  88,  89; 
(1830-'48)  suppression  of  Polish  revolt, 
136-142  ;  in  Caucasus,  143 ;  interference 

.  in  Turkey,  156;  (184S-'63)  intervention 
in  Hungary,  243,  244;  Schleswig-  Hoi- 
stein  question,  246 ;  interference  in  Ger- 
many, commanding  position,  253 ;  seeks 
pretence  for  war  with  Turkey,  255 ;  in- 
vades principalities,  war  declared,  256 ; 
Western  powers  interfere,  257 ;  Crimean 
war,  257-265 ;  serfs  freed,  267 ;  rebellion 
in  Poland,  209  ;  treaty  with  Prussia,  270; 
(1S04-'C9)  sale  of  Alaska,  394 ;  annexa- 
tion and  consolidation,  399,400;  (1870- 
'75)  attitude  toward  Prussia,  426 ;  Pou- 
tns  conference,  486;  advance  in  Asia, 
486 ;  (1876-'S1)  Herzegoviuian  revolt, 
508,  509, 511 ;  sympathy  for  Servia,  518  ; 
dictates  truce,  524 ;  preparations  for  war, 
525;  London  protocol, 528;  declares  war, 
529  ;  Russo-Turkish  war,  530-554 ;  final 
treaty,  566;  anti-German  feeling,  567, 
568;  dissatisfaction, Nihilists, 569;  third 
division,  570;  assassinations,  571,  572; 
Melikoff  dictator,  reforms,  573;  emperor 
murdered, 574 ;  advance  in  Central  Asia, 
575 :  Jewish  riots,  576,  649 ;  embassy  in 
Cabul,  577. 

Russo-Turkish  war:  war  declared,  529; 
Roumanian  convention,  first  operations, 
530;  strength  of  combatants,  531 ;  Eng- 
land's attitude,  Danube  crossed,  532; 
unopposed  advance,  533;  ministerial 
changes,  English  proposals,  534;  three 
battles  of  Plevna,  535,  530 ;  Shipka  pass, 
537;  army  of  Danube,  538;  Plevna  in- 
vested,539;  taken, 540;  Balkans  crossed, 
541;  Armenian  campaign,  542;  vassal 
states,  543 ;  Austria  and  England,  544 ; 


cessation  of  hostilities,  545;  treaty  of 
San  Stefano,  540 ;  England  and  Austria 
object,  547 ;  secret  treaty,  548 ;  Rouma- 
nian protest,  549;  Greece,  550 ;  Berlin 
congress,  550-554. 

SAN  SALVADOR:  religious  disturbances,  653. 

Sardinia:  condition  after  restoration,  36 ; 
revolution,  38 ;  suppressed,  40 ;  charac- 
ter of  people,  209 ;  war  with  Austria, 
battle  of  Novara,  210;  accession  of  Vic- 
tor Emmanuel  II., 211;  Crimean  war,  261; 
Paris  memorial,  270 ;  liberal  policy,  275 ; 
Italian  war,  279-280;  annexations,  287, 
289— see  also  Italy. 

Saxe-AHenbnrg:  vote  in  Bundesrath,  463, 
note. 

Saxe-Cobnrg-Gotha :  vote  in  Bundesrath, 
463,  note. 

Saxe-Meiuingen  :  vote  in  Bnndesrath,  463, 
note. 

Saxe- Weimar:  constitution,  8;  vote  iu 
Buudesrath,  463,  note. 

Saxon  duchies:  side  with  Prussia, 336. 

Saxony:  constitution  extorted,  126;  un- 
successful revolution,  233;  conflict  with 
Prussia,  319;  Austrian  ally,  327;  Ans- 
tro-  Prussian  war,  336-367;  Franco- 
Prussian  war,  420-460 ;  vote  iu  Bundes- 
rath, 463,  note;  separatist  policy,  496, 
641,642. 

Schaumburg-Lippe:  vote  in  Buudesrath, 
463,  note. 

Schleswig-IIolstein :  open  letter  of  King 
Christian,  213;  armed  interference  of 
Germany,  218 ;  armistice,  219 ;  second 
campaign,  245,  246 ;  Danes  victorious, 
247;  London  protocol,  251;  Schleswig 
incorporated  in  Denmark,  309  ;  Holstein 
appeals  to  Diet,  310 ;  execution,  311;  Da- 
nish war,  312-317;  ceded  to  allies,  317: 
Austria  and  Prussia  in  duchies,  318-323 ; 
Gastein  convention,  323;  public  senti- 
ment, 326;  Prussian  occupation,  333; 
annexation,  367,  611. 

School  laws:  Belgium, 605;  Holland,  609; 
France,  612, 613,  621,  025  ;  Prussia,  500. 

Schwarzbnrg-Rudolstadt:  vote  in  Bundes- 
rath, 463,  note. 

Schwarzburg  -  Soudershausen  :  vote  in 
Bundesrath,  463,  note. 

Scotland :  Scotch  electoral  bill,  395. 

Scrntin  de  lisle,  612, 627. 

Secret  societies  in  Poland,  86. 

Seewehr,  305. 

Sepoy  rebellion,  292-294. 

September  laws,  177. 

Septennate,  475, 611. 

Serfdom:  abolished  in  Baltic  provinces, 
87— in  Russia,  267. 

Servia:  Milan  prince,  397;  war  feeling, 
517 ;  army,  518 ;  first  campaign  against 
Turkey,  519  ;  unsuccessful  negotiations, 


668 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


523  ;  defeated,  524;  peace,  527;  second 
war,  543 ;  treaty  of  Sau  Stefauo,  546 ;  Ber- 
lin congress,  554;  Jewish  emancipation, 
563. 

Sicily:  revolution, 30;  suppressed, 31 ;  re- 
bellion, 203 ;  subdued,  20T  ;  Garibaldi's 
expedition,  288  ;  brigandage,  593. 

Siebeuer-Coucordat,  169. 

Sieges:  Acre,  15C;  Athens,  79;  Barcelona, 
51;  Belfort,  452,  455;  Cadiz,  50;  Carta- 
gena, 480;  Gaeta,  290;  Kars,  264,  543; 
Mesolonghi,  79;  Metz,  436,  438;  Paris, 
441,  442,  44G,  450,  456 ;  Plevna,  539,  540 ; 
Rome,  205;  Sebastopol,  260-264;  Silis- 
tria,  89,  258 ;  Strasburg,  429,448;  Varua, 
88;  Venice,  211;  Viddin,  541. 

Sikhs,  154. 

Sknptshiua,  397. 

Slavery:  slave-trade  declared  piracy  by 
England,  63 ;  abolished  in  colonies,  153 ; 
in  Zanzibar,  488. 

Social  Democrats:  in.  Prance,  193  —  in- 
surrections, 194,  195,  197,  446,  457  — 
Commune,  4C9;  in  Germany,  495,  498— 
strength,  637,  638— laws  against,,  639— 
increase,  640,  645. 

Societies  (partial  list;  see  also  under  special 
headings):  Carbonaria,  24;  Destroying 
Angel,  53 ;  Orange  league,  69,  153  ;  He- 
taeria,  70;  Freemasons,  86;  Congrega- 
tion, 91,  96;  Aide  toi  el  le  ciel  faidera,  98, 
100;  Friends  of  the  People,  108,  109; 
Young  Italy,  170;  Young  Europe,  170; 
Seasons,  178;  Internationale,  463;  Nihil- 
ists, 569. 

Souderbnnd,  171. 

Spain :  (1816-'30)  condition  after  resto- 
ration, 43  ;  constitution  repealed,  43  ; 
French  intervention,  50 ;  revolution  sup- 
pressed, 51 ;  reaction,  52  ;  Salic  law  re- 
pealed, Carlist  revolt,  53;  loss  of  Amer- 
ican Colonies,  54  ;  Independence  of  Colo- 
nies recognized  by  England,  53;  (1830- 
'4S)  Carlist  revolt,  144, 145;  new  consti- 
tution, abdication  of  Christina,  rule  of 
Isabella,  146-148;  (lS64-'69)  revolution, 
406;  seeking  a  king,  407;  (1870-'75)  Ama- 
deo,  king,  478;  republic,  479 ;  disorders, 
480  ;  Carlist  revolt,  481 ;  Alfonso,  king, 
482 ;  Virgiuius  affair,  493 ;  (1S76-'S1)  Car- 
list  revolt  suppressed,  599  ;  religious  in- 
tolerance, 600,  601 ;  Cuban  insurrection, 
602;  attempts  on  king's  life,  603. 

Spanish  marriages,  147. 

States  of  the  Church  :  at  the  restoration, 
25;  insurrection,  129,  131;  liberalism  of 
Pius  IX.,  202,  203  ;  Roman  republic,  204 .,; 
French  intervention,  205 ;  reaction.  274  : 
Italian  war,  281,  287 ;  war  with  Sardinia, 
289;  Garibaldi's  expedition,  291;  second 
expedition,  400  ;  French  occupation,  401 ; 
Vatican  council,  402-404 ;  annexed  to 
Italy,  477 — see  Papal  stool. 


St.  Gothard  tunnel :  cost  and  German  ap- 
propriation, 383;  treaty,  393;  comple- 
tion, 609. 

Suez  Canal:  opened,  391;  English  pur- 
chase of  shares,  510. 

Suffrage:  Austria,  484;  Brazil,  654;  Eng- 
land, extended,  149,395 ;  France,  extend- 
ed, 93— limited,  99— extended,  174— man- 
hood, 193— limited,  198— universal,  199  ; 
Italy,  595 ;  North  Germany,  universal, 
308. 

Sweden  :  compulsory  military  service,  490. 

Switzerland :  aristocracy,  127 ;  revolutions, 
129 ;  Siebener-Concordat  and  Sarner- 
bnnd,  1C9  ;  right  of  asylum,  170 ;  relig- 
ious controversies,  170 ;  Souderbund, 
171 ;  new  constitution,  172 ;  constitu- 
tional revision,  491;  cultnrkampf,  492; 
religious  legislation,  006 ;  civil  marriage, 
Old  Catholics,  COS ;  relations  to  Pope, 
60S;  St.  Gothard  tunnel,  610. 

Syllabus,  402. 

TEKKE-TUHOOMANS,  575. 

Third  division,  570;  name  changed,  574. 

Three  F's-,585. 

Tobacco  monopoly :  in  Lombard}',  208 ; 
proposed  in  Germany,  642,  644,  645. 

Transvaal .-  annexed  by  England,  581 ;  re- 
bellion, 583. 

Treaties :  Evora,  with  Dom  Miguel,  61 ; 
England,  France,  and  Russia,  for  pacifi- 
cation of  Greece,  81 ;  Akermau,  Russia 
and  Turkey,  87 ;  Adrianople,  Russia  and 
Turkey,  89 ;  England,  France,  Spain, 
and  Portugal,  144 ;  Vergara,  with  Car- 
lists,  145;  Nanking,  England  and  Chi- 
na, 154;  Tientsin,  France,  England,  and 
China,  155;  Kutayah,  Egypt  and  Tur- 
key, 157;  Unkiar-Skelessi,  Russia  and 
Turkey,  157  ;  Turkey  and  England,  157 ; 
Austria  and  Sardinia,  211 ;  Prussia  and 
Denmark,  246 ;  Paris,  Russia  and  al- 
lies, 264;  Prussia  and  Russia,  270;  Zu- 
rich, France,  Austria,  and  Sardinia,  286; 
France  and  Italy,  292;  Miramar,  Napo- 
leon and  Maximilian,  296  ;  Vienna,  Den- 
mark and  allies,  317 ;  Prague,  Austria 
and  Prussia,  356,  611 :  Austrian  Italian, 
359 ;  Prussia  and  South  German  States, 
361 ;  Luxembourg  treaty,  371 ;  St.  Goth- 
ard, 393  ;  Versailles,  France  and  Ger- 
many, 458,  400 ;  San  Stefano,  Russia  and 
Turkey,  545:  secret,  between  England 
and  Russia,  548,  and  Turkey,  552;  Gun- 
damak,  England  and  Afghanistan,  578; 
Chili  and  Bolivia,  655. 

Tricolor :  in  Sardinia,  39  ;  in  France,  105. 

Truce  of  Malmo,  219. 

Truce  of  Villafranca,  282. 

Tunis:  English -French  understanding, 
552 ;  French  invasion,  620 ;  unexpected 
difficulties,  627. 


INDEX   OF  PERSONS. 


669 


Tin-key:  (1S1G-'30)  Ypsilanti's  raid,  71; 
outrages  upon  Christians,  revolt  in 
Greece,  72 ;  calls  in  aid  of  Mehemed  Ali, 
78;  battle  of  Navariuo,  82  ;  suppression 
of  Janiattrie8,88;  war  with  Russia,  trea- 
ty of  Adi  ianople,  SS,  89  ;  (1S30-'4S)  Egyp- 
tian revolt,  150-159;  Russian  aid,  156; 
peace  of  Kutayah  and  treaty  of  Unkiar- 
Skelessi,  157 ;  second  war  with  Egypt, 
15S ;  European  intervention,  159 ;  (1848- 
'63)  "sick  man,"  254  ;  reforms,  255;  war 
with  Russia,  declared,  250 ;  alliance  with 
Western  powers,  257;  Crimean  war,  257- 
204 ;  reform  edicts,  2C5 ;  Syrian  massa- 
cre, 266  ;  (1864-'69)  Cretan  revolt,  398 ; 
(1870-'75)  condition  of  vassal  states,  480, 
487;  (1S76-'81)  trouble  with  Montene- 
gro, 505 ;  insurrection  in  Herzegovina, 
506;  promised  reforms,  508;  Andrassy 
note,  509 ;  Austria  and  England,  510 ; 
Russia,  revolt  in  Bosnia,  511  ;  Gortcha- 
koff  memorandum,  512;  Saloniki  out- 
rages, 513;  palace  revolution,  514;  Bul- 
garian massacres,  515-517;  Servia  and 
Montenegro  declare  war,  517;  first  Ser- 
vian campaign,  519;  England,  520;  Aus- 
tro-IIungary,  521;  Rome,  522;  unsuc- 
cessful negotiations,  523 ;  Servians  de- 
feated, 524 ;  constitution  proclaimed,526 ; 
proposals  of  Constantinople  conference 
rejected,  527;  protocol  rejected,  war  de- 
clared, 529;  Russo-Turkisn  war,  530-554; 
110  reforms,  555;  final  treaty  with  Rus- 
sia, 556;  Macedonian  insurrection,  558; 
Kolle  case,  559  ;  Grecian  frontiers,  559- 
561 ;  Montenegrin  frontiers,  562,  563 ; 
interference  in  Egypt,  505 ;  seeks  Ger- 
man alliance,  652. 

UNITED  Landtag,  168,  228. 

Union,  248,  249. 

Uruguay:    independence,  55;    war  with 

Paraguay,  299;    internal  troubles,  493, 

657. 


VATICAN  Council:  summoned,  402 ;  com- 
plexion, 403 ;  infallibility  voted,  404. 

Venetia:  Austrian  rule,  27;  rebels,  208; 
retained  by  Austria,  288 ;  ceded  to 
France,  350;  surrendered  to  Italy,  359. 

Venezuela :  independence,  55 ;  cultnr- 
kampf,  493,  653. 

Vienna  Schlussakte,  17,  335. 

Virginius  case,  493. 

WALDKOK  :  vote  in  Bundesrath,  463,  note. 

Wars:  Persia  and  Russia,  87;  Russia  and 
Turkey,  SS,  S9 ;  Holland  and  Belgium, 
120;  Spain  and  Morocco,  143 ;  England 
and  Burmah,  154 ;  England  and  Afghan- 
istan, 154;  Sikh  war,  154;  opium  war, 
154 ;  France,  England,  and  China,  155  ; 
Turkey  and  Egypt,  156,158;  France  and 
Algerians,  99, 181, 182 ;  France  and  Mo- 
rocco, 182 ;  Crimean  war,  25C-265  ;  Ital- 
ian, 279-286;  Paraguay  with  allies,  299; 
Danish,  312-317 ;  Austro-Prussiau,  335- 
308;  Franco-Prussian,  420^*60;  Ashan- 
tee,4SS;  Atchin,  489,010;  Russo-Turkish, 
530-554;  Afghan, 578, 580;  Zulu,  582;  Boer, 
583  ;  Chili,  Bolivia,  and  Peru,  655-657. 

War  indemnities:  Austrian,  356;  Bava- 
rian, 365;  French,  458,  479;  Peruvian, 
656;  Saxon,  306;  Turkish,  546, 553,  556. 

Wurtember.*:  constitution,  9;  Austro- 
Prussian  war,  335-307 ;  customs'  treaty, 
379;  army,  380;  customs'  parliament, 
381,  384;  Democratic  opposition,  385, 
386,417;  Franco-Prussian  war,  419-460; 
joins  confederation,  462,  463,  464;  em- 
bassies, 496. 

ZANZIBAR:  slave-trade  abolished, 488. 

Zollvereiu  :  formation  and  extension,  164; 
Austria  excluded,  272,  319 ;  treaty  with 
France,  319;  Italy,  324;  reorganization, 
379;  parliament,  381. 

Zuln  war,  581,  582. 

Zurich,  128,  169, 170,  490. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


AAIUFI,  Turkish  pasha,  534. 

Abdallah,  pasha  of  Acre,  155. 

Abd-el-Kader,  Algerian  emir,  181, 182. 

Abderrahmau,  Emperor  of  Morocco,  182. 

Abdul  Aziz,  Sultan  of  Turkey  (1861-'76), 
266,  486 ;  deposed,  suicide,  514. 

Abdul  Hamid  II.,  Sultan  of  Turkey  (1S7C), 
522. 

Abdul  Kerim,  Turkish  general  in  Roume- 
lia,  515;  commands  against  Servians, 
510;  in  cabinet,  520;  presented  with 
sabre,  522 ;  commander-in-chief,  531. 

Abdul  Medjid,  Sultan   of  Turkey  (1839- 


'61),  accession,  158,  255;  reforms,  265; 
death,  200. 

Abdurrahman,  Ameer  of  Afghanistan, 
579,  580. 

Abeddin,  Turkish  pasha,  562. 

Abel,  Bavarian  minister,  214. 

Aberdeen,  Lord,  English  premier,  253 ; 
French  alliance,  255;  resigns,  256. 

Abisbal,  Count,  Spanish  officer,  45, 46, 50. 

Achmet  Pasha,  commander  at  Kalafat, 
258. 

Achmcd  Aga,  massacre  of  Batak,  515 ;  pro- 
moted, 517. 


670 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


Adole,  sister  of  Louis  Philippe,  102, 108. 

Afire,  French  archbishop,  1<J5. 

Agnozzi,  Papal  nuutius  iu  Switzerland, 
492. 

Akbar,  ex-Grand  Mogul,  293. 

Alava,  Spaniel)  general,  51. 

Albaui,  Cardinal,  132. 

Albert,  King  of  Saxony  (1873),  Crown 
Prince,  commands  Maas  army,  437,  441 ; 
advises  Austrian  emperor,  484. 

Albert,  Prince  of  Saxe-Coburg,  husband 
of  Queen  Victoria,  154. 

Albert,  Austrian  archduke,  commands  in 
Italy,  340 ;  recalled,  352. 

Albert,  member  of  French  provisional  gov- 
ernment, 191 ;  city  hall  government,  194. 

Albert  Edward— see  Wales. 

Albrecht,  Professor,  "Gottingen  seven," 
163. 

Aleko  Pasha— see  Voyorides. 

Alexander  I.,  Emperor  of  Russia  (1801- 
'25),  author  of  Holy  Alliance,  character, 
2;  domestic  policy,  death,  8C. 

Alexander  II.,  Emperor  of  Russia  (1855- 
'81),  262;  frees  serfs,  267;  attempt  on 
life,  372;  understanding  with  King  of 
Prussia,  409;  neutrality,  426;  summons 
Brussels  conference,  480 ;  imperial  vis- 
its, 493;  Moscow  speech,  525;  at  head- 
quarters, 531 ;  at  Plevna,  540 ;  personal 
affection  for  German  emperor,  567,  568  ; 
attempt  on  life,  571 ;  winter  palace  ex- 
plosion, 572 ;  assassination,  574 ;  let- 
ter to  Emperor  William,  050 ;  meeting, 
061. 

Alexander  III.,  Emperor  of  Russia  (1881), 
Czarevitch,  iu  Turkey,  535,  538,  541 ;  em- 
peror, 574 ;  at  Dantzic,  575. 

Alexander,  Prince  of  Hesse,  commands 
eighth  army  corps, 336, 360;  retreats,  361, 
557;  in  St.  Petersburg,  572. 

Alexander,  Prince  of  Battenberg,  son  of 
preceding,  elected  Prince  of  Bulgaria, 
557. 

Alexander,  Dutch  prince,  610. 

Alexander,  Karageorgevitch,  397. 

Alexandra — see  Wales. 

Alfred,  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  refuses  Gre- 
cian crown,  267. 

Ali,  pasha  of  Janina,  rebels,  70. 

All  Pasha,  Governor-general  of  Herzego- 
vina, 510, 511. 

Alibaud,  French  assassin,  17S. 

Almonte,  Mexican  general,  friend  of  Na- 
poleon, 295,  296. 

Aloard,  124. 

Alouzo,  Don,  480;  barbarity,  481. 

Alphonso  XII.,  King  of  Spain  (1874),  482, 
599 ;  attempts  on  life,  marriages,  603. 

Alvensleben  II.,  von,  Prussian  general, 
434. 

Amadeo,  King  of  Spain  (1871-'73),  Duke 
of  Aosta,  second  son  of  Victor  Emman- 


uel, refuses  Spanish  throne,  407;  accepts, 
478 ;  resigns,  479. 

Amalie,  Queen  of  Greece,  85,  266. 

Amarante,  Portuguese  count,  58. 

Andrassy,  Count  Julius,  Hungarian  min- 
ister, 373;  Austro- Hungarian  minister 
of  foreign  affairs,  484;  joint  note,  50S  ; 
policy,  522, 535,  547;  at  Berlin  congress, 
552;  resigns,  588;  alliance  with  Ger- 
many, 051. 

Angonlome,  Duke  of,  son  of  Charles  X., 
commands  French  army  in  Spain,  50,  92, 
98;  death,  111. 

Angonleme,  Duchess  of,  111. 

Ausaldi,  Sardinian  revolutionist,  38. 

Autonelli,  Cardinal,  Papal  secretary  of 
state,  274, 369,  597. 

Anviti,  Italian  count,  murdered,  274. 

Araby  Bey,  Egyptian  colonel,  566. 

Arago,  106;  member  of  French  provision- 
al government,  191 ;  of  executive  com- 
mission, 193;  of  government  of  national 
defence,  442. 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  585. 

Armensperg,  Count,  Regent  of  Greece,  85. 

Arndt,  German  professor,  16,  18,  22, 166, 
236. 

Arnim,  Count  Harry,  German  ambassador 
iu  Paris,  494;  trial, 495, 604. 

Arnim-Boytzenberg,  Count,  Prussian  min- 
ister, 227,  228. 

Arroyo,  Bishop  of  Guayana,  653. 

Assy,  French  Communist,  469 ;  prisoner, 
471. 

Atwood,  Chartist,  151. 

Andiffret-Pusqnier,  Duke  of,  613,  614. 

Auersperg,  Commandant  of  Vienna,  224. 

Auersperg,  Prince  Adolf,  Austrian  minis- 
ter, 484;  resigns,  58S ;  iu  senate,  589;  op- 
position Press,  592. 

Auersperg,  Prince  Carlos,  Austrian  minis- 
ter, 374, 589. 

Auerswald,  General,  murdered,  220. 

August,  Prince  of  Wiirtemberg,  345 ;  at 
Gravelotte,  436. 

Augustenburg,  Christian,  Duke  of,  218. 

Augustenburg,  Frederic,  Prince  of,  Duke 
of  Schleswig-Holsteiu,  309;  iu  Holstein, 
311 ;  birthday,  322 ;  retires,  333. 

Anmale,  Duke  of,  son  of  Louis  Philippe, 
147;  commauder  in  Algeria,  182;  flees  to 
England,  190. 

Aurelle  de  Paladines,  French  general,  447; 
defeated,  450. 

Ayoub,  Khau  of  Herat,  579, 580. 

BAOOO,  Roman  prefect  of  police,  598. 
Back,  Strasburg   police    superintendent, 

497. 

Bakunin  Russian  refugee,  233. 
Balbo,  Ciesar,  Italian  historian,  209. 
Ballesteros,  Spanish  general,  50. 
Barbaccnn,  Portuguese  marquis,  60. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


671 


Barb6s,  French  radical,  173, 193. 

Bardoux,  French  minister,  619. 

Bariatynski,  Russian  general,  conqueror 
ofShamyl,  143. 

Barral,  Count,  Italian  diplomat,  355. 

Barrot,  Odillon,  member  of  Parisian  mu- 
nicipal committee,  107 ;  of  ministry,  173 ; 
proclamation,  1S7;  speech  in  Chamber, 
188 ;  premier,  198. 

Barsanti,  Italian  corporal,  594. 

Bassermann,  in  Baden  Chamber,  213. 

Batthyani,  Hungarian  premier,  239;  re- 
signs, 241 ;  executed,  245. 

Bauer,  Bruno,  167. 

Bazaine,  French  marshal,  commander  in 
Mexico,  297— in  Franco-Prussian  war, 
426;  commander-in-chief,  431,  433;  de- 
feated at  Vionville,  434— Gravelotte,  435 ; 
In  Metz,  436  ;  surrenders,  449 ;  court- 
martial  led,  474. 

Beach,  Sir  Michael  Hicks,  581. 

Beaconsfleld— see  Disraeli. 

Bebel,  German  Social  Democratic  leader, 
637. 

Becher,  German  radical,  237. 

Bedeau,  French  general, arrested,  199;  ban- 
ished, 200. 

Bekk,  minister  in  Baden,  234. 

Bekke,  Austrian  minister,  374. 

Belcredi,Couut,Anstrian  minister  of  state, 
303;  dismissed,  373. 

Bern,  General,  in  Vienna  revolution,  224;  in 
Hungary,  242;  defeated,  244 ;  flight,  245. 

Bencdek,  Austrian  general,  at  Solferiuo, 
281 ;  commander-in-chief,  336 ;  difficult 
position,  342 ;  defensive,  343 ;  concen- 
trates forces,  346 ;  defeated  at  Sadowa, 
349;  removed,  352. 

Benedetti,  French  ambassador  at  Berlin, 
354,  357,  365,  369 ;  at  Ems,  413. 

Benjamin-Constant,  French  Independent, 
90. 

Benuigsen,  leader  of  German  National 
Liberals,  467,  644. 

Bentheim,  Austrian  general,  132. 

Bentheim,  German  general,  452. 

Beranger,  French  poet,  90. 

Beresford,  Lord,  Governor  of  Portugal,  50. 

Berezowski,  Polish  assassin,  372. 

Berg,  Russian  general,  140 ;  commander 
in  Poland,  269. 

Bergami,  Bartolomeo,  chamberlain  to 
Queen  Caroline,  66. 

Bernard,  French  conspirator  in  England, 
27S. 

Bernetti,  Cardinal,  131. 

Bernetti,  General,  42.  • 

Berry,  Duke  of,  son  of  Charles  X.,  92 ;  as- 
sassinated, 94. 

Berry,  Duchess  of,  92;  mother  of  Connt 
Chambord,  94 ;  attempts  revolution,  175. 

Bert,  Paul,  French  minister  of  public  wor- 
ship, 623. 


Beseler,  William,  stadtholder  in  Schles- 
wig-Holstein,  245. 

Beust,  von,  Saxon  minister,  315 ;  enemy  of 
Bismarck,  327 ;  dismissed,  366;  Austrian 
minister,  372, 373 ;  chancellor,  374 ;  made 
count,  376,  410  ;  removed,  484. 

Beyer,  Prussian  general,  336 ;  enters  Cas- 
sel,  337,  33S,  361,  363;  Badish  minister, 
384;  Badish  commander  in  French  war, 
453. 

Beyme,  von,  Prussian  chancellor,  resigns, 
18. 

Bianchi,  Papal  nnntins  in  Munich,  496. 

Bismarck-Schouhansen,  Otto  von,  Prus- 
sian minister-president,  306;  career, 
306;  "blood  and  iron,"  307;  foreign 
policy,  303, 310,  317, 318 ;  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein,  320,  321 ;  bent  on  war,  322 ;  made 
count,  323 ;  interview  with  Napoleon, 
324;  palace  opposition,  325;  threatening 
despatch,  326 ;  Italian  alliance,  327  ;  cir- 
cular to  German  governments,  328 ;  at- 
tempt on  life,  332 ;  at  head-quarters,  346 ; 
negotiates  peace,  354,  355;  answer  to 
Napoleon,  357,  365 ;  donation  to,  367 ; 
Luxembourg  policy,  309-371 ;  South  Ger- 
man states,  377,  37S ;  customs'  treaty, 
379;  in  customs' parliament,  332;  "rep- 
tile "  speech,  383  ;  Cretan  revolt,  398 ; 
understanding  with  Russia,  409 ;  at  head- 
quarters, 422 ;  at  Sedan,  439  ;  circular 
notes,  444;  negotiations  with  French, 
445,  448,  460 ;  reads  imperial  proclama- 
tion, 405;  made  prince,  466;  donation, 
467;  Car-list  revolt,  431;  Pontus  confer- 
ence, 485;  Aruim  affair,  494;  illness, 495; 
"  Canossa  "  speech,  500 ;  attempt  on  life, 
503 ;  Richter's  interpellation,  520 ;  at  Ber- 
lin congress,  550 ;  Austrian  alliance,  568, 
611 ;  negotiations  with  Pope,  632,  633 ; 
court  opposition,  634 ;  arrangement  with 
Pope,  636;  Social  Democrats,  637,  639; 
use  of  parties,  641,  642  ;  railroad  policy, 
643;  protective  tariff,  643:  reactionary 
policy,  645,  046 ;  Hamburg,  647,  648 ;  for- 
eign policy,  661. 

Blanc,  Louis,  French  Socialist,  member  of 
provisional  government,  191 ;  president 
of  Workingmen's  Parliament,192  ;  forms 
city  hall  government,  194;  in  House,  620. 

Blanco,  Guzman,  President  of  Venezuela, 
653. 

Blauqni,  French  radical,  178, 193 ;  member 
of  city  hall  government,  194 ;  Commune, 
469;  election,  623. 

Blignieresde,  French  commissioner  in 
Egypt,  565 ;  controller,  566. 

Blind,  Carl,  attempt  on  Bismarck,  332. 

Bliicher,  Prussian  marshal,  11 ;  visits  Eng- 
land, 66. 

Blum,  Robert,  German  revolutionist,  224; 
executed,  225. 

Blumeuthal,  von,  Prussian  general,  421. 


672 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


Bobolina,  Grecian  widow,  mans  ships,  72. 
Bochholz,  Count,  student  at  Jena,  14. 
Bolivar,  Venezuelan  patriot,  55. 
Bonaparte,  Prince  Peter,  shoots  Noir,  392. 
Bonin,   Prussian  general,  in   Schleswig- 

Ilolstein,  245;  recalled,  246;  dismissed 

from  cabinet,  253;   in  Austro-Prussian 

war,  344,  345. 

Boning,  German  revolutionist,  shot,  238. 
Bordeaux,  Duke  of,  grandson  of  Charles 

X.,  birth,  94;    proclaimed   Henry  V., 

110;  Count  Chambord,  198;  obstinacy, 

475. 

Borel,  French  minister  of  war,  CIS. 
Borelli,   Italian   liberal,  imprisoned,  36; 

executed,  132. 

Borrero,  President  of  Ecuador,  054. 
Bose,  Prussian  general,  354. 
Bosquet,  French  general,  260. 
Bou  Ameua,  Algerian  chief,  C27. 
Bouet-Villaumez,  Count,  French  admiral, 

420, 432. 
Bourbaki,  French  general,  426,  450,  451, 

453;  defeated  at  Belfort,  454;  attempts 

suicide,  455. 
Bourmont,  Count,  French  minister  of  war, 

97;  expedition  to  Algiers,  99,  111;   in 

service  of  Dom  Miguel,  61. 
Boyen,  von,  Prussian  minister  of  war,  IS. 
Boyer,  French  general,  44S. 
Bozzaris,  Markos,  Suliote  chief,  73;  heroic 

death,  76. 
Brandenburg,  Count,  Prussian  minister, 

229,  232,  250. 

Brandenburg,  Count,  Prussian  officer,  434. 
Bratiano,  Roumanian  minister,  dismissed, 

397;  mission  to  Berlin,  549. 
Bravo,  Gonzalez,  Spanish  premier,  406. 
Bray.  Count,  Bavarian  minister,  387,  402. 
Brea,  French  general,  195. 
Bredow,  German  general,  434. 
Bredy,  Austrian  general,  murdered,  223. 
Brentauo,  German  revolutionist,  234,  235, 

238. 
Broglie,  Duke  of,  minister  under  Louis 

Philippe,  110,  156. 
Broglie,  Duke  of,  French  premier,  475  ;  at 

Pontus  conference,  485  ;  ambassador  in 

London,  604;  premier,  615;  resigns, 617; 

prosecution,  620,  621;  encourages  monks, 

625. 

Brougham,  Lord,  66,  122. 
Brnck,  Austrian  minister,  225. 
Bruhl,  Count,  165. 
Bubna,  Austrian  general,  40. 
Buffet,  French  minister  of  finance,  391, 

392;  premier,  476;  resigns,  613. 
Bugeaud,  French  marshal  (Duke  of  Isly), 

commander  in  Algeria,  182, 1S7, 188. 
Bulgaris,  Grecian  minister,  487. 
Riinsen,  Chevalier,  232  ;  recalled,  253. 
Buol-Schanensteiu,  Count,  Austrian  dele- 
gate to  Diet,  12 ;  premier,  273. 


Burgers,  President  of  Transvaal,  581. 
Burrow,  English  general,  579. 
Byron,  Lord,  dies  in  Greece,  77. 

CAHF.T,  French  revolutionist,  193. 

Cabreira,  Portuguese  patriot,  60. 

Cabrera,  Carlist  guerilla  chief,  144. 

Cadorua,  Italian  general,  enters  Rome,476. 

Cairoli,  Italian  premier,  593,  594. 

Calderon,  Spanish  officer,  45. 

Cambridge,  Duke  of,  governor-general  of 
Hanover,  127. 

Cambridge,  Duke  of,  English  general,  in 
Crimea,  259. 

Cambriels,  French  general,  440 ;  defeated, 
453. 

Cameron,  English  consul,  prisoner  in 
Abyssinia,  396. 

Campbell,  Sir  Colin,  English  comrnander- 
in-chief  in  India,  294. 

Campero,  President  of  Bolivia,  656. 

Camphausen,  Prussian  minister,  228. 

Campos,  Martinez,  Spanish  general,  pro- 
claims monarchy,  482 ;  in  Cuba,  602. 

Caniuo,  Prince  Charles,  son  of  Lucieu  Bo- 
naparte, 204. 

Canning,  George,  English  minister  of  for- 
eign affairs,  49,  56,  67  ;  prime-minister, 
68;  favors  Greece,  75,  81 ;  death,  68. 

Canning,  Lord,  son  of  preceding,  Govern- 
or-general of  India,  294. 

Canosa,  Prince,  35. 

Cauovas  del  Castillo,  Spanish  premier, 
482 ;  reactionary  policy,  601,  602, 603. 

Caurobert,  French  general,  commander  in 
Crimea,  260;  superseded,  262 ;  in  Italy, 
280,  282 ;  in  Franco-Prussian  war,  426 ; 
Vionville,  434 ;  Gravelotte,  435 ;  prison- 
er, 449. 

Carlos,  Don,  brother  of  Ferdinand  VII.  of 
Spain,  43;  protests  against  Pragmatic 
Sanction,  53;  pretender,  143 ;  death,  145. 

Carlos  II.,  Duke  of  Montemolin,  son  of  pre- 
ceding, 145;  pretender,  479;  barbarity, 
481;  flight,  599. 

Carlotta,  Queen  of  Portugal,  wife  of  John 
VI.,  57. 

Carnarvon,  Lord,  English  minister,  re- 
signs, 547. 

Carnot,  French  Socialist,  candidate  for  dic- 
tatorship, 198. 

Caroline,  Queen  of  England,  wife  of 
George  IV.,  66  ;  death,  67. 

Carrascosa,  Neapolitan  general,  35. 

Carvajal,  Spanish  general,  47. 

Cassagnac,  Bonapartist,  619. 

Castelar,  Spanish  president,  479 ;  resigns, 
480;  advocates  religions  freedom,  COO. 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  English  minister  of 
foreign  affairs,  64 ;  suicide,  67. 

Calargin,  Roumanian  minister,  -4^7. 

Cavagnari,  Sir  Louis,  massacred  at  t'abnl, 
578. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


673 


Cavaignac,  Jean  Baptiste,  French  revolu- 
tionist, 177. 

Cavaignac,  Louis  Eugene,  nephew  of  pre- 
ceding,'French  minister  of  war,  194;  sup- 
presses revolt,  chief  of  executive,  195; 
candidate  for  presidency,  190;  arrested, 
199. 

Cave,  English  financier,  in  Egypt,  564. 

Cavour, Count  Camillo,  Sardinian  premier, 
Crimean  war,  261 ;  Paris  congress,  264 ; 
memorial,  270,  275,  27G;  meetings  with 
Napoleon  and  Prussian  regent,  273; 
death,  290. 

Caxias,  Brazilian  marshal,  299. 

Cazot,  French  minister,  624. 

Cetewayo.Ztilu  king,  5SO-5S2. 

Chairnlla,  Eflendi,  534. 

Chalil,  Kara  Eflendi,  534. 

Chamberlain,  Sir  Neville,  578. 

Chambord,  Count — see  Bordeaux. 

Changarnier,  French  general,  in  Algeria, 
132 ;  in  National  Assembly,  194  ;  com- 
mander of  National  Guard,  195;  candi- 
date for  presidency,  196 ;  suppresses  re- 
volt, 197,  198 ;  arrested,  199 ;  banished, 
200. 

Ohauzy,  French  general,  450;  defeated, 
451 ;  candidate  for  presidency,  620. 

Charles  X.,  King  of  France  (1S24-'30), 
Count  of  Artois,  91 ;  king,  95 ;  abdicates, 
110;  death,  111. 

Charles  I.,  Kiug  of  Wurtemberg  (1S64), 
mobilizes  army,  419. 

Charles  I.,  Prince,  later  King,  of  Ron- 
mania  (1806),  Prince  of  Hohenzolleru- 
Sigmaringen,  chosen  hereditary  Prince 
of  Ronmauia,  260 ;  reorganizes  arm}', 
397;  wishes  to  resign,  4S6;  assumes 
chief  command,  530 ;  before  Plevna,  536 ; 
king,  504. 

Charles  XV.,  Kiug  of  Sweden  (!S59-'72), 
death,  490. 

Charles.Duke  of  Brunswick  (1815-'30),123, 
124. 

Charles  II.,  Grand-duke  of  Parma,  flight, 
208. 

Charles  III.,  Grand-duke  of  Parma  (1849- 
'54),  murdered,  274. 

Charles,  Austrian  archduke,  4. 

Charles,  Prince  of  Bavaria,  commands 
South  German  contingent,  336,  337,  360, 
304. 

Charles  Felix,  King  of  Sardinia  (1S21-'31), 
Dnke  of  Genevois,  38 ;  king,  39  ;  death, 
133. 

Charles  Albert,  King  of  Sardinia  (1831-'49), 
Prince  of  Savoy-Carignan,  37  ;  regent, 
39;  in  French  service,  51;  king,  133; 
grants  constitution,  208  ;  war  with  Aus- 
tria, 209;  defeated,  210;  abdicates,  210; 
death,  211. 

Charles  Augustus,  Grand-duke  of  Saxe- 
Weimar  (175S-'2S), grants  constitution,  S. 

20 


Charlotte,  daughter  of  George  IV.,  wife  of 
Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg,  06. 

Charlotte  Marie,  Empress  of  Mexico,  290; 
insane,  298. 

Charras,  French  colonel,  199. 

Chartres,  Dnke  of,  grandson  of  Louis  Phi- 
lippe, 189. 

Chas.se,  Dutch  general,  commandant  in 
Antwerp,  118, 121. 

Chateaubriand,  Viscount,  French  minis- 
ter, 48,  49,  80. 

Chandordy,  Count,  French  delegate  at 
Constantinople  conference,  526 ;  ambas- 
sador at  St.  Petersburg,  628. 

Chefket  Pasha,  Turkish  general,  539. 

Cheimsford,  Lord,  English  general  in  Zulu 
war,  581,582. 

Cherkassky,  Russian  prince,  533. 

Chernayeff,  Russian  general,  Servian  com- 
mauder-iu-chief,  518,  519 ;  defeated,  524. 

Chlapoweki,  Polish  general,  139. 

Chlopicki,  Joseph,  Polish  general  and  dic- 
tator, 137. 

Chosrew,  Turkish  pasha,  massacre  of 
Psara,  76 ;  serasqnier,  156. 

Christian  VIII.,  Kiug  of  Denmark  (1839- 
'48),  open  letter  on  Schleswig-Holstein, 
213. 

Christian  IX.,  King  of  Denmark  (1S63), 
Dnke  of  Gliicksbnrg,  251 ;  king,  309,  317. 

Christina  Maria,  Queen  of  Spain,  wife  of 
Ferdinand  VII.,  53;  regent,  144;  abdi- 
cates regency,  140 ;  intrigues,  147. 

Chrzanowski,  Polish  general  in  Sardinian 
service,  210. 

Chruleff,  Russian  general,  261. 

Church,  English  general,  80. 

Churshid,  serasqnier,  71. 

Cialdini,  Italian  general,  289,  340,  341,  358. 

Cissey,  French  general,  470 ;  premier,  470. 

Clam-Gallas,  Count,  Austrian  general,  342, 
343;  defeated,  344;  removed,  352. 

Clam-Martinitz,  Czechish  leader,  4S3. 

Clauzel,  French  marshal,  180, 181. 

Clinchant,  French  general,  455,  470. 

Clinton,  English  general,  59. 

Clotilde,  wife  of  Prince  Napoleon,  daugh- 
ter of  Victor  Emmanuel,  278. 

Cluserer,  French  Communist,  470;  prison- 
er, 471. 

Cobden,  Richard,  151. 

Coburg,  Duke  of,  332,  338,  347. 

Coburg,  Clementine,  Duchess  of,  183. 

Cochrane,  Lord,  Chilian  admiral,  55 ;  in 
Greece,  80. 

Cocchia,  Roca,  Papal  uuncio  in  Venezuela, 
053. 

Codrington,  Sir  Edward,  English  com- 
mander at  Navarino,  81. 

Cohen,  Charles,  German  assassin,  332. 

Colietta,  Neapolitan  general,  31,  36. 

Colley,  Sir  George,  English  general  in 
Transvaal,  5S3. 


(374 


INDEX  OF   PERSONS. 


Calvin,  English  controller  in  Egypt,  566. 

G'omandnros,  Grecian  minister,  4s7. 

Coucha,  Spanish  general,  481. 

Cousalvi,  Cardinal,  26. 

Coustans,  French  minister,  624. 

Constautiue.  Russian  grand-duke,  brother 
of  Alexander  I.,  Viceroy  of  Poland,  SO, 
134-;  flight,  136 ;  death,  139. 

Constantino,  Knssiau  grand-duke,  Govern- 
or of  Poland,  269. 

Contreras,  Spanish  rebel,  430. 

Corti,  Coniit,  Italian  delegate  to  Berlin 
congress,  564. 

Cosandey,  French  bishop,  60S. 

Costa,  Sardinian  chevalier,  40. 

Cousa,  Alexander,  Hospodar  of  Ronmania, 
266;  negotiations  with  Kossuth,  285, 
note. 

Cowley,  Lord,  English  diplomat,  279. 

Crcmer,  French  general,  453. 

Cremienx,  member  of  French  provisional 
government,  191;  Government  of  Na- 
tional Defence,  442. 

Crispi,  Italian  politician,  594;  minister  of 
interior,  597. 

Croix,  Prince  of,  96. 

Cubieres,  French  minister,  convicted  of 
peculation,  1S3. 

Cumberland,  Duke  of — see  Ernest  Augus- 
tus. 

Czartoryski,  Prince  Adam,  Polish  revolu- 
tionary leader,  135, 137 ;  death,  263. 

Czerski,  religious  reformer,  167. 

DAHI.MANN,  German  historian,  127,  163, 
219,  236. 

Dalwigk, Baron  vou,Hessian  minister,  384, 
419, 462 ;  dismissed.  497. 

Damremout,  French  general,  181. 

Danneberg,  Prussian  general,  256. 

Darboy,  Archbishop  of  Paris,  prisoner  of 
Commune,  470 ;  shot,  471. 

Dannes,  French  assassin,  173. 

Darrn,  Count,  French  minister,  391 ;  re- 
signs, 392. 

David.Felicien,  French  composer,  disturb- 
ance at  funeral,  613. 

Daza,  President  of  Bolivia,  656. 

Deak,  Francis,  Hungarian  patriot,  303, 373. 

Decaen,  French  general,  433. 

Decazes,  Duke  of,  French  minister,  93 ; 
premier,  94 ;  dismissed,  94. 

Dechamps,  Archbishop  of  Mechlin,  604. 

De  Conciliis,  Neapolitan  colonel,  23. 

Degenfeld,  Count,  Austrian  diplomat,  355. 

Delbruck,  Prussian  minister,  461, 46-2  ;  do- 
nation, 467  ;  retires.  042. 

Delesclnzes,  French  communist,  469; 
death,  471. 

Deligeorgis,  Grecian  minister,  487. 

Dembinski,  Polish  general,  ISO.  140 :  Hun- 
garian cominamler-iii-chief,  242;  defeat- 
ed, 244 ;  flight,  245. 


Demidoff,  Russian  count,  199. 

Denfert,  French  colonel,  defends  Belfort, 
455. 

Depretis,  Italian  premier,  593,  594,  599. 

Derby,  Earl  of,  English  premier,  276,  395. 

Derby,  Earl  of,  son  of  preceding,  minister 
I  of  foreign  affairs,  525,  52S,  529,  532 ;  re 
[  signs,  547. 

I  Dervish  Pasha,  Governor  of  Herzegovina 
506;  superseded,  507;  in  Armenia,  542-, 
Albania,  563. 

Desgranges,  French  interpreter  at  Porte, 
88. 

Dessolles,  French  premier,  93;  resigns, 
94. 

Detmold,  German  minister.  236. 

Denz,  betrays  Duchess  of  Berry,  175. 

De  Wette.  German  professor,  expelled 
from  Prussia,  IS. 

Diaz,  Porfirio,  President  of  Mexico,  652. 

Diebitsch  (Sabalkanski),  Count,  Russian 
commander  in  Turkey,  89;  in  Poland, 
138;  death,  139. 

Dilke,  Sir  Charles,  republican  agitator, 
489. 

Disraeli,  Benjamin,  Reform  Bill,  395;  pre- 
mier, 433,  520 ;  speech  at  Lord  Mayor's 
banquet,  525;  at  Berlin  congress,  552; 
Indian  imperial  policy,  57C;  African 
policy,  582 ;  Earl  of  Beaconsfleld,  584 ; 
death,  586. 

Dollinger,  von,  German  professor,  opposes 
Papal  infallibility,  405. 

Dondnkoff,  Russian  governor-general  ill 
Bulgaria,  556. 

Dorregaray,  Carlist  general,  431, 599. 

Donay,  Abel,  French  general,  death,  42S. 

Donay,  Felix,  French  general,  426,  423,437, 
438,  470. 

Drentelen,  Russian  chief  of  third  division, 
571,  572 ;  removed,  573. 

Droste  von  Vischering,  Archbishop  of  Co- 
logne, 165. 

Drouyn  de  Thuys,  French  minister  of  for- 
eign affairs,  331 ;  dismissed,  357. 

Dubasheff,  Russian  officer,  531. 

Dncatel,  Jules,  lets  troops  into  Paris.  471. 

Dnchatel,  Count,  French  minister  of  inte- 
rior, 181, 135. 

Dncrot,  French  general,  437,  433,  440,  456. 

Dufanre,  French  premier,  613;  resigns, 
614 ;  premier,  613 ;  resigns,  620. 

Dnfonr,  Swiss  general,  171, 179. 

Dnlce,  Spanish  general,  406. 

Dnmont,  Bishop  of  Tournai,  605. 

Dnmortier,  Belgian  Clerical,  604. 

Dumonriez,  French  general,  the  friend  of 
Louis  Philippe,  102. 

Dnnin,  Martin  von,  Archbishop  of  Posen 
and  Gnesen,  165. 

Dnpanlonp,  Bishop  of  Orleans,  613,  615. 

Dnpin,  supporter  of  Louis  Philippe,  103, 
188. 


INDEX   OF  PERSONS. 


675 


Dnpnnt  de  i'Eare,  French  minister  of  jus- 
tice, 110,  173;  resigns,  1T4;  member  of 
provisional  government,  191. 

Dweruicki,  Polish  revolutionist,  139. 

EDELSHBIM,  minister  in  Baden,  3C4. 

Edhem  Pasha,  Grand  Vizier,  527. 

Eguia,  Spanish  general,  43. 

Eichhorn,  Prussian  minister  of  public  in- 
struction, 1CT. 

Elio,  Captain-general  of  Valencia,  43,  45 ; 
executed,  47. 

Elizabeth,  Empress  of  Austria,  275. 

Elliot,  Sir  Heury,  English  ambassador  at 
Constantinople,  520,  533. 

Elsenhaus,  German  editor,  shot,  233. 

Emil,  Prince  of  Hesse-Dnrmstadt,  126. 

Ernest,  Austrian  archduke,  division  com- 
mander, 342. 

Ernest  Augustus,  King  of  Hanover  (1837- 
'51),  Duke  of  Cumberland,  brother  of 
William  IV.  of  England,  head  of  Orange 
League,  153;  King,  102;  unconstitution- 
al government,  162,  1C3 ;  refuses  alle- 
giance to  National  Assembly,  21T. 

Ernest  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumberland, 
Hanoveriau  pretender,  610;  marriage, 
611. 

Escobedo,  Mexican  officer,  298. 

Espartero,  Spanish  general,  commander- 
iu-chief,  144 ;  Duke  of  Victory,  145 ;  pre- 
mier, 146;  regent,  147;  exile,  147;  re- 
fuses throne,  407. 

Esterhazy,  Count  Moritz,  Austrian  Con- 
servative, 303. 

Eu,  Count  of,  Brazilian  general,  299. 

Eugenie,  Empress  of  the  French,  202,  372  ; 
voyage  to  East,  391 ;  friend  of  Jesuits, 
394;  persuades  war,  414;  regent,  426; 
flight,  441. 

Ewald,  German  professor,  "Gottiugen 
seven,"  103. 

Eylert,  Prussian  bishop,  10,  22. 

Eynard,  Genevese  banker,  80. 

FABVIEK,  defends  Athens,  SO. 

Faidherbe,  French  general,  451 ;  defeated 
at  St.  Quentiu,  452. 

Failly,  French  general,  defeats  Garibaldi, 
401 ;  in  Franco-Prussian  war,  426,  428, 
437;  removed,  438. 

Falk,  Prussian  cultus- minister,  500,  503; 
resigns,  633. 

Falkenstein,  Vogel  von,  Prussian  general, 
enters  Hanover,  336,  338;  defeats  South 
German  army,  361 ;  governor  of  Bohe- 
mia, 362;  donation,  367. 

Fanti,  Sardinian  minister  of  war,  289. 

Farre,  French  general,  451 ;  minister  of 
war,  624. 

Favre,  Jules,  moves  deposition  of  Napo- 
leon, 441 ;  Government  of  National  De- 
fence, 442 ;  circular  note,  444 «  negotiates 


for  truce,  445 ;  capitulation,  457;  peace, 
458,  460  ;  Pontus  conference,  485. 

Feisy  Pasha,  Turkish  general,  542. 

Feliuski,  Archbishop  of  Warsaw,  269. 

Fenuer  von  Feuneberg,  revolutionist,  in 
Vienna,  224 ;  in  Palatinate,  234. 

Ferdinand  I.,  Emperor  of  Austria  (1S35- 
'48),  163 ;  incapacity,  220  ;  flight,  221 ;  ab- 
dicates, 225;  concessionsin  Hungary, 239. 

Ferdinand  VII.,  King  of  Spain  (l814-'33), 
character,  43 ;  prisoner,  50 ;  death,  53. 

Ferdinand  IV.  of  Naples,  I.  of  Two  Sici- 
lies (1759-1825),  treaty  with  Austria,  27; 
revolution,  29;  Laibach,33;  death,  133. 

Ferdinand  II.  of  Two  Sicilies,  Bomba 
(1830-'59),  133;  grants  constitution,  206 ; 
tyranny,  274 ;  death,  287. 

Ferdinand  III.,  Grand-duke  of  Tuscany 
(1790-1804),  26. 

Ferdinand,  Prince  of  Cobnrg,  second  hus- 
band of  Maria  II.  of  Portugal,  62, 148; 
refuses  Spanish  throne,  407. 

Ferrero,  Sardinian  revolutionist,  38. 

Ferry,  Jules,  member  of  French  Govern- 
ment of  National  Defence,  442 ;  iu 
House,  617;  cultus-  minister,  621;  pre- 
mier, 625  ;  resigns,  628 ;  cwtos-miuister 
— see  preface, 

Festetics,  Count,  Austrian  general,  342; 
defeated,  340. 

Fickler,  German  radical,  237. 

Fieschi,  Corsicau,  infernal  machine,  177. 

Figueras,  Spanish  minister-president,  479. 

Filangieri,  Neapolitan  general,  subdues 
Sicily,  207. 

Fitzgerald,  Bishop  of  Little  Rock,  votes 
non  placet  at  Vatican  council,  404. 

Fitzherbert,  Mrs.,  wife  of  George  IV.,  66. 

Flies,  Prussian  general,  attacks  Hanove- 
rians, 338 ;  in  South  Germany,  303. 

Flocon,  member  of  French  provisional 
government,  191. 

Flourens,  French  communist,  469  ;  death, 
470. 

Folleuius,  two  brothers,  15. 

Forcade,  French  minister,  391. 

Forest),  Felice,  41. 

Forey,  French  general,  in  Mexico,  29C  •  su- 
perseded, 297. 

Forster,  Prince-bishop  of  Breslau,  631,  046. 

Fouche,  French  minister,  92. 

Fourichon,  French  admiral,  432. 

Fourton,  Bonapartist,  619. 

Franchi,  Papal  secretary  of  state,  597,  631, 
632. 

Francis  II.,  Emperor  of  Austria  (1792- 
1835),  absolute  theory  of  government,  4; 
death,  163. 

Francis  I.,  King  of  Two  Sicilies  (1S25-'30), 
Prince  of  Calabria,  34  ;  king,  41  •  death, 
133. 

Francis  II.,  King  of  Two  Sicilies  (1859- 
'CO),  287;  atGaeta,2SS;  surrenders,  290. 


676 


INDEX   OF  PERSONS. 


Francis  of  Assis,  husband  of  Qnecu  Isa- 
bella of  Spaiu,  147. 

Francis  IV.,  Duke  of  Kodeua,  despot,  20; 
flight,  130;  restoration,  132 ;  flight,  203; 
fugitive,  281. 

Frauds  Charles,  Austrian  archduke,  re- 
nounces right  of  succession,  225. 

Francis  Joseph,  Emperor  of  Austria  (1S4S), 
accession,  225  ;  at  Warsaw,  250;  visits 
Milan,  275 ;  assumes  command  in  It- 
aly, 2S1;  outwitted  by  Napoleon,  285; 
cedes  Veuetia  to  France,  350;  accepts 
Prussian  terms,  355 ;  crowned  King  of 
Hungary,  373;  imperial  visits,  493 ;  Dal- 
matian trip,  506. 

Fransecky,  Prussian  general,  in  Austrian 
war,  347,  353,  354 ;  iu  French  war,  449, 
450,  456. 

Frayssinous,  French  bishop,  95. 

Frederic  I.,  first  King  of  Wurtemberg 
(1S05-'16),  9. 

Frederic  VII.,  King  of  Denmark  (184S-'C3), 
death,  309. 

Frederic,  Dutch  prince,  116. 

Frederic,  Prince  of  Saxony,  co- regent, 
126. 

Frederic  Charles,  Prince,  Prussian  general, 
in  Schleswig-Holgtein,  312,  313;  takes 
Diippel,  314;  Alseu,  316;  in  Austrian 
war,  340,  344,  347,353  ;  French  war,  421 ; 
at  Gravelotte,  434;  before  Metz,  437; 
takes  Metz,  made  field-marshal,  449  ;  at 
Orleans,  450 ;  le  Mans,  451 ;  donation  to, 
467. 

Frederic  William  III.,  King  of  Prussia 
(1797-1840),  character,  10 ;  promises  con- 
stitution, 10;  breaks  promise,  11 ;  death, 
165. 

Frederic  William  IV.  (1S40-'61),  165;  com- 
promise with  Pope,  165 ;  character,  166 ; 
United  Landtag,  168;  joins  revolution, 
227 ;  refuses  imperial  election,  232 ;  signs 
peace  with  Denmark,  246 ;  insanity,  272 ; 
death,  273. 

Frederic  William,  Prussian  crown-prince, 
general  in  Aastrian  war,  341 ;  invades 
Bohemia,  344,  347,  353 ;  French  war,  421 ; 
Weissenburg  and  Worth,  428;  before 
Paris,  441 ,  regent  pro  tern., 638;  Jewish 
agitation,  649. 

Frederic  William,  Prince  of  Hesse-Cassel, 
co-regent,  126. 

Freire,  Spanish  general,  commander  of 
Cadiz,  45. 

Freire,  Portuguese  general,  56. 

Frere.  Sir  Bartle,  English  ambassador  to 
Zanzibar,  4SS  ;  governor  in  South  Africa, 
581. 

Frese,  expelied  from  Schleswig-Holstein, 
323.  ' 

Freycinet,  de,  adviser  of  Gambetta,  447 ; 
'n  cabinet.  620;  premier,  622;  resigns, 
624;  premier— «•••  /ov/dw. 


Freydorff,  von,  minister  in  Baden, 462. 
Friedeuthal,  Prussian  minister,  644. 
Fries,  German  professor,  12. 
Frimout,  Austrian  general,  commands  in 

Naples,  31 ;  North  Italy,  132. 
Friibel,  Julius!,  German  revolutionist,  224. 
Frossard,  French  general,  426;  takes  Saar-1 

brucken,  427 ;  defeated  at  Spicheru,  430 ; 

at  Vionville,  434 ;  Gravelotte,  435,  436. 
Fuad  Pasha,  Turkish  general,  538, 541, 542, 

GABI.KNZ,  Baron  von,  Austrian  general  in 
Schleswig-Holstein,  312,  313  ;  stadthold- 
er  of  Holstein,  323 ;  retires,  333 ;  in  Bo- 
hemia, 342  ;  defeated,  345,  350. 

Gagern,  Frederic  von,  death,  215. 

Gagern,  Henry  von,  minister  in  Hesse-- 
Darmstadt, 214;  president  of  National 
Assembly,  216;  head  of  ministry,  231; 
resigns,  236. 

Gallo,  Neapolitan  duke,  33. 

Gambetta,  proclaims  Napoleon  deposed, 
441;  Government  of  National  Defence, 
442 ;  iu  Tours,  443,  447,  452,  453,  455 ;  re- 
eigus,  45S;  influence,  474,  612,  615;  re- 
publican leader,  616;  popularity,  618; 
enemies,  duel,  619 ;  president  of  House, 
620;  amnesty,  623;  importance,  624,  625; 
premier,  628 ;  fall — see  preface. 

Garibaldi,  Joseph,  Italian  republican,  de- 
fends Rome  against  French,  205 ;  in  Sic- 
ily, 206;  agitation,  275;  Sicilian  expedi- 
tion, dictator  of  Naples,  2SS;  in  retire- 
ment, 2S9  ;  Roman  expedition,  291 ;  Aus- 
trian war,  340,  35S ;  second  Roman  expe- 
dition, 400;  in  Franco-Prussian  war, 
453  ;  retires,  455 ;  iu  parliament,  477  ; 
Italia  irredenta,  596. 

Garnier-Pages,  member  of  French  provis- 
ional government,  191 ;  executive  com- 
mission, 193;  Government  of  National 
Defence,  442. 

Geissel,  Bishop  of  Spires,  165. 

Gendebieu,  Belgian  revolutionist,  115. 

Genoa,  Duke  of,  son  of  Charles  Albert  of 
Sardinia,  chosen  King  of  Sicily,  206. 

Gentz,  22. 

Gentz,  von,  Austrian  court-councillor,  17. 

George  III.,  King  of  England  (1760-1820), 
death,  65. 

George  IV.,  King  of  England  (IS20-'30), 
Prince -regent,  65;  divorce  suit,  66; 
death,  121. 

George  V.,  King  of  Hanover  (1851-'60),  ca- 
pitulates, 338;  hostile  agitation,  382; 
death,  610. 

George,  King  of  Greece  (1863),  267, 398. 

Georgi,  161. 

Georgios,  Greek  insurgent,  71. 

Geppert,  Austrian  general,  132. 

Gerard,  French  minister  of  war,  110  ,  mar- 
shal, 121,  187. 

Gennanof-,  Greek  archbishop,  ~'i. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


677 


Gervinus,  German  professor,  "  Gottiugen 
seven,"  163. 

Ghika,  Joan,  Roumanian  minister,  437. 

Gielgud,  General,  Polish  leader,  139. 

Gioberti,  Italian  philosopher,  209. 

Girardin,  Emil,  French  editor,  1ST. 

Giskra,  Burgomaster  of  Briiuu,  354;  triuk- 
geld,  592. 

Gladstone,  William  E.,  Neapolitan  letters, 
275;  Irish  disestablishment,  395;  pre- 
mier, 396;  resigns,  488;  Vatican  pam- 
phlet, 502 ;  Greece,  560,  561. 

Glais-Bizoin,  member  of  French  Govern- 
ment of  National  Defence,  442. 

Gliicksburg — see, Christian  IX. 

GI Timer,  German  general,  430,  453. 

Gneisenan,  11. 

Goben,  Prussian  general,  Austrian  war, 
336,  338,  361,  362;  French  war,  452;  do- 
nation, 467. 

Gogos,  traitor,  75. 

Goltz,  von  der,  Prussian  general,  452. 

Gomez,  Orsini,  conspiracy,  277. 

Gonzales,  President  of  Mexico,  653. 

Gonzales,  President  of  San  Salvador,  653. 

Gordon,  English  admiral,  89. 

Gorge!,  Hungarian  general,  242,  243;  dic- 
tator, surrenders,  244. 

GOrres,  German  professor,  18,  21,  22. 

Gortchakoff,  Prince  Alexander,  Russian 
chancellor,  265,  260,  511 ;  memorandum, 
512 ;  his  circular,  52S,  532,  545 ;  threatens 
Roumania,  549;  outwitted,  567;  seeks  al- 
lies, 568;  anger  against  Germany,  651. 

Gortchakoff,  Prince  Michael,  Russian  gen- 
eral, invades  Roumania,  256 ;  command- 
er in  Crimea,  262;  retreats,  264;  Gov- 
ernor-general of  Poland,  268. 

Gosslcr,  von,  Prussian  minister,  633. 

Gough,  English  general,  579. 

Gonrko,  Russian  general,  crosses  Balkans, 
533,537;  behind  Plevna,  539 ;  crosses  Bal- 
kans second  time, 541 ;  Governor-general 
of  St.  Petersburg,  572. 

Govone,  Count,  Italian  ambassador  at  Ber- 
lin, 326. 

Orach,  Prussian  officer,  258. 

Gramont,  Duke  of,  French  ambassador  in 
Vienna,  322, 354,372  ;  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  393,  410;  bent  on  war,  412,  413, 
414,415;  resigns,  431. 

GranviUe,  Lord,  English  foreign  secretary, 
626. 

Griivell,  German  minister,  236. 

Gregorios,  Greek  patriot,  72. 

Gregory  XVF.,  Pope  (1831-'46),  131;  death, 
202,  597. 

Gregory,  Bishop  of  Blois,  election  annul- 
led, 94. 

Greigh,  Russian  admiral,  89. 

Grevy,  Albert,  017. 

Grevy,  Jules,  President  of  French  Cham- 
ber, 613,  616 ;  of  Republic,  620,  622,  624. 


Grey,  Earl,  English  premier,  122;  reform 
bill,  149;  slave  bill,  153. 

Grimm,  Jacob  and  William,  German  pro- 
fessors, "Gottiugen  seven, "163;  called 
to  Berlin,  166,  272. 

Grobeu,  vou,  Prussian  general,  237. 

Groben,  von  der,  Count,  250. 

Grousset,  French  communist,  471. 

Guerazzi,  Roman  minister,  204. 

Guergne,  Carlist  general,  144. 

Guevara,  Venezuelan  archbishop,  653. 

Guizot,  French  historian,  90;  in  ministry, 
110;  withdraws,  174;  minister  of  public 
instruction,  176 ;  foreign  affairs,  181 ; 
premier,  171, 184 ;  fall,  186;  flight,  190. 

Gnras,  Grecian  commander,  76 ;  at  Athens, 
80. 

Gurth,  German  revolutionist,  160. 

Gyulai,  Francis,  Count,  Austrian  com- 
mander iu  Italy,  279 ;  defeated,  280. 

HACKE,  Saxon  general,  311. 

Hafiz  Pasha,  Turkish  general,  524. 

Halbhnber,  vou,  Austrian  commissioner  in 
Schleswig-Holstein,  321. 

Haleu,  Juan  van,  117. 

Hamilton,  English  commodore,  78. 

Hammer,  Danish  sea-captain,  317. 

Ilardeuberg,  von,  Prussian  chancellor,  un- 
der influence  of  Mettemich,  10. 

Hartmann,  Prussian  cavalry  officer,  353. 

Hartmann,  Russian  assassin,  568. 

Hasiz  Pasha,  158. 

Hassan,  Turkish  assassin,  520. 

Hasseupflug,  Hessian  minister,  249,  271. 

Hastings,  English  naval  captain,  81. 

Hausmaun,  Prefect  of  Seine,  removed,  392. 

Havelock,  English  general  in  India,  294. 

Haymerle,  Baron  von,  Austro-Huugarian 
minister  of  foreign  affairs,  688. 

Haynan,  Austrian  general,  takes  Brescia 
and  Venice,  211 ;  commands  in  Hungary, 
243,  241,245. 

Hebert,  French  minister  of  justice,  187. 

Hecker,  German  revolutionist,  213,  215, 
230,  238. 

Hefele,  Bishop  of  Rottenburg,  at  Vatican 
Council,  404. 

Heimann,  Russian  general,  543. 

Ilengstenberg,  German  professor,  167. 

Henistein,  Austrian  chief  of  staff,  352. 

Henri,  French  assassin,  178. 

Henry,  Dutch  pf-ince,  death,  610. 

Henzi,  Austrian  general,  242,  243. 

Herbst,  Austrian  political  leader,  587. 

Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  Prussian  gen- 
eral, in  Danish  war,  316;  Austrian  war, 
341,  344,  347,  352 ;  donation,  367. 

Ilenvegh,  German  poet  and  revolutionist, 
215. 

Herzog,  Swiss  Old  Catholic  bishop,  607. 

Ileubuer,  German  revolutionist,  233. 

Heydeck,  General,  regent  of  Greece,  85. 


INDEX  OF  PERSON'S. 


Heyden,  Count,  Rnssian  commander  at 
Xavarino,  SI. 

Hidalgo,  Mexican  priest  and  insnrgeut,  54. 

Hiller,  Prussian  general,  killed,  34^. 

d'Hiliiers,  Baragnay,  French  admiral,  25S. 

Hobart  Pasha,  Turkish  admiral,  550. 

Hobrecht,  Prussian  minister,  644. 

HOdel,  attempt  on  German  emperor,  631. 

Hoffmann,  minister  in  Baden,  234. 

Hofmaun,  Hessian  minister,  497.  642. 

Hobenlohe,  Cardinal,  500. 

Hobeulohe,  Prince,  Bavarian  minister,  re- 
signs, 337. 

Hohenlohe -Scbillingsfurst,  Prince,  Ger- 
man ambassador  in  Paris,  494. 

Hohenwart,  Count,  Austrian  premier,  4S3 : 
resigns,  4>4. 

floheuzollern-Sigmariugen,  Prince,  Prus- 
sian officer,  362. 

Hohenzollern  -  Sigmaringen,  Prince  \je.t- 
pold,  refuses  Spanish  throne,  407 ;  ac- 
cepts, 408 ;  declines,  412. 

Hoogvorst,  Belgian  baron,  116. 

Hornby,  English  admiral,  534,  545. 

Horst,  von,  Austrian  minister,  5S9. 

Horst,  YOU  der,  General,  247. 

Hortense,  mother  of  Louis  Napoleon,  130 ; 
of  Count  Morny,  199. 

Hnber,  French  democrat,  194. 

Hubuer,  Baron,  Austrian  diplomat,  279. 

Hugo,  Victor,  French  poet,  elected  to  Na- 
tional Assembly.  194 :  banished,  200 ;  let- 
ter, 616 ;  in  Senate,  620. 

Humbert  I.,  King  of  Italy  (1S7S),  593;  at- 
tempt on  life,  594. 

Humboldt,  Alexander  Ton,  272, 

Humboldt,  William  von,  16, 18. 

Hume,  Chartist,  151, 153. 

Haul,  English  agitator,  64 ;  arrested,  65. 

Hasseiu,  Turkish  pasha,  15G. 

Hussein  Avui  Pasha,  Turkish  minister  of 
war,  514  ;  murdered,  520. 

IBEM.,  von,  State -councillor  in 
1C. 

Ibrahim  Pasha,  step-son  of  Mehemed  AH 
of  Esrypt,  in  Morea.  7$ :  takes  Mesolon- 
ghi,  79 ;  fleet  destroyed  at  Navarino,  S2 ; 
defeats  Turks,  156. 

Ibrahim  Pasha,  Governor  of  Bosnia,  511. 

Iglesins,  Mexican  insurgent,  652. 

Ignatieff,  Count,  Russian  ambassador  in 
Constantinople,  512,  520,  524;  mission, 
528:  treaty  of  San  Stefano,  545;  in  Vi- 
enna. 547;  in  power.  574. 

Imeritinski,  Russian  general,  536,  540. 

Infautado,  Spanish  duki 

Isabella,  Queen  of  Spain  (lS33-'C3'i,  53  ;  of 
aee,  147 ;   mnrriacre.  147 ;   immoral  life, 
lethroned.4 

Isabella  Maria,  Portuguese  infanta,  re- 
geu  i 

Iskender  Bey  (Count  Jelinski),  25S. 


Ismail  Pasha,  Khedive  of  Egypt,  4S6,  564 ; 
abdicates,  565. 

Ismail  Pasha,  Turkish  general,  543. 

Istnriz,  Spanish  politician.  145. 

Itnrbide,  Emperor  Augustine  L  of  Mexi- 
co, 54. 

JAOUMAN.S,  Prussian  rear-admiral,  31 4. 

Jahu,  German  professor,  15,  22,  166. 

Jakoby,  German  physician  and  politician, 
166,  22i». 

Janetzki,  Rnssian  general,  540. 

Jellachich,  Bauus  of  Croatia,  224,  240. 

Jezierski,  Polish  count,  137. 

Jochmns,  German  minister,  23C. 

John  VI.,  King  of  Portugal  and  Brazil 
(1316-'2G),56;  death,  58. 

John,  King  of  Saxony  (lS54-'73),  3G6. 

John,  Austrian  archduke,  4;  chosen  Ad- 
ministrator of  Germany,  216:  opens 
Reichstag  in  Vienna,  222 ;  names  sec- 
tional ministry,  236;  resignation,  243. 

John,  Austrian  general  in  Italy,  340. 

Joiuvilie,  Prince  of,  third  son  of  Louis 
Philippe,  179;  bombards  Tangier?,  1S2; 
flees  to  England,  190 ;  candidate  for  dic- 
tator, 19s. 

Jolly,  von,  minister  in  Baden,  3S4,  462. 

Jordan,  German  professor,  125. 

Jorg,  Dr.,  Bavarian  ultramontane,  41S, 
464. 

Joseph,  Austrian  archduke,  239. 

Jonbert,  Boer  Commander-in-chief,  552. 

Jonrdain,  Greek  delegate  to  Verona  con- 
gress, 75. 

Jovellar,  Governor-general  of  Cuba,  002. 

Juarez,  Benito,  President  of  Mexico,  295 ; 
flight,  297;  restoration,  299 ;  death,  493. 

K.u.r.r.Gis,  Greek  insurgent,  S5. 
Kalkalli,  Kin:,'  of  Ashantee,  4S8. 
Kaluoky,  Austro-Hungarian  minister  of 

foreign  affairs,  5SS. 
Kameke,  German  general,  430. 
Kainptz,  von,  Prussian   privy-councillor, 

author  of  police  codex,  12, 13, 17. 
Kalians,  Constantiue,  blows  up  Turkish 

fl;i^-sbip,  74,  75. 

Kanzler,  Papal  general,  401,  476. 
Kapodistrias,  Count  Augustine,  President 

of  Greece,  S4. 
Kapodistrias,  Count  John.Rnsso-Grecian 

diplomat,  33,  71 ;   President  of  Greece, 

80;  tyranny,  S3  :  assassination,  -4. 
Karai«kakis.  Grecian  patriot,  SO. 
Karatheodori  Pasha,  Turkish  delegate  to 

Berlin  congress.  554.  556. 
K.-irolyi,  Count,  Austrian  diplomat,  308, 

355. 
Kaufmann,  Rnssian  general  in  Khiva,  4^6, 

:.:: 

Knnxnff,  iji,--  .  n' . 

Keller,  Gennaji  c>.iiiii,  ^lluielll  a:  Je:ia,  14. 


INDEX   OF  PERSONS. 


Kerntry,  Count,  French  general,  449. 

Kessels,  German  revolutionist,  118. 

Ketteler,  Bishop  of  Mayence,  384 ;  at  Vati- 
can Council,  404 ;  in  Reichstag,  467. 

Kettler,  German  general,  455. 

Kieser,  German  professor,  12. 

Kinkel,  Gottfried,  German  poet  and  revo- 
lutionist, imprisoned,  238. 

Kirchbach,  German  general,  456. 

Klapka,  Hungarian  general,  242;  exile, 
285,  note;  in  Constantinople,  521. 

KIopp,  Onuo,  Hanoverian  councillor,  337. 

Kmety,  defends  Kars,  264. 

Kiille,  Dr.,  arrested  at  Constantinople,  559. 

Kolokotronis,  Theodore,  Greek  patriot, 
72,75;  imprisoned,  76 ;  free,  78;  death, 
85. 

Kolowrat,  Count,  member  of  Austrian  re- 
gency, 2-20. 

Konturiotis,  Grecian  president,  76. 

Kopp,  Bishop  of  Fulda,  636. 

Korum,  Bishop  of  Treves,  636. 

Koseriz,  German  revolutionist,  160. 

Kossuth,  Louis,  Hungarian  popular  lead- 
er, 220;  in  Vienna,  221;  influence  in  Hun- 
gary, 239 ;  dictator,  241,  242, 243 ;  resigns, 
244;  flight,  245;  in  Italian  war,  285,  note. 

Kotzebue,  von,  State-councillor,  German 
author,  Russian  spy,  14 ;  murdered,  15. 

Krapotkiu,  Russian  prince,  assassinated, 
571. 

Krementz,  Bishop  of  Ermland,  499. 

Krismanics,  Austrian  quartermaster-gen- 
eral, 352. 

Krudener,  Frau  von,  author  of  Holy  Al- 
liance, 2. 

Krudeucr,  Russian  general,  533,  535. 

Kruger,  President  of  Transvaal,  582. 

Krukowiecki,  Polish  demagogue,  traitor 
and  general,  140, 142. 

Kubeck,  Baron  von,  Austrian  delegate, 
closes  Diet,  366. 

Kuhn,  Field-marshal,  Austrian  minister 
of  war,  374. 

Knllmann,  German  assassin,  503. 

Kutschker,  Cardinal,  Archbishop  of  Vien- 
na, 589. 

LABEDOYERK,  shot,  93. 

Lachat,  Bishop  of  Basle,  deposed,  492,  606, 

608. 

Lacy,  Spanish  general  and  insurgent,  45. 
Ladmirault,  French  general,  426;  at  Bor- 

ny,  433  ;  Vionville,  434  ;  Gravelotte,  435 ; 

fights  against  Commune,  470. 
Lnfayctte,  Marquis,  90,  98  ;  commander  of 

National  Guards,  107,  109,  173 ;  resigns, 

174. 
Lafitte,  supporter  of  Louis  Philippe,  SO,  90, 

103 ;  member  of  municipal  committee, 

107;  minister,  103, 131 ;  resigns,  174. 
Lagrange,  Charles,  ringleader  in  February 

revolution,  ISC,  187 ;  arrested,  199. 


Lamarmorn,  Sardinian  general,  command- 
er in  Crimea,  261;  Italian  premier,  327, 
331,  339,  340,  358. 

Lamarque,  French  general,  176. 

Lamartine,  French  poet  and  republican, 
184;  forms  provisional  government,  191 ; 
saves  France,  192, 193 ;  refuses  dictator- 
ship, member  of  executive  commission, 
193;  suppresses  revolt,  194;  candidate 
for  presidency,  196. 

Lamberg,  Count,  Austrian  general,  mur- 
dered at  Pesth,  241. 

Lambert,  Russian  count,  268. 

Lambruschini,  Papal  nuncio  in  France,  101. 

Lamorici6re,  French  general,  in  Algeria, 
182 ;  commander  of  National  Guards, 
187;  arrested,  199;  banished,  200;  Ro- 
man commander-in-chief,  289. 

Laugiewicz,  Polish  dictator,  269. 

Lansdowne,  Marqnis  of,  582,  584. 

Lanza,  Neapolitan  general,  283. 

Lanza-Sella,  Italian  minister,  477. 

Larisch  Count,  Austrian  minister,  303. 

Laroche,  German  officer,  murdered,  234. 

Laserua,  Spanish  general,  481. 

Lasker,  German  Liberal,  383, 495,  644. 

Latonr,  Austrian  minister,  murdered,  223. 

Latith,  Burgomaster  of  Strasbnrg,  re- 
moved, 497. 

Lavalette,  French  count,  93. 

Lavalette,  French  minister,  390,  398. 

Lawrence,  English  general  In  India,  294. 

Layard,  Sir  Austin,  in  House  of  Commons, 
256 ;  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  529, 
534,  544,  547,  555 ;  report,  558, 559. 

Lazareff,  Russian  general,  575. 

Leblond,  interpellation  in  House,  614. 

Leboeuf,  French  general,  359  ;  minister  of 
war,  3S9,  391,  414 ;  chief  of  staff,  426 ;  re- 
signs, 431 ;  at  Vionville,  434 ;  at  Grave- 
lotte, 435 ;  prisoner,  449. 

Lebrun,  French  general,  477. 

Lecomte,  French? assassin,  178. 

Lecomte,  French  general,  shot  by  com- 
munists, 469. 

Ledochowski,  Archbishop  of  Posen,  im- 
prisoned, 502 ;  made  cardinal,  503. 

Ledru-Rollin,  French  republican,  184; 
member  of  provisional  government,  191 ; 
executive  commission,  193 ;  city  hall  gov- 
ernment, 194  ;  candidate  for  presidency, 
196 ;  flight,  197. 

Legeditsch,  Austrian  field-marshal,  251. 

Leiningeu,  Count,  Austrian  diplomat,  255. 

Lelewel,  Joachim,  Polish  democrat,  135, 
137. 

Leo  XII.,  Pope  (lS23-'29),  42. 

Leo  XIII.  (Pecci),  Pope  (1S7S-  ),  590 ;  lib- 
eralism, 597;  Jesuits,  598;  quarrel  with 
Italy,  599:  Belgium,  60G ;  Switzerland, 
COS ;  policv-with  Bavaria,  631 ;  Prussia, 
632,  636 ;  Venezuela,  653  ;  Brazil,  654. 

Leopold  I.,  King  of  Belgium  (1831-'65), 


680 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS. 


Prince  of  Saxe-Coburg,  son-in-law  of 
George  IV.  of  England,  06;  refuses  Gre- 
cian crown,  84;  King  of  Belgium,  120  ; 
death,  1-21,  596. 

Leopold  II.,  King  of  Belginm  (1855),  605. 

Leopold,  Graud-dake  of  Baden  (1830-'52), 
161;  flight,  234;  death,  238. 

Leopold,  Austrian  archduke  and  general, 
312;  defeated,  346. 

Leopold  II.,  Grand-dnke  of  Tuscany  (1824- 
'59),  41;  flight,  204, 274;  fugitive,  2-51. 

Lepere,  French  minister,  620. 

Lerdo  de  Tejada,  President  of  Mexico,  493 ; 
flight,  652. 

Leshyaniu,  Servian  commander,  518. 

Leu,  Joseph,  Swiss  ultramontane,  171. 

Leuchtenberg,  August,  Duke  of,  candidate 
for  Belgian  throne,  119;  husband  of  Ma- 
ria II.  of  Portugal,  62. 

Libri,  Belgian  editor,  115. 

Lichmowski,  Prince,  murdered,  220. 

Liprandi,  Russian  general,  260. 

Liverpool,  Lord,  Euglish  premier,  64. 

Lizzaraga,  Carlist  general,  482,  599. 

Loban,  member  of  French  municipal  com- 
mission, 107. 

LobauofT,  Russian  ambassador  at  Constan- 
tinople, 550 ;  at  London,  660. 

Loftns,  Lord,  English  ambassador  to  St. 
Petersburg,  524. 

Loaning,  Charles,  German  assassin,  16. 

Loma,  Spanish  general,  4S1. 

Lomakin,  Russian  general,  575. 

Lopez,  Dominguez,  Spanish  general,  480. 

Lopez,  Mexican  colonel,  betrays  Maximil- 
ian, 298. 

Lopez,  Dictator  of  Paraguay,  299. 

Loreucez,  French  general  in  Mexico,  295. 

Louis  XVIII.,  King  of  France  (1814-'24), 
restoration,  90 :  death,  S>5. 

Louis  I.,  King  of  Bavaria  (1S25-'4S),  21; 
philhelleue,  SO ;  reaction,  162 ;  abdicates, 
214. 

Louis  II.,  King  of  Bavaria  (1864),  mob- 
ilizes army,  41S  ;  tenders  imperial  title 
to  Prussian  king,  465. 

Louis,  Austrian  archduke,  member  of  re- 
gency, 2-20. 

Louis  Philippe,  King  of  France  (1S30-'4S), 
Duke  of  Orleans,  early  history,  102 ;  lieu- 
tenant-general, 10S ;  king,  112 ;  Belgian 
cro-.vn,  119;  Italy,  131;  Spanish  mar- 
riages, 147;  Switzerland,  170;  reaction, 
173, 174  ;  attempts  on  life,  177, 17S ;  poli- 
cy, 17S ;  abdicates,  1SS :  flees  to  Eng- 
land, death,  190. 

Louisa  Fernanda,  Infanta  of  Spain,  53; 
Dnches.s  of  Montpensier,  147. 

Louisa,  dowager  Duchess  of  Parma,  2S1. 

Queen  of  Belgium,  daughter  of 
Louis  Philippe,  121. 

Louie,  Portuguese  marquis,  5S. 

Lonvel,  French  assassin,  94. 


Lowicz,  Princess,  wife  of  Grand-duke  Con, 
stantiue,  135. 

Lubecki,  Prince,  Polish  statesman,  134, 
137. 

Ludeu,  German  professor,  editor  of  .Vcnuv 
«M,  14. 

Luders,  Russian  general,  244,  -256;  in  Po- 
land, i- 

Luiz,  King  of  Portugal  (1SC1),  148 ;  refuses 
Spanish  throne,  407. 

Lutz,  von,  Bavarian  minister,  462.  500,  C30. 

Lyons,  English  ambassador  in  Greece,  85. 

Lytton,  Lord,  Viceroy  of  India,  577. 

MAANES.  van,  Dutch  minister,  114. 

Maciiulay,  English  historian,  favors  re- 
form bill,  149. 

MacMahou,  French  general,  in  Crimea, 
203;  Duke  of  Magenta,  •£•'•;  commands 
1st  army  corps,  420 ;  defeated  at  Worth, 
428;  ordered  to  relieve  Metz.  437 :  at  Se- 
dan, 438 ;  wounded,  43t» ;  prisoner,  440 ; 
commands  against  Communists,  470; 
" marshal-president,''  475,  C14,  615;  un- 
popularity, 616;  personal  government, 
017;  yields,  618:  Paris  Exposition,  619; 
resigns,  620. 

MacMahmi,  Mme.,  wife  of  preceding,  615. 

Magnan,  French  general,  199. 

Mahmond  IL,  Sultan  of  Turkey  (130S-'39), 
72:  death,  158. 

Mahrnond  (Dramali),  Turkish  pasha,  75. 

Mahmond  Damad  Pasha,  5-27. 

Mahmond  Pasha,  Grand  Vizier,  509;  re- 
moved, 514. 

Mahomed  Yan,  Afghan  chief,  579. 

Mailath,  Count,  Hungarian  chancellor, 
303. 

Maison,  French  general,  S3. 

Maistre,  le,  Joseph,  Sardinian  diplomat, 
270. 

Malachowski,  Polish  commander,  140. 

Malon,  Belgian  premier,  005. 

Manin,  Italian  revolutionist,  208;  banish- 
ed, 211. 

Mautenffel,  von,  Prussian  minister,  229 ;  at 
Olmutz,250;  reactionary  policy,  272. 

Mantenflfel,  Baron  von,  Prussian  governor 
of  Schleswig,  323 ;  invades  Holstein,  333; 
in  Hanover,  33S;  commands  army  of 
Main,  362,  363,  364;  in  French  war,  443, 
451,  452,  453,  454;  donation,  467;  field- 
inarshal-general,  473 ;  stadtholder  of  Al- 
sace-Lorraine, 641,  657. 

Manuel,  French  Independent,  90;  expelled 
from  Chamber,  95. 

Maria  II.,  Queen  of  Portugal  (1826-'53),  in 
England,  59;  marriage,  02;  death,  148. 
.  Queen  of  Naples,  200. 

Maria  '  .>en  of  Spain,  003. 

Marie  Ainalie,  Qneen  of  France,  wife  of 
Louis  Philippe,  102 ;  farewell  words  to 
Thiere,  183. 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS. 


681 


Marie  Louise,  Archduchess  of  Parma,  wife 
of  Napoleon  I. ,26;  flight,  130. 

Marie,  French  republican,  in  House,  1SS; 
member  of  provisional  government,  191; 
of  executive  commission,  193. 

Marmont,  French  marshal,  commandant 
of  Paris,  100, 105. 

Maroto,  Carlist  general,  145. 

Marrast,  Armand,  French  revolutionist, 
177;  member  of  provisional  govern- 
ment, 191. 

Marschall,  minister  in  Nassau,  10. 

Martignac,  Viscount,  French  premier,  97. 

Martin,  Bishop  of  Pnderboru,  502. 

Mataflorida— see  Rosales. 

Mathilde,  French  princess,  199. 

Mathy,  minister  in  Baden,  3C4, 377 ;  death, 
384. 

Mancler,  minister  in  Wurtemberg,  20. 

Mauguiu,  member  of  French  municipal 
committee,  107. 

Maupas,  French  prefect  of  police,  199. 

Maurcr,  von,  Regent  of  Greece,  85. 

Manrokordatos,  Alexander,  president  of 
Greek  insurgents,  73. 

Maximilian  I.,  King  of  Bavaria  (1805-'25), 
grants  constitution,  9. 

Maximilian  II.,  King  of  Bavaria  (1848-'64), 
214. 

Maximilian  Ferdinand,  Austrian  arch- 
duke, Emperor  of  Mexico,  296;  abandon- 
ed by  Napoleon,  297;  hopeless  resist- 
ance, 298 ;  execution,  299. 

May,  German  editor,  322. 

Mazzini,  Joseph,  Italian  revolutionist,  in 
Switzerland,  170;  in  London,  202,  204 ; 
at  Rome,  205,  275. 

Medici,  Italian  general,  358. 

Meglia,  Papal  nuntius  in  Mexico,  297. 

Mehemed,  Turkish  pnsha,  156. 

Mehemed  Ali,  Pasha  of  Egypt,  assists 
Turks  against  Greece,  77;  rebels,  156; 
conquests  in  Arabia,  157;  second  war 
with  Turkey,  158  ;  interference  of  pow- 
ers, 159. 

Mehemed  Ali  Pasha  (Detroit),  Turkish 
general,  534,  538, 539 ;  murdered,  502. 

Mehemed  Rushdi  Pasha,  Turkish  Grand 
Vizier,  51 -t ;  resigns,  526. 

Mejia,  Mexican  general,  shot,  298. 

Melchcrs,  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  634. 

Melikoff,  Count  Loris,  525  ;  Russian  com- 
mander in  Armenia,  542,  543  ;  governor- 
general  of  Oharkoff,  572  ;  dictator,  573  ; 
banished,  574. 

Melliuet,  French  general,  118. 

Menabrea,  General,  Italian  premier,  400. 

Mendiri,  Carlist  general,  4S1. 

Mendizabal,  145. 

Menotti,  Italian  revolutionist,  130;  exe- 
cuted, 132. 

Mensdorff-Ponilly,  Count,  Austrian  minis- 
ter, 303,  321 ;  letter,  332 ;  dismissed,  373. 

29* 


Menshikoff,  Prince,  HII^MUH  ambassador 
in  Constantinople,  255 ;  dereated  at 
Aliun,  200 ;  recalled,  202. 

Mercedes,  Queen  of  Spain,  COS. 

Merino,  Spanish  priest,  organizes  Army 
of  Faith,  47. 

Mermillod,  made  Bishop  of  Geneva,  491 ; 
expelled,  492,  606,  COS. 

Merode,  Roman  minister,  289. 

Mesenzoff,  Rnssiaii  general,  chief  of  third 
division,  murdered,  5TO. 

Messenhauser,  Austrian  revolutionist,  224; 
executed,  225. 

Metaxas,  Count,  75. 

Metternich,  Prince,  Austrian  chancellor, 
system,  3  ;  dictates  policy  of  Germany, 
20 ;  congress  of  Troppan,  32 ;  attitude 
toward  Greece,  75  ;  German  discontent, 
ICO;  power  in  decline,  1C4;  reply  to  La- 
fltte,  1T4;  refuses  concessions,  220;  flight, 
221. 

Mcnnier,  French  assassin,  178. 

Meza,  cle,  Danish  general,  313 ;  dismissed, 
317. 

Miaulis,  Androf?,  Grecian  admiral,  74,  76, 
73,  79. 

Mi.iulis,  Athanasios,  son  of  preceding,  81. 

Michael,  Russian  grand-duke,  542. 

Michael  Obrenovitch,  Prince  of  Servia, 
murdered,  397. 

Midhat  Pasha,  514;  Grand  Vizier,  526; 
banished,  527 ;  imprisoned,  555. 

Mieroslawski,  Polish  conspirator,  164;  Sic- 
ilian commander-iu-chief,  207 ;  prisoner 
in  Berlin,  227;  heads  insurrection,  228 ; 
in  Baden,  235 ;  defeated,  238 ;  Polish  dic- 
tator, 2G9. 

Mignet,  editor  of  National,  98. 

Miguel,  Dom,  sou  of  John  VI.  of  Portu- 
gal, conspires  against  father,  58 ;  usurps 
throne,  CO;  deposed,  61. 

Milan,  Obrenovitch  IV.,  Prince  of  Servia, 
397 ;  proclaimed  Prince  of  Bosnia,  517  ; 
King,  524. 

Milano,  Italian  assassin,  275. 

Miloradovitch,  Count,  governor  of  St.  Pe- 
tersburg, 87. 

Miua,  Spanish  guerrilla  chief,  44,  4C,  48 ; 
defends  Barcelona,  61. 

Minghetti,  Italian  premier,  593. 

Miquel,  member  of  North  German  Reichs- 
tag, 383. 

Munition,  Mexican  general,  shot,  298. 

Mirski,  Prince,  Russian  general,  533,  542. 

Mitterntaier,  German  professor,  215. 

Mitt eruacht,  von,  minister  in  WQrtemberg, 
401,462. 

Mloditzki,  Russian  assassin,  573. 

Mole,  Count,  French  premier,  18C. 

Molitor,  Spanish  general,  50. 

Moltke,Hellmuth  von,  in  Turkish  service, 
158 :  Prussian  chief  of  staff,  342, 346 ;  do- 
nation, 367;  advocates  war  with  France, 


682 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


371 ;  plan  of  campaign,  388,  421,  422;  at 
Sedan,  489;  made  count,  44!);  forms 
southern  army,  453,  457:  field-marshal- 
general,  4GS;  army  speech,  495;  army 
bill,  650. 

Moinmsen,  German  professor,  C46,  -note. 

Moucasi,  Spanish  assassiu,  603. 

Moucey,  French  general,  50. 

Moudel,  Austrian  general,  353. 

Monrad,  Danish  minister,  317. 

Montbel,  French  minister,  101. 

Montmorency,  Matthew,  French  minister, 
48;  dismissed,  49. 

Montez,  Lola,  mistress  of  Louis  of  Bavaria, 
214. 

Moutpensier,  Duke  of,  son  of  Louis  Phi- 
lippe, marries  Spanish  Infanta,  147 ; 
flight,  1S8;  expelled  from  Spain,  406; 
candidate  for  throne,  407. 

Morelli,  Neapolitan  revolutionist,  28. 

Moreno,  President  of  Ecuador,  murdered, 
654. 

Morillo,  Spanish  general,  50. 

Morioues,  Spanish  general,  480. 

Morny,  Count,  half-brother  of  Napoleon 
III.,  199;  minister  of  interior,  resigns,  200. 

Moromichalis,  Petros  (Petrobei),  Greek 
patriot,  72 ;  imprisoned,  84. 

Moromichalis,  Constantino,  brother  of  pre- 
ceding, 34. 

Moromichalis,  Georgios,  son  of  Petros,  84. 

Morosi,  Basutos  chief,  582. 

Mortemart,  French  duke,  107. 

Mortier,  French  marshal,  177. 

Most,  Social-democrat,  640. 

Motteronge,  de  la,  French  general,  defeat- 
ed, 447. 

Muffling,  General,  Prussian  diplomat,  89. 

Muhler,  Prussian  c«itMS-minister,  500. 

Mukhtar,  Achmed,  Turkish  pasha,  510, 511, 
512,  542,  543,  560,  562. 

Mulbe,  von  der,  Prussian  general,  313,  363. 

Muuoz  (Duke  of  Rianznres),  husband  of 
Christina  of  Spain,  146. 

Munster,  Count,  Hanoverian  minister,  123; 
dismissed,  127.  x 

Murad  V.,  Sultan  of  Turkey  (1876),  514, 
522;  letter  to  Victoria,  544. 

Muravieff,  Russian  general,  204;  in  Lithu- 
ania, 209. 

Mnssa  Pasha,  defender  of  Silistria,  25S. 

Mustapha  Pasha,  Turkish  minister  of  war, 
534. 

Mutius,  Prussian  general,  345,  34G. 

NAKIIIMOFF,  Russian  admiral,  256;  death, 

263. 

Namyk,  Turkish  pasha,  545. 
Nana  Sahib,  heads   Indian   mutiny,  293; 

flight,  294. 
Napier,  Sir  Charles,  English  commodore, 

in    Portuguese   service,  61  ;    bombards 

Alexandria,  159 ;  in  Baltic,  258. 


Napier,  Sir  Charles,  commands  Abyssinian 
expedition,  396. 

Napoleon  I.,  death,  94 ;  bones  brought  to 
France,  179. 

Napoleon  III.,  Louis,  Carbouaro,  132;  in 
Switzerland,  170 ;  attempt  at  Strasburg, 
179;  at  Boulogne,  180;  imprisonment, 
escape,  180;  in  National  Assembly,  194 ; 
elected  President,  196 ;  preparing  for  em- 
pire, 197,  198;  coup  d'etat,  199  ;  proclaim- 
ed Emperor,201  ;  interferes  inRome, 204; 
rejects  proposals  of  Nicholas,  254;  al- 
liance with  England,  255;  first  place  in 
Europe,  265;  attempts  interference  in 
Poland,  270;  Italian  plans  and  Orsini 
bombs,  277 ;  interview  with  Cavour,  278, 
279;  assumes  command  in  Italy,  2SO; 
Solferino,  281 ;  reasons  for  truce,  283 ; 
uses  Kossuth,  285, note;  perfldy,2S6;  Na- 
ples and  States  of  the  Church,  289 ;  in- 
terference in  Italy,  291;  in  Mexico,  295; 
treaty  of  Miramar,  296 ;  abandons  Maxi- 
milian, 297;  Danish  war,  314,  324;  cog- 
nizant of  Prussian-Italian  alliance,  327; 
peace  congress,  double-dealing,  329,  330; 
intrigues  with  Prussia,  330  ;  with  Aus- 
tria, 331 ;  restrains  Italy,  340 ;  attempts 
mediation,  351,  354,  355,  356;  threatens 
war,  357;  diplomatic  intervention,  365, 
366 ;  Luxembourg  negotiations,  369, 370; 
Bismarck's  dupe,  371;  in  Salzburg,  372; 
illness,  301;  influence  of  Jesuits,  393; 
Italian  intervention,  401 ;  French-Span- 
ish scheme,  400 ;  wavering,  414;  plan  of 
campaign,  423 ;  assumes  chief  command, 
420;  at  Saarbrucken,  427 ;  resigns  com- 
mand, 431 ;  irresolution,  437 ;  surrenders, 
439;  death,  441. 

Napoleon,  Eugene,  son  of  preceding,  birth, 
202;  "  baptism  of  fire,"  427  ;  death,  582; 
testament,  629,  630. 

Napoleon,  Louis,  elder  brother  of  Louis 
Napoleon,  death,  132. 

Napoleon,  Prince  (Plon-plon),  in  Crimea, 
259;  marriage,  278;  in  Italy,  282;  over- 
tures to  Bismarck,  330 ;  Bonapartist 
chief,  630. 

Napoleon,  Prince  Victor,  629. 

Narvaez,  Duke  of  Valencia,  Spanish  gen- 
eral, premier,  147 ;  death,  406. 

Neipperg,  Count,  Austrian  general,  26. 

Neipperg,  Austrian  general,  defeated,  361. 

Nelidoff,  Russian  diplomat,  545. 

Nemours,  Duke  of,  son  of  Louis  Philippe, 
refuses  Belgian  crown,  119;  German 
trip,  178;  prospective  regent,  183;  in 
Chamber,  183  ;  flight,  189. 

Nemours,  Duchess  of,  18S. 

Ney,  Marshal,  shot,  93. 

Nicholas,  Emperor  of  Russia  (1825-'57),  as- 
cends throne,  81,  86 ;  character,  87  ;  pol- 
icy in  Poland,  142;  in  Germany,  164;  in- 
terferes in  Hungary,  243 ;  arbitrates  in 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


683 


Germany,  249,  250 ;  the  "  sick  man,"  254 ; 
seeks  pretence  for  war,  255 ;  hopes  dis- 
appointed, 257 ;  death,  201. 

Nicholas,  Russian  grand-duke,  525;  com- 
mander-in-chief,  531, 533, 536,  540 ;  super- 
seded, 548. 

Nicotera,  Italian  politician,  594. 

Niel,  French  general  in  Crimea,  202;  It- 
aly, 280 ;  Solferiuo,  281 ;  minister  of  war, 
3T1;  death,  3S9. 

Niellou,  Belgian  revolutionist,  115. 

Niemojewski,  Polish  leader,  141. 

Nikita,  Prince  of  Montenegro,  505, 511 ;  de- 
clares war,  518;  invades  Albania,  543 ; 
frontier  negotiations,  562. 

Nina,  Cardinal,  Papal  secretary,  006,  632, 
633. 

Nobiliug,  attempt  on  German  emperor, 
638. 

Noir,  Victor,  French  journalist,  392. 

Normann,  Bavarian  count,  general  in 
Greece,  75 ;  death,  77. 

Northcote,  Sir  Stafford,  chancellor  of  ex- 
chequer, 545. 

Nubar  Pasha,  Egyptian  minister,  565. 

Nugent,  Count,  Austrian  general  in  Italy, 
28 ;  in  Hungary,  242. 

OIIERWITZ,  von,  Prussian  general,  419. 

O'Brien,  Smith,  Irish  agitatoi\152. 

Obrutcheff,  Russian  general,  557. 

Ochseubein,  171. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  Irish  agitator,  69;  fa- 
vors reform  bill,  149, 151 ;  repeal,  152. 

O'Connor,  Feargus,  Chartist,  151. 

O'Dounell,  Jose,  Spanish  general,  46; 
Duke  ofTetuan.US. 

Odysseus,  Greek  chief,  73  ;  traitor,  7(5. 

Ofenheim,  592. 

Okeu,  German  professor,  12,  21. 

Oklobyio,  Russian  general,  542. 

Ollivier,  French  premier,  391,  393,  413,  415 ; 
resigns,  431. 

Omer  Pasha,  Turkish  commander,  256, 
258,  201. 

Omer  Vrione,  Turkish  commander,  70. 

Orange,  Prince  of,  116. 

Orange,  William,  Prince  of,  610. 

Orban,  Frtre,  Belgian  premier,  605,  006. 

Orleans,  Duke  of,  eldest  son  of  Louis  Phi- 
lippe, marriage,  178 ;  death,  1S3. 

Orleans,  Duchess  of,  178,  183;  before 
Chamber,  188, 1S9. 

Orloff,  Russian  ambassador  at  Paris,  60S. 

Orsini,  Felix,  attempt  on  Napoleon,  277 ; 
testament,  278. 

Ortega,  Mexican  general,  290. 

Oscar  II.,  King  of  Sweden,  490 ;  in  Berlin, 
494. 

Osman  Pasha,  Turkish  admiral,  250. 

Osman  Pasha,  Turkish  general,  519  ;  forti- 
fies Plevna,  535,  539 ;  surrender,  540. 

Otero,  Spanish  assassin,  603. 


Otho,  King  of  Greece  (1822- '62),  son  of 
Louis  I.  of  Bavaria,  made  King,  85,  253 ; 
deposed,  267. 

Onbril,  Russian  diplomat,  409. 

Oudinot,  French  general,  200,  205. 

Oyenhausen,  von,  Brunswick  master  of 
horse,  124. 

PAOCA,  Cardinal,  25. 

Pagnerre,  secretary  of  French  provisional 
government,  191. 

Pajol,  French  general,  110. 

Palacky,  President  of  Slavonic  Congress, 
222. 

Palikao,  Count  (General  Moutauban), 
French  premier,  431 ;  hazardous  plan, 
43S;  fall,  441. 

Pallavacino,  Roman  officer,  291. 

Palma,  Sardinian  revolutionist,  38. 

Palmella,  Portuguese  count,  58. 

Palmerston,  Lord,  in  cabinet,  122;  pre- 
mier, 257  ;  Italian  war,  285,  note. 

Paris,  Count  of,  grandson  of  Louis  Phi- 
lippe, birth,  178;  abdication  in  favor  of, 
188;  lost,  189;  recognizes  Chambord, 
475. 

Parnoll,  Irish  agitator,  5S4,  585,  586. 

Paskevitch,  Erivanski,  Russian  general, 
takes  Erivan,  87  ;  invades  Armenia,  89  ; 
commander  in  Poland,  140;  in  Hungary, 
243 ;  defeated  at  Silistria,  258 ;  death, 
268. 

Passanante,  Italian  assassin,  594. 

Pavia,  Spanish  officer,  disperses  Cortes, 
430. 

Pearson,  English  colonel,  581,  582. 

Pedro  I.,  Emperor  of  Brazil  (1S25-'30),  Vice- 
roy of  Brazil,  57 ;  Emperor,  58 ;  abdi- 
cates, 61 ;  Regent  of  Portugal,  61 ;  death, 
62. 

Pedro  II.,  Emperor  of  Brazil  (1S30),  493, 
654. 

Pedro  V.,  King  of  Portugal  (1S53-'61),  148. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  opposes  reform  bill,  149; 
repeals  corn-laws,  151. 

Pelissier,  Duke  of  Malakoff,  French  gen- 
eral, massacre  in  Algeria,  182;  command- 
er in  Crimea,  262,  203. 

Pelletan,  member  of  French  Government 
of  National  Defence,  442. 

Pellico,  Silvio,  31. 

Pepe,  Floristan,  30. 

Pepe,  William,  Neapolitan  republican,  or- 
ganizes militia,  2S;  heads  revolt,  29;  de- 
feated by  Austrian?,  35 ;  commands  Ne- 
apolitan contingent,  206  ;  in  Venice,  207; 
banished,  211. 

Pepoli,  Marquis,  Italian  diplomat,  278. 

Perglas,  Hessian  general,  defeated,  361. 

Perier,  Casimir,  106;  member  of  French 
municipal  commission,  107;  premier, 
174;  death,  176. 

Perovski,  Russian  general,  399. 


634 


INDEX   OF  PERSONS. 


Persauo,  Italian  admiral,  357;  defeated, 
35$. 

Pereigny,  Bonapartist,  190;  minister  of  in- 
terior, 200 ;  diplomat,  286. 

Pestel,  von,  German  officer,  427. 

Petri,  member  of  Reichstag,  504. 

Penker,  German  general,  237. 

Pfordten,  von  der,  Bavarian  delegate  to 
Diet,  311 ;  minister,  322,  337,  355,  301;  ap- 
pals to  Napoleon,  3C5. 

Pfuel,  von,  Prussian  general,  129;  minis- 
ter, 228. 

Philippovich,  Austrian  general,  555. 

Picard,  member  of  French  Government  of 
National  Defence,  442 ;  minister,  45S. 

Pierio,  in  Orsini  conspiracy,  277. 

Pierola,  Peruvian  dictator,  656. 

Pillersdorff,  Baron  von,  Austrian  minister, 
221. 

Pipinos,  Greek  patriot,  74. 

Pisacaue,  Italian  rebel,  275. 

Pins  VII.,  Pope  (1800-'23),  25.    ' 

Pius  VIII.,  Pope  (1S29-'30),  death,  129. 

Pius  IX.,  Pope  (IS46-7S),  202;  liberal  pol- 
icy, 203 ;  flight,  204 ;  restoration  and  re- 
action, 205;  influence  of  Jesuit?,  274; 
nan  possumtts,  375 ;  quarrel  with  Russia, 
400;  curses  modern  civilization,  402 ;  in- 
fallibility, 404 ;  dispossessed,  477 :  pris- 
oner of  Vatican,  47S;  Swiss  encyclica, 
492:  allocution,  501;  letter  to  German 
Emperor,  502;  encyclica,  503;  death, 
5%;  removal  of  body,  598;  policy  in 
Bavaria,  C31. 

Pletinckx,  Belgian  revolutionist,  117. 

Poerio,  Neapolitan  patriot,  35,  36. 

Polhe,  French  general,  401. 

Polignac,  Prince,  French  premier,  97, 101; 
condemned,  174 ;  set  free,  173. 

Ponte,  Dr.  Jose,  Venezuelan  archbishop, 
653. 

Porlier,  Diaz,  Spanish  general,  45. 

Pothnan,  French  minister,  618. 

Potocki,  Austrian  minister,  4*3. 

Potter,  de,  Belgian  revolutionist,  114,  118, 
119. 

Pourtales,  Count  Frederic  de,  272. 

Pouyer-Quertier,  French  minister,  430. 

Prauckh,  von,  Bavarian  minister,  402. 

Prado,  President  of  Pern,  656. 

Pnislin,  Duke  of,  183. 

Prim,  Spanish  colonel,  revolts,  147 :  gen- 
eral in  Mexico,  295;  minister  of  war, 
406;  rules  country,  407;  minister-presi- 
dent, 425 ;  assassinated,  478. 

Priuz,  German  councillor,  murdered,  235. 

Prittwi I z,  German  general,  245;  Governor 
of  Ulm,  419. 

Probst,  382. 

Proudhon,  member  of  French  city  hall 
government,  194. 

Pncbner,  Austrian  general,  242. 

Pnttkamer,  von,  Prussian  minister,  633. 


Pnyravean,  Audry  de,  member  of  French 

municipal  commission,  107. 
Pyat,  Felix,  French  poet,  196 ;  member  of 

Commune,  4C9. 

QUIKOGA,  Spanish  colonel,  45. 

R. \PETZKI,  Russian  general,  537,  541.  542. 

Radetzky,  Count  Joseph,  4;  commander 
in  Milan,  208,  209;  defeats  Sardinians, 
210,  211 ;  death,  279. 

Radowitz,  von,  Prussian  general,  250. 

Radziwill,  Prince,  Polish  revolutionary 
leader,  13S. 

Raglan,  Lord,  English  commander  in  Cri- 
mea, 259 ;  death,  2C3. 

Rainer,  Austrian  archduke,  Viceroy  of 
Lombardy,  27. 

Ramming,  von,  Austrian  general,  342. 

Ramorino,  Genoese  adventurer,  in  Polish 
revolution,  140;  in  Switzerland,  170;  in 
Sardinian  service,  210;  executed,  210. 

Randon,  French  minister  of  war,  351. 

Ranke,  Leopold,  German  historian,  272. 

Rapp, Vicar-general  of  Strasburg,  expelled, 
497. 

Rashid  Pasha,  murdered,  520. 

Raspail,  French  revolutionist,  193;  mem- 
ber of  city  hall  government,  194;  candi- 
date for  presidency,  196. 

Ratazzi.  Italian  premier,  291 ;  resigns, 400. 

Raumer,  Prussian  cultu-s-miaifler,  272. 

Ranschenplatt,  German  revolutionist,  160. 

Ranscher,  Cardinal,  Archbishop  of  Vienna, 
at  Vatican  council,  404. 

Raveaux,  German  radical,  237. 

Read,  Russian  general  in  Crimea,  263. 

Rechberg,  Connt,  Austrian  minister,  310; 
resigns,  ."20. 

Redcliffe,  Lord  de,  English  ambassador  to 
Porte.  205. 

Redif  Pasha,  534. 

Reichenbach,  Countess,  mistress  of  Hes- 
sian Elector,  125. 

Reicheusperger,  German  Clerical,  467. 

Reichstadt,  Duke  of,  son  of  Napoleon  I., 
108,130:  death,  ITS. 

Reille,  French  general,  439. 

Reinkens,  German  professor,  Old  Catholic 
bishop,  405. 

Reouf  Pasha,  in  Herzegovina,  507 ;  in  Ron- 
melia,  533,  537. 

Reshid  Pasha.  Turkish  general,  78.  89, 156; 
Grand  Vizier,  255. 

Reventlow-Preetz,  Connt,  stadtholder  in 
Schleswig-Holstein,  245. 

Reynanlt,  French  general,  442. 

Rheinbaden,  German  general,  430. 

Ricasoli,  Italian  premier,  290. 

Riccio,  Bishop  of  Ajaccio,  votes  non  placet 
in  Vatican  council,  401. 

Richard,  Spanish  conspirator,  45. 

Richelieu,  Duke  of,  French  premier,  92, 94. 


INDEX  OF   PERSONS. 


685 


Richter,  Eugene,  leader  of  German  Party 
of  Progress,  526. 

Rieger,  Czechish  leader,  222,  483. 

Riego,  Raphael,  Spanish  officer,  heads  re- 
volt, 45;  president  of  Cortes,  47;  exe- 
cuted, .'»'.'. 

Rigny,  de,  French  commander  at  Navari- 
no,  81. 

Ristic,  Servian  minister,  51T. 

Uitter,  Carl,  2T2. 

Ri/.a,  Turkish  pasha,  5C3. 

Robert,  l)nke  of  Parma,  281. 

Roberts,  English  general  in  Afghanistan, 
579, 580. 

Rochebouet,  French  minister,  617,  620,  621. 

Rochefort,  editor  of  Marseillaise,  arrest- 
ed, 392  ;  member  of  Government  of  Na- 
tional Defence,  442;  withdraws,  446; 
prisoner,  471 ;  amnestied,  623. 

Rodich,  Baron,  stadtholder  of  Dalmatin, 
510. 

Rodil,  Spanish  general,  61. 

Rumer,  minister  in  Wurtemberg,  214;  dis- 
perses National  Assembly,  237. 

Rouge,  John,  167. 

ROOD,  von,  Prussian  minister  of  war,  342, 
346;  donation,  367;  French  war,  462; 
donation,  467  ;  made  count,  468. 

Rosa,  Martinez  de  la,  Spanish  politician, 
47, 145. 

Rosales,  Marquis  of  Mataflorida,  43,  48. 

Rosas,  Calvo  de,  44. 

Roseuberg-Grnsziusky,  Prussian  general, 
350. 

Rosganoff,  Russian  general,  in  Afghan- 
istan, 57S. 

Rossel,  French  Communist,  470;  prison- 
er, 471. 

Rossi,  Pelegrino,  Count  of  Carrara,  Roman 
premier,  203 ;  assassinated,  204. 

Rothschild,  Baron  Nathan,  in  Parliament, 
153. 

Rotteck,  German  professor  and  historian, 
22, 161. 

Ronher,  French  minister  of  state,  351 ;  re- 
moved, 391 ;  meeting  of  Bonapartists, 
629. 

Roustan,  French  agent  at  Tunis,  626. 

Rozycki,  Polish  general,  141. 

Ruduardt  von,  Greek  premier,  85. 

Riidiger,  Count,  Russian  general  in  Po- 
land, 139;  in  Hungary,  244. 

Rudio,  Orsini  conspiracy,  277. 

Rnpp,  German  sectarian,  167. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  reform  bill,  149 ;  Irish 
Church,  152 ;  Italian  war,  285,  note. 

Rybinsky,  Polish  commander,  141. 

Rye,  Danish  general,  246. 

SABAM.S,  Carlist  general,  599. 
Saburoft',  Russian  minister,  573. 
Sachturis,  Grecian  admiral,  79. 
Sadullah  Bey,  545. 


Sagasta,  Spanish  politician,  478,  482,  600; 
premier,  001. 

St.  Arnaud,  French  minister  of  war,  198, 
199;  commander  in  Crimea,  259. 

St.  Hilaire,  Barthelemy,  French  minister, 
625. 

St.  Marsan,  39. 

St.  Vallier,  Count,  628. 

Salaverria,  Spanish  minister,  601. 

Saldanba,  Duke  of,  Portuguese  general, 
59;  politician,  148. 

Salisbury,  Marquis  of,  at  Constantinople 
conference,  520  ;  minister  of  foreign  af- 
fairs, 547;  at  Berlin  congress,  552,  553; 
leader  of  opposition,  586. 

Salmeron,  President  of  Cortes,  480. 

Salvandyde,  104. 

Sand,  Charles,  murderer  of  Kotzebue,  15. 

San  Martin,  Argentine  general,  55. 

Santa  Anna,  Mexican  general,  54. 

Santarosa,  Sardinian  revolutionist,  40. 

Sanz,  confessor  to  Ferdinand  VII. ,52. 

Sauvo  editor  of  Moniteur,  101. 

Sauzet,  president  of  French  Chamber,  189. 

Savfet  Pasha,  in  Turkish  cabinet,  520,  524, 
526,  527 ;  removed,  534. 

Savigny,  Prussian  delegate  to  Diet,  335. 

Say,  Leon,  French  minister  of  finance,  618 
— see  Preface. 

Schaffle,  Austrian  minister, 4S3. 

Scheel-Plessen,  Baron  von,  333. 

Schilder,  Russian  general,  258 ;  death,  260. 

Schelling,  German  professor,  21. 

Schlegel,  Frederic,  22. 

Schleiermacher,  German  theologian,  22. 

Schlick,  Austrian  general,  242. 

Schloezer,  Dr.  Kurd  von,  Prussian  ambas- 
sador to  Vatican,  636. 

Schmalz,  Prussian  privy-councillor,  11. 

Schmeling,  German  general,  452. 

Schmerling,  Chevalier  von,  Austrian  pre- 
mier, 301 ;  resigns,  303,  589. 

Schmidt,  German  correspondent,  shot  by 
Carl  ists,  481. 

Schmidt,  Prussian  ambassador  at  Warsaw, 
130. 

Schmidt,  Phiseldeck  von,  Brunswick  privy- 
councillor,  123. 

Schon,  pamphlet  by,  166. 

Schott,  German  radical,  237. 

Schubert,  German  professor,  21. 

Schuler,  German  radical,  237. 

Schurz,  Carl,  rescues  friend  from  prison, 
238. 

Schuyler,  Eugene,  American  consul-gen- 
eral at  Constantinople,  516. 

Schwarzeuberg,  Prince,  Austrian  gener- 
al, 4. 

Schwarzenberg,  Prince  Felix,  Austrian 
general  and  statesman,  forms  ministry, 
225;  resolute  policy,  231,  247;  meeting 
with  Nicholas,  249;  at  Olmutz,  250; 
Schleswig-Holstein,251 ;  death,  273. 


686 


INDEX   OF  PERSONS. 


Secocoeni,  Mantati  chief,  5S1, 5S2. 

Semyeka,  Kussiau  general,  525. 

Senestrey,  Bavarian  bishop,  380. 

Sercognani,  Italian  revolutionist,  131. 

Serrano,  Spanish  general,  favorite  of  Queen 
Isabella,  148;  transported,  406;  regent, 
407;  minister-president,  478;  dictator, 
480;  resigns,  482. 

Server  Pasha,  Turkish  commissioner,  508 ; 
in  cabinet,  534,  545. 

Settimo,  Sicilian  admiral,  206. 

Scve  (Solimau  Bey),  77. 

Seymour,  English  vice-admiral,  5C3. 

Seymonr,  Sir  Hamilton,  English  diplomat, 
254. 

Shamyl,  Caucasian  chief,  143. 

Shepstone,  Sir  Theophilns,  English  com- 
missioner in  Transvaal,  581. 

Shere  Ali,  Ameer  of  Afghanistan,  577  ; 
death,  578. 

Sherif,  Egyptian  pasha,  5CC. 

Shestakoff,  Russian  officer,  531. 

Shouvaloff,  Russian  ambassador  at  Lon- 
don, 528,  532,  548;  recalled,  650. 

Siebenpfeifer,  German  editor,  160. 

Sigel,  German  revolutionist,  235,  238. 

Sigwart-Miiller,  Swiss  ultramontane,  171. 

Simeoni,  Papal  secretary,  597. 

Simon,  Henry,  German  jurist  and  pam- 
phleteer, 168 ;  in  regency,  237. 

Simon,  Jules,  member  of  French  Govern- 
ment of  National  Defence,  442 ;  premier, 
614;  dismissed,  C15;  opposes  Gambetta, 
621,  623,  628. 

Simouich,  Austrian  general,  242. 

Simpson,  English  commander  in  Crimea, 
263. 

Simson,  German  radical,  232. 

Skobeleff,  Russian  general,  530,  537,  542, 
575. 

Skrzynecki,  Polish  revolutionary  leader, 
138, 140. 

Sobrier,  French  democrat,  194. 

Soltyk,  Count  Roman,  138. 

Sophie,  Austrian  archduchess,  225. 

Sonlt,  Marshal,  French  premier,  176, 181 ; 
retires,  184. 

Soutzo,  Grecian  general,  550. 

Sperling,  von,  Prussian  general.  421. 

Stadion,  Count  Francis,  Austrian  minister, 
225. 

Stein,  German  patriot,  expelled  from  Nas- 
sau parliament,  10. 

Steinmetz,  Prussian  general,  defeats  Ans- 
trians,  345,  346;  donation,  367 ;  in  French 
war,  421 ;  removed,  437. 

Stephen,  Austrian  archduke,  Palatinus  of 
Hungary,  239,  240;  resigns,  241. 

Stiehler,  von,  Prussian  general,  421. 

Stiicker,  Prussian  court  preacher,  637. 

Stolyetofl',  Russian  general,  577. 

Stourdza,  Alexander,  memorial  at  Con- 
gress of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  13. 


Stranss,  David  F.,  167, 169;  in  Zurich,  170. 

Stremayr,  Austrian  minister,  5SS,  590;  re- 
signs, 591. 

Strogauoff,  Russian  ambassador  to  Porte, 
72. 

Struve,  German  revolutionist,  213,  215,  230, 
234,  238. 

Stumm,  Prussian  diplomat,  501. 

Stuve  von  Osnabruck,  Hanoverian  minis- 
ter, 214. 

Subserra,  Portuguese  count,  58. 

Succow,  von,  Wurtemberg  minister,  462. 

Suleiman  Pasha,  at  Shipka  Pass,  537 ;  army 
of  Danube,  538 ;  in  Rotimelia,  541, 542. 

Swieten,  van,  Dutch  general,  in  Atchin, 
489. 

Sznayde,  Polish  general  and  revolutionist, 
235. 

TAAFFK,  Count,  Austrian  minister-presi- 
dent, 589,  592. 

Talleyrand,  Prince,  92, 108. 

Tallon,  French  general,  106. 

Tann,  von  der,  German  general,  447. 

Tantia  Topi,  Indian  rebel,  executed,  294. 

Taxis,  Prince,  Bavarian  general,  238. 

Tegetthofl',  Austrian  rear-admiral,  299;  in 
Danish  war,  314 ;  Italian  war,  358. 

Teleki,  Hungarian  exile,  285,  note. 

Tergukassoff,  Russian  general,  543. 

Teste,  convicted  of  peculation,  183. 

Tevflk,  Ahmed,  Mullah,  559. 

Tevflk,  Khedive  of  Egypt,  505. 

Thariu,  Abbe,  tutor  of  Count  Chambord, 
96. 

Theodore,  King  of  Abyssinia,  396. 

Thiers,  editor  of  National,  98,  104;  Eastern 
question,  159;  minister  of  interior,  176; 
premier,  179;  dismissed,  ISO;  attacks 
ministry,  184:  Reform  banquets,  184, 
185;  minister,  187;  in  National  Assembly, 
194;  arrested,  199;  banished,  200;  in 
Chamber,  369 ;  opposes  war,  415 ;  refuses 
seat  in  Government  of  National  Defence, 
442;  European  tour,  444;  negotiates  for 
truce,  445;  chief  of  executive,  458 ;  pres- 
ident of  republic,  472;  resigns,  475;  Bel- 
gian question,  604;  death,  616. 

Thile,  Prussian  state  secretary,  412. 

Thistlewood,  Arthur,  English  conspirator, 
65. 

Thomar,  Portuguese  count  (Costa  Cabral), 
148. 

Thomas,  Prince  of  Genoa,  refuses  Spanish 
throne,  407. 

Thomas,  Clement,  French  general,  shot 
by  Communists,  469. 

Than,  Count,  Austrian  general,  342,  353. 

Thiingen,  Baron  von,  380. 

Thyra,  Danish  princess,  marriage,  010. 

Tiedemann,  Governor  of  Rastatt,  shot, 
238. 

Tillich,  von,  Danish  commissioner,  246. 


INDEX   OF  PERSONS. 


687 


Tiszn,  Hungarian  minister-president,  522. 

Todleben,  liussian  general,  defends  Sebas- 
topo],260, '262;  at  Plevna,  539, 540 ;  com- 
inander-in-chief,  548, 560 ;  Governor-gen- 
eral of  Odessa,  5T2. 

Todt,  German  revolutionist,  233. 

Tolstoi,  Russian  minister,  573. 

Topete,  Spanish  admiral, 406,478. 

Toreno,  Spanish  politician,  145. 

Torre,  la,  Sardinian  general,  40. 

Trepoflf,  Russian  official,  570. 

Tresckow,  German  general,  besieges  Bel- 
fort,  452. 

Triuquet,  French  Communist,  623. 

Trochu,  French  general,  President  and 
Governor-general  of  Paris,  442 ;  resigns, 
467. 

Trutzschler,  German  revolutionist,  shot, 
238. 

Tschech,  German  assassin,  167. 

TiiBsonm  Bey,  517. 

Twesteu,  leader  of  Prussian  opposition, 
327. 

Tzschiruer,  German  revolutionist,  233. 

UUI.ANU,  German  poet,  Wurtemberg  dele- 
gate to  National  Assembly,  215, 237. 

TJhlich,  Saxon  preacher,  167. 

Uhrich,  French  commandant  at  Strasbnrg, 
429;  capitulates,  448. 

Unruh,  Prussian  radical,  229. 

Urquhart,  David,  on  Eastern  question,  157. 

Usedom,  Count,  Prussian  ambassador  to 
Italy,  339. 

VALUES,  Spanish  general,  51. 

Valee,  French  general,  takes  Constantino, 
1S1. 

Vauntelli,  Papal  nnntiiis  at  Brussels,  606. 

Varnbuler,  Baron  von,  Wiirtemberg  minis- 
ter, 378, 643. 

Vasa,  Princess  Charlotte,  Napoleon  III. 
sues  for  hand,  202. 

Veutivenga,  Italian  baron,  275. 

Vera  Zassulitch, Nihilist,  570. 

Vessel  Pasha,  Turkish  general,  542. 

Vesselitzky,  Russian  agent,  511. 

Victor  Emmanuel  I.,  King  of  Sardinia 
(1S02-'21),  36 ;  abdicates,  39. 

Victor  Emmanuel  II.,  King  of  Sardinia 
(1S49-'7S),  211;  liberal  policy,  275;  re- 
solved on  war,  279;  in  Milan,  231 ;  in 
Naples,  289;  King  of  Italy,  290;  claims 
Treiitin.),359;  enters  Venice,  359;  letter 
to  Pope,  476 ;  enters  Rome,  477 ;  in  Ber- 
lin, 494;  death,  593. 

Victoria,  Queen  of  England  (1S37),  acces- 
sion and  marriage,  154;  at  Cherbourg, 
278;  offers  mediation  between  Russia 
and  Turkey,  544;  Empress  of  India,  57C. 

Vidal,  Spanish  conspirator,  45. 

Villaflor,  Portuguese  general,  59;  Duke  of 
Terceira,  61, 143. 


Villamarina,  Marquis,  Italian  diplomat, 
234. 

Yillele,  French  minister,  48, 95 ;  dismissed, 
97. 

Villemain,  French  constitutionalist,  90; 
minister,  181. 

Vincent,  French  general,  111. 

Vinoy,  French  general,  in  Paris,  442 ;  com- 
mander, 457,  469, 470. 

Vischer,  Frederic,  167. 

Vogorides,  Prince,  Governor -general  of 
East  Ronmelia,  558. 

Vogt,  German  radical,  237. 

Voirol,  commandant  of  Strasbnrg,  179. 

WADDINGTON,  French  delegate  to  Berlin 
congress,  552,  554 ;  Grecian  question, 
5CO  ;  minister  of  public  instruction,  613 ; 
of  foreign  affairs,  618 ;  premier,  620;  re- 
signs, 622 ;  in  opposition,  623,  628. 

Waldeck,  Prussian  radical,  228. 

Waldimireski,  Wallachian  traitor,  71. 

Wales,  Albert  Edward,  Prince  of,  illness, 
489 ;  Indian  trip,  577 ;  friendship  with 
Gambetta,  C19. 

Wales,  Alexandra,  Princess  of,  Danish 
war,  315. 

Walmodeu,  Count,  Austrian  general,  35. 

Wallon,  in  French  National  Assembly,  476; 
proposes  compromise,  611,  612. 

Wangenheim,  Baron,  Wurtemberg  dele- 
gate to  Diet,  19. 

Ward,  master  of  horse  in  Parma,  274. 

Wassif,  Turkish  commander  at  Kara,  264. 

Weber,  German  professor,  "  Gottingeu 
seven,"  183. 

Weidig,  Pastor,  in  Darmstadt,  161. 

Welden,  Austrian  general,  242. 

Welker,  two  brothers,  German  professor?, 
17, 161. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  English  delegate  at 
Verona,  49 ;  premier,  68 ;  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, 81 ;  regrets  Navarino,  82 ;  illiber- 
alism,  122 ;  opposes  reform  bill,  149 ;  sup- 
ports corn-laws,  151. 

Werder,  Prussian  general,  429,  452,  453  ; 
defeats  Bourbaki,  454 ;  donation,  467. 

Werner,  German  sea-captain,  480. 

Werther,  Baron  von,  Prussian  ambassador 
at  Paris,  412, 413. 

Wessenberg,  Austrian  minister,  223. 

Wielopoleki,  Polish  margrave,  263,  269. 

William  IV.,  King  of  England  (1S30-'3T), 
121, 154. 

William  I.,  King  of  Prussia  (1861),  Prince 
of  Prussia,  flight,  227;  invades  Palati- 
nate, 237;  meeting  with  Nicholas,  249; 
ascends  throne,  273  ;  meeting  with  Ca- 
vour,  278;  military  reforms,  304;  op- 
posed to  war,  322;  assumes  chief  com- 
mand, 346,  352,  355 ;  confederation 
achieved,  368  ;  understanding  with  Rus- 
sia, 409 ;  meeting  with  Benedetti,  413 ; 


688 


INDEX   OF   DATES. 


returns  to  Berlin,  417 ;  opens  Reichstag, 
418;  assumes  chief  command,  422;  tele- 
gram to  Alexander,  426 ;  proclamation 
to  French  people,  431 ;  at  Gravelotte, 
435;  interview  with  Napoleon,  439;  signs 
peace,  458;  returns  to  Berlin,  489;  pro- 
claimed Emperor,  465 ;  imperial  visits, 
494 ;  letter  to  Pope,  502  ;  letter  to  Rou- 
manian prince,  549 ;  attempts  on  life, 
63T,  63S ;  rescript,  646 ;  meeting  with 
Alexander,  651 ;  decorated  by  Sultan, 
652. 

William  L,  King  of  Holland  (IS15-'40), 
113 ;  consents  to  separation  .if  Belgium, 
121. 

William  II.,  King  of  Holland  (1840-'49), 
Prince  of  Orange,  116. 

William  III.,  King  of  Holland  (1S49),  Lux- 
embourg negotiation!-,  370  ;  in  Ems,  494 ; 
interference  in  government,  609 ;  mar- 
riage, 610. 

William  I.,  King  of  Wurtemberg  (1316-'64), 
9 ;  liberalism,  19,  163  ;  bread  riot,  212 ; 
anti-Prussian,  231 ;  accepts  constitution, 
232 ;  fealty  to  Emperor,  249. 

William  I.,  Elector  of  Hesse  (1803-'21),  8. 

William  II.,  Elector  of  Hesse  (1821-'31), 
125;  tyranny,  249. 

William,  Prince  of  Orange,  death,  610. 

William,  Prince  of  Badeii,  360. 

William,  Prince  of  Brunswick,  123 ;  duke, 
125. 

William,  Prince  of  Hesse,  218. 

Williams,  defender  of  Kars,  264. 

Willisen,  Prussian  geueral,  246;  removed, 
247. 

Wilson,  English  general,  takes  Delhi,  294. 

Wilson,  English  commissioner  in  Esjypt, 
565. 

Wimpffen,  French  general,  433,  439. 

Wiudischgratz,  Prince  Alfred,  suppresses 
revolt  in  Prague,  222 ;  besieges  Vienna, 
224;  commander  in  Hungary,  242;  re- 
moved, 242. 

Windthorst,  German  Clerical  leader,  467 ; 
Guelph,  610 ;  leader  of  Centre,  632  ;  in- 


terview with  Bismarck,  633 ;  moves  re- 
peal of  obnoxious  law,  636. 

Wippennauu,  Hessian  minister,  214. 

Wirih,  German  editor,  100. 

Wisliceuus,  German  sectarian,  167. 

Wittgenstein,  Prince,  Prussian  courtier, 
10, 17. 

Wittgenstein,  Count,  Russian  command- 
er-in-chief,  SS. 

Wittich,  German  general,  447. 

Wolseley,  Sir  Garnet,  English  general, 
takes  Coomassie,  4SS ;  Governor  of  Na- 
tal, 5S2. 

Wood,  English  colonel,  in  South  Africa, 
881. 

Worouzoff,  Prince,  Russian  general,  143. 

Wrangel,  Prussian  geueral,  occupies 
Schleswig-Holstein,  218;  enters  Berlin, 
229 ;  commander  in  Schleswig-Holstein, 
312 ;  retired,  316. 

Wrede,  Priuce,  Bavarian  field-marshal,  160. 

Wysocki,  Polish  revolutionist,  135, 136. 

YAKOOB  KUAN,  of  Afghanistan,  57S  ;  abdi- 
cates, 579. 

Yeh,  Governor  of  Canton,  155. 

Ypsilanti,  Prince  Alexander,  revolt  against 
Turks,  71. 

Ypsilanti,  Demetrius,  73. 

Ynssotif,  Turkish  pasha,  commandant  of 
Varna,  89. 

ZAIMIS,  Greek  minister,  4S7.   x 

Zalewski,  Polish  revolutionist,  135, 136. 

Zaskrow,  German  general,  451. 

ZatoflF,  Russian  general,  536. 

Zedlitz,  von,  Prussian  commissioner  in 
Schleswig-Holstein,  321. 

Zichy,  Count,  Austrian  commander  in  Ven- 
ice, 208. 

Zichy,  Count,  Hungarian  chancellor,  303; 
ambassador  at  Constantinople,  512. 

Zimmermann,  Russian  general,  532,  541. 

Zorilla,  Spanish  premier,  479. 

Zucchi,  Italian  revolutionary  leader,  130, 
132. 

Zumalacarregny,  Carlist  general,  144. 


INDEX  OF   DATES. 


1814.  May  4th,  Spanish  constitution  re- 

pealed      43 

"     June  4th,   French    constitution 

granted 90 

1815.  June  12th,  Secret  treaty  between 

Austria  and  Naples 27 

"     Aug.  7th,  Order  of  Jesus  reinsti- 

tuted  by  decree  of  Pope 25 

1816.  May  15th,  Constitution  in  Saxe- 

Weimar 8 


1810.  Oct.  30th,  Death  of  King  Fred- 
eric of  Wurtemberg,  accession 
of  William  1 9 

1516.  Accession  of  John  VI.  of  Portu- 

gal and  Brazil 56 

"     A  Jew  condemned  to  death  by 

Inquisition 25 

1517.  Oct.  ISth,  Germany,  meeting  on 

the  Wartburg,  increasing  reac- 
tion       12 


INDEX  OF  DATES. 


689 


1818.  May  2Cth,  constitution  in  Bava- 

ria    9 

"  Aug.  22d,  constitution  in  Buden  9 
"  Sept.  29th  to  Nov.  2l8t,  Congress 

of  Aix-la-Chapelle 10, 13, 03 

"  Independence  of  Chili 55 

1819.  March  23d,  Germany,  murder  of 

Kotzebue 15 

"  Aug.  6th,  Congress  of  Carlsbad 

and  Carlsbad  decrees 17 

"  Ang.  16th,  Massacre  of  Peter- 
loo  65 

"  Sept.  25th,  constitution  in  Wur- 

temberg 9 

"  Independence  of  Venezuela  and 

New  Granada. 65 

"     Argentine  Republic  formed 55 

1820.  Jan.  1st,  Revolution  in  Spain  ...  45 
"     Jan.  29th,  England,  George  III., 

and  George  IV.,  King. '. 65 

"     Feb.  13th,  Prance,  assassination 

of  Duke  of  Berry 94 

"     June   6th,   England,  return    of 

Queen,  royal  divorce  suit 66 

"     June  8th,  Vienna  Sclilusakte  ...  IT 
"     July  7th,  Naples,  revolution  vic- 
torious . .  .• 29 

"  Aug.  24th,  Portugal,  revolution.  57 
"  Oct.  ISth,  Carlsbad  decrees  in 

Prussia 18 

"     Oct.  20th,  Congress  of  Troppau  .  32 
"     Dec.  17th,  constitution  in  Hesse- 
Darmstadt 9 

1821.  Jan.  6th,  Congress  of  Laibach...  33 
"     Feb.  24th,  Mexican  independence 

proclaimed... 54 

"     March  7th,  Battle  of  Rieti 35 

"     March  llth,  revolution  in  Turin.  38 

"     April  4th,  rebellion  in  Greece. . .  72 

"     April  Sth,  Battle  of  Novara 40 

"     May  5th,  Napoleon  It 94 

"     Guatemala  independent 55 

1822.  April  10th,  Massacre  of  Chios. . .  73 
"     Aug.  12th,  England,  suicide  of 

Lord  Castlereagh 67 

"     Oct.  20th,  Congress  of  Verona. . .  48 

"     Ecuador  independent 55 

1823.  April  7th,  French  army  enters 

Spain 50 

"  June 5th,  Prussia,  provincial  par- 
liaments   19 

"     Ang.  20th,  death  c,f  Bozzaris....  76 

"     Sept.  2Tth,  Leo  XII.,  Pope 42 

"  Oct.  1st,  Cadiz  surrenders,  Span- 
ish revolution  suppressed 51 

"     Republic  in  Mexico 54 

1824.  April  15th,  Greece,  death  of  Lord 

Byron 77 

"  July,  Greece,  massacre  of  Psara  70 
"  Sept.  16,  France,  Louis  XVIII.  t, 

Charles  X.,  King 95 

"  Independence  of  Pern 55 

1825.  Jan.  1st,  England  recognizes  in- 


dependence of  Spanish  colo- 
nies in  South  America 56 

1825.  February,  Greece,  Ibrahim  Pa- 

sha in  Morea 78 

"     Oct.  13th,  Bavaria,  accession  of 

Louis  1 21 

"  Nov.  15th,  Brazil,  separation, 
from  Portugal,  Pedro  I.,  Em- 
peror   58 

"     Dec.  1st,  Russia,  Alexander  L  t, 

Nicholas,  Emperor 81 

1826.  March  10th,  Portugal,  John  VL  t    68 
"     April  22d,  Greece,  fall  of  Meso- 

longhi 79 

"     Sept.  25th,  treaty  of  Akerman..    8T 

1827.  Jan.  1st,  English  in  Lisbon 59 

"     July  6th,  Greece,  treaty  between 

England,  France,  and  Russia. .  81 
"  Aug.  8th,  England,  Canning  t. . .  68 
"  Oct.  20th,  Greece,  battle  of  Nav- 

arino 81 

1828.  Feb.  4th,  Greece,  Kapodistrias 

president 83 

"     April  28th,  Russia  declares  war 

on  Porte 88 

"     June  26th,  Portugal,  usurpation 

of  Dom  Miguel 60 

"  Aug.  29th,  Greece,  French  in  Mo- 
rea    S3 

1829.  March  31st,  Pope  Pius  VIII 129 

"     April    13th,    England,    Roman 

Catholic  emancipation 69 

"  May  27th,  Germany,  beginning 

of  Zollverein 164 

"  Sept.  14th,  Peace  of  Adrianople.  89 
"  Independence  of  Uruguay 55 

1830.  April  20th,  France  declares  war 

on  Algiers 99 

1830.  June  26,  England,  George  IV.  t, 

William  IV.,  King 121 

"  July  25th,  France,  five  ordinances  101 
"  July  26tb,  France,  great  week 

begins 104 

"  Ang.  2d,  France,  Charles  X.  ab- 
dicates    110 

"     Aug.  Sth,  France,  Louis  Philippe, 

King 112 

"     Ang.  25th,  Belgium,  revolution 

in  Brussels 115 

"     Sept.  6th,  Germany,  revolution 

in  Brunswick .'  124 

"     Sept.  16th,  Germany,  revolution 

in  Hesse-Cassel 125 

"     Oct.  10th,  Spain,  birth  of  Isabella    53 
"    Nov.  4th,  London  conference  . . .  119 
"     Nov.  29th,  revolution  in  Poland.  136 
"     Brazil,  Pedro  I.  abdicates,  Pe- 
dro II.,  Emperor 61 

1831.  January,  disturbances  in  Swit- 

zerland    129 

"  Feb.  2d,  Pope  Gregory  XVI 131 

"  Feb.  2d,  rebellion  iu  Modena 

and  Parma 130 


690 


INDEX  OF  DATES. 


1831.  Feb.  17th,  Belgian  constitution 

adopted ' 119 

"  Feb.  26th,  rebellion  ill  Bologna.  129 
"  March  1st,  England,  reform  bill 

introduced 149 

"  March  21st,  Italy,  Austriaus  in 

States  of  the  Church 131 

"  July  21st,  Belgium,  Leopold  I., 

King 120 

"  Sept.;4th,  constitution  in  Saxony  126 
"  Sept.  8th,  Russians  in  Warsaw, 

Polish  revolution  suppressed.  141 
"  Oct.  9th,  Greece,  Kapodistrias 

murdered 84 

1832.  March  Sth,  Prince  Otho  of  Bava- 

ria chosen  King  of  Greece 85 

"  May  27th,  Germany,  Ilambach 

festival 159 

"  June  4th,  England,  passage  of 

reform  bill 150 

"  Oct.  12th,  Germany,  constitution 

in  Brunswick 125 

"  Dec.  21st,  Turkey,  battle  of  Ko- 

nieh  — 156 

1S33.  Jan.  21st,  Turkey  asks  help  of 

Russia 15C 

"  April  3d,  Germany,  Frankfort 

conspiracy 159 

"  July  Sth,  Turkey,  treaty  of  Un- 

kiar-Skelessi 15T 

"  July  29th,  Portugal,  Don  Pedro 

in  Lisbon 61 

"  Sept.  29th,  Spain,  Ferdinand 

VII.  t,  Isabella,   Queen,   Don 

Carlos,  pretender 53 

"  Dec.  25th,  Greece,  Athens  made 

capital 85 

1834.  January  till  June,  Germany,  min- 

isterial conferences  in  Vienna.  101 
"  April  22d,  quadruple  alliance  of 

England,  France,  Spain,  and 

Portugal 144 

"  May  2Cth,  Portugal,  treaty  of 

Evora 61 

1835.  March  2d,  Austria,  Francis  II.  t, 

Ferdinand  I.,  Emperor 163 

"  July  28th,  France,  Fieschi's  in- 
fernal machine 177 

1836.  Oct.  30th,  France,  Louis  Napo- 

leon in  Strasburg. 179 

1837.  June    ISth,  Spain,  constitution 

sworn  to 146 

'«     June     20th,  England,   William 

IV.  t,  Victoria,  Queen 154 

"  June  2Sth,  Germany,  Ernest  Au- 
gustus in  Hanover,  constitu- 
tion repealed 162 

183S.  Jan.  30th,  Prussia,  contest  with 

Pope 165 

"  Aug.  14th,  Bavaria,  knee-bend- 
ing decree 1C2 

1839.  April  29th,  definitive  peace  be- 
tween Holland  and  Belgium. .  121 


1839.  June  24tb,  Turkey,  battle  of  Ni- 

sib 158 

"  June  30th,  Turkey,  Mahmoud 

II.  t,  Abdul  Medshid,  Sultan..  158 
"  Aug.  25th,  Spain,  treaty  of  Ver- 

gara 145 

"  Nov.  3d,  Turkey,  hattisherif  of 

Giilhane 265 

1840.  June  7th,  Prussia,  Frederic  Wil- 

liam III.  t,  Frederic  William 
IV.  King 165 

"  Aug.  6th,  France,  Louis  Napo- 
leon at  Boulogne ISO 

"  Oct.  12th,  Spain,  Christina  abdi- 
cates regency 146 

"  te1.  15th,  France,  ashes  of  Na- 
poleon deposited  in  Invalides  179 

"  Interference  of  great  powers  be- 
tween Turkey  and  Egypt 159 

1841.  Feb.  13th,  Turkey,  Mehemed  Ali 

submits 159 

1542.  July  13th,  France,  Duke  of  Or- 

leans t 183 

"  Aug.  29th,  peace  between  Eng- 
land and  China 154 

"     English  in  Afghanistan 154 

1543.  Aug.   Sth,  Spain,  'Isabella  pro- 

claimed of  age 14C 

"     Sept.  15th,  Greece,  constitution 

granted 85 

1844.  Aug.  14th,  France,  battle  of  Isly  182 
"     Aug.  18th,  Prussia,  the  holy  tm- 

seamed  coat  at  Treves 187 

1S45.  Switzerland,  Jesuits  and  Radi- 
cals   171 

1846.  Feb.  ISth,  Polish  insurrection  in 

Cracow 164 

"  May  25th,  France,  Louis  Napo- 
leon escapes  from  Ham 180 

"  June  18th,  accession  of  Pope 

Pius  IX 202 

"  June  26th,  England,  corn-laws 

repealed 68 

"  July  Stb,  Germany,  open  letter 

of  Christian  VIII 213 

"      Oct.  10th,  Spanish  marriages 147 

1847.  April  llth,  Prussia,  opening  of 

United  Landtag 168 

"  July  9th,  France,  first  Reform 

banquet 184 

"  Nov.  23d,  Switzerland,  Sonder- 

bnnd  defeated 171 

"  Scarcity  in  Germany 212 

1S48.  Jan.  12th,  Italy,  revolution  in 

Palermo 206 

"  Jan.  20th,  Denmark,  Frederic 

VII.,  King 218 

"  Feb.  Sth,  Italy,  constitution  in 

Sardinia 208 

"  Feb.  22d,  Italy,  martial  law  in 

Lombardy 208 

"  Feb.  '22d,  France,  barricades  iu 

Paris 136 


INDEX   OF  DATES. 


691 


1848.  Feb.  24th,  France,  Louis  Philippe 

abdicates 188 

"  Feb.  27th,  France,  republic  pro- 
claimed   192 

"  March  5th,  Germany,  Heidelberg 

assembly 214 

"  March  14th,  Austria.Metternich's 

flight 221 

"  March  15th,  Hungarian  delega- 
tion in  Vienna 239 

"  March  18th,  Italy,  revolution  in 

Milan 208 

"  March  19th,  Prussia,  revolution 

in  Berlin 227 

"  March  20th,  Bavaria,  Louis  I.  ab- 
dicates, Maximilian,  King 214 

"  March  21st,  Prussia,  proclama- 
tion to  the  "German  nation"  227 

"  March  23d,  Italy,  Sardinia  de- 
clares war  on  Austria 209 

"  March  31st,  Germany,  prelimina- 
ry parliament 215 

"  April  6th,  Schleswig-Holstein, 
Prussian  troops  cross  the  Ei- 
der   218 

"  April  7th,  Italy,  Naples  declares 

war  on  Austria 206 

"  May  4th,  France,  National  As- 
sembly meets 193 

"  May  15th,  Austria,  petition  in  Vi- 
enna and  flight  of  Emperor.. .  221 

"  May  15th,  Italy,  insurrection  in 

Naples  suppressed 207 

"  May  18th,  Germany,  National  As- 
sembly meets  in  Frankfort . . .  215 

"  May  22d,  Prussia,  constitutional 

convention  meets 228 

"  June  2d,  Austria,  Slavonic  con- 
gress in  Prague 222 

"  June  23d  to  26th,  France,  Social- 
democratic  insurrection 195 

"  June  29th,  Germany,  Archduke 
John  of  Austria  chosen  admin- 
istrator   216 

"  July  7th,  Prussia,  troops  re-enter 

Berlin 229 

"  Jnly  25th,  Italy,  battle  of  Cns- 

tozza 210 

"  Aug.  26th,  Schleswig-Holstein, 

truce  of  Malmo '219 

"  Sept.  7th,  Italy,  capture  of  Mes- 
sina   207 

"  Sept.  12th,  Switzerland,  new  con- 
stitution   173 

"  Sept.  27th,  Hungary,  murder  of 

Lamberg 241 

"  Oct.  6th,  Austria,  Vienna  in  re- 
volt    223 

"  Oct.  10th,  Hungary  revolts,  Kos- 

snth,  dictator 241 

"     Oct.  31st,  Austria,  Vienna  taken  224 

"  Nov.  12th,  France,  republican 

constitution  published 190 


1848.  Nov.  15th,  Italy,  Rossi  murdered, 

revolution  in  Rome 204 

"  Dec.  2d,  Austria,  Ferdinand  ab- 
dicates, Francis  Joseph,  Em- 
peror   225 

"  Dec.  20th,  France,  Louis  Napo- 
leon, President 196 

1849.  Jan.  5th,  Austriaus  enter  Pesth  242 
Feb.  5th,  Italy,  Roman  republic  204 

"     March   7th.  Austria,  Reichstag 

dissolved 225 

"  March  23d,  Italy,  battle  of  Nova- 
rn,  Charles  Albert  abdicates, 
Victor  Emmanuel  II.,  King  of 
Sardinia 210 

11  March  2Sth,  Germany,  Frederic 
William  IV.  of  Prussia  chosen 
Emperor 231 

"     April   6th,  Hnugary,  battle   of 

Godollo 242 

"  May  3d,  Germany,  revolt  in  Dres- 
den   233 

"  May  13th, Germany,  revolt  in  Ba- 
den   234 

"     May    17th,    Italy,    Neapolitan 

troops  enter  Palermo 207 

11     May  28th,  Germany,  league  of 

three  kings 243 

"     June   18th,  Germany,  National 

Assembly  dissolved 237 

"     July   4th,   Italy,   French   enter 

Rome 205 

"  Aug.  13th,  Hungary,  Gorge!  sur- 
renders to  Russians 244 

"  Sept.  30th,  Austrian-Prussian  In- 
terim   248 

1S50.  Feb.  6th,  Prussia,  constitution..  243 

"     March    20th,    Germany,    Erfurt 

parliament 243 

"     April  4th,  Italy,  Pope  returns  to 

Rome 205 

"     Jnly  2d,  Prussia  and  Denmark 

make  peace. .  v 246 

"     July  25th,  Schleswig-Holstein, 

battle  of  Istedt 247 

"  Aug.  26th,  France,  Louis  Phi- 
lippe t  190 

"  Sept.  7th,  Hesse,  martial  law  pro- 
claimed   249 

"  Nov.  8th,  Germany,  "military 
misunderstanding"  at  Bron- 
zell 250 

"  Nov.  29th,  Germany,  "humilia- 
tion "-of  Olmutz 250 

"  Dec.  23d,  Germany,  Dresden  con- 
ferences    252 

1851.  May  30th,  Germany,  Diet  re-es- 
tablished    252 

"     Dec.2d,  France,  Napoleon's  coup- 

tfetat 199 

"     Dec.  20th,  France,  plebiscite 200 

1S52.  April  24th,  Germany,  Leopold  of 

Baden  t 238 


692 


INDEX   OF   DATES. 


1852.  May    8th,    Schleswig-Holstein, 

London  protocol 251 

"      Dec.  2cl,  Fi-an'-c,  Napoleon  III., 

Emperor 201 

1S53.  Jan.  9th,  Ku*M;i,  Nicholas   pro- 
poses division  of  Turkey 254 

"     Jan.  30th,  France,  marriage  of 

Napoleon 202 

"     Feb.  19th,  commercial  treaty  be- 
tween Austria  and  Zollvereiu  272 

"     July  2d,  Russians  invade  Princi- 
palities   25C 

"     Nov.  1st,  Russia  declares  war  on 

Turkey 250 

"     Nov.  15th,  Portugal,  Maria  II.  t, 

Pedro  V.,  Kin- US 

"     Nov.  30th,  Turkey,  squadron  de- 
stroyed at  Si  n  ope 250 

1854.  March  12th,  alliance  of  Turkey 

and  Western  powers 257 

"     March  28th,  England  and  France 

declare  war  on  Russia 257 

"     April  20th,  Austrian-Prussian  al- 
liance    257 

"     Jnue  14th,  Austria  forms  alliance 

with  Porte 257 

"     June  21st,  Russians  recross  Dan- 
ube   25S 

"     July  20th,  Germany,  conference 

at  Bam  berg 257 

"     Sept.  14th,  allies   land  in  Cri- 
mea  260 

"     Sept.  20th,  battle  of  Alma 2GO 

"  Oct.  25th,  battle  of  Balaklava. . .  260 
"  Nov.  5th,  battle  of  Inkerman.. . .  260 
"  Dec.  2d,  Austria  joins  allies 261 

1855.  Jan.  2Gth,  Sardinia  joins  allies..  261 
"     March   2d,  Russia,  Nicholas  t, 

Alexander  II.,  Emperor. 261 

"  March  10th,  Spain,  death  of  Don 

Carlos 145 

"  Aug.  18th,  Austrian  concordat. .  271 

11  Sept.  Sth,  Sebastopol  taken 2C4 

"  Nov.  2Sth,  Kars-  taken 264 

1856.  Feb.  Sth, Turkey,  Hat-Humayun, 

reform  edict 265 

"  March  16th,  France,  birth  of 

Prince  Eugene 202 

"  March  30th,  Peace  of  Paris 264 

1857.  May  9th,  India,  Sepoy  rebellion 

begins 293 

"     May    26th,    Prussia    renounces 

claims  in  Nenchatel 272 

"     Dec.  29th,  English  and  French 

take  Canton 155 

1868.  Jan.  14th,  France,  Orsiui  bombs 

explode 277 

"     March  13th,  India,  Lucknow  tak- 
en    204 

"     June  2tHh,  China,  peace  of  Tien- 
tsin    155 

"     Sept.  1st,  England,  East  India 

Company  abolished 294 


1S5S.  Oct.  7th,  Prussia,  Prince  of  Prus- 
sia, Regent 273 

1859.  Jan.  30th,  French-Sardinian  mar- 
riage   .- 278 

"     April  29th,  Austrians  cross  Tici- 

110 279 

"     May    22d,    Naples,    Ferdinand 

II.  t,  Francis  II.,  King 287 

"     Juue4th,  Italy,  battle  of  Magenta  280 

"     June  14th,  Italy,  battle  of  Sol- 

fcrino 281 

"     July  Sth,  Italy,  truce  of  Villa- 

franca 282 

"  Sept.  7th,  Russia,  Shamyl  capt- 
ured   143 

"     Nov.  10th,  Italy,  peace  of  Zurich  286 

"     November,   Spanish    war   with 

Morocco 148 

"     November,  China,   second   war 

with  France  and  England 155 

1SGO.  March  1st,  France  annexes  Nice 

and  Savoy 287 

"  May  6th,  Italy,  Garibaldi's  Sicil- 
ian expedition 287 

"     Sept.   7th,   Italy,   Garibaldi    in 

Naples 288 

"     Sept.  18th,  Italy,  battle  of  Castel- 

fidardo 289 

"     Oct.   13th,    China,   French    and 

English  at  Peking 155 

"  Oct.  20th,  Austria,  October  diplo- 
ma    301 

"     Nov.  7th,  Italy,  Victor  Emmanuel 

enters  Naples 289 

ISiil.  Jan.  2d,  Prussia,  Frederic  Wil- 
liam IV.  t,  William  I.,  King..  273 

"  Feb.  13th,  Italy,  Gaeta  surren- 
ders    290 

"     Feb.  18th,  Italy,  first  parliament  290 

"     Feb.    26th,    Austria,    February 

patent 302 

"     March   14th,  Victor   Emmanuel 

King  of  Italy 290 

"     March    17th,    Russia,    imperial 

manifesto  freeing  serfs 268 

"     June  Cth,  Italy,  death  of  Cavour  290 

"     June  25th,  Turkey,  Abdul  Med- 

shid  t,  Abdul  Aziz,  Sultan 266 

"  Sept.  23d,  Wallachia  and  Mol- 
davia unite  in  Roumania 266 

"     Oct.  14th,  Poland    declared   in 

state  of  siege 263 

"  Oct.  31st,  Mexico,  London  con- 
vention of  England,  France, 
and  Spain 295 

"     Oct.    4th,    England,    death     of 

Prince  Consort 151 

"     Nov.  llth,  Portugal,  Pedro  V.  t, 

Luiz,  King- 148 

1532.  Feb.  V.ith,  Mexico,  convention  of 

Soiedad 295 

"     Aug.  28th,  Italy,  battle  of  Aspro- 

montc...  ..  291 


INDEX  OF  DATES. 


693 


1S62.  Oct.  8th,  Prussia,  Bismnrck  min- 
ister-president   306 

"     Oct.    19th,    Greece,    revolution 

breaks  out 26C 

1SC3.  Jan.  14th,  Poland,  forcible  con- 
scription, revolt 269 

"     Feb.  8th,  Russia,  Prussia,  secret 

treaty 2TO 

"     March     30th,    Greece,     Prince 

George  of  Gllicksburg,  Kins-  •  267 

"     May  17th,  Mexico,  Pnebla  taken  290 

"     July  12th.  Mexico,  Maximilian 

chosen  Emperor 296 

"  Aug.  10th,  Germany,  congress 
of  princes,  Francis  Joseph's 
reform  project 303 

"  Nov.  14th,  Denmark,  new  consti- 
tution for  Denmark  and  Schles- 
wig 309 

•'     Nov.  15th,   Denmark,  Frederic 

VII.  t,  Christian  IX.,  King.. . .  309 

"  Dec.  7th,  German  Diet  votes  ex- 
ecution in  Holstein 310 

"     Dec.   27th,   Holstein,  open   air 

meeting  at  Elmshorn 311 

1S64.  Jan.  10th,  Denmark,  Austrian- 
Prussian  ultimatum 312 

"     Feb.  1st,  Denmark,  allied  forces 

enter  Schleswig 313 

"     April  ISth,  Denmark,  battle  of 

Diippel 314 

"  April  25th  to  June  25th,  London 
conference  on  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein 315 

"     June  29th,  Denmark,  battle   of 

Alsen 310 

"  Sept.  15th,  France,  Italy,  con- 
vention concerning  Rome 232 

"     Oct.  30th,  Denmark,  peace   of 

Vienna 317 

"  Dec.  7th,  Schleswig  -  Holstein, 
troops  of  Confederation  with- 
drawn    319 

11     Dec.  8th,  Papal  encyclica  and 

syllabus 402 

1865.  Aug.  14th,  Austria,  Prussia,  Gas- 

teiu  convention 323 

"     Sept.   16th,   Prussia,   Bismarck 

made  count 323 

"     Sept.  20th,  Austria,  constitution 

suspended 303 

"     Dec.  10th,  Belgium,  Leopold  1. 1, 

Leopold  II.,  King 121 

"  Dec.  31st,  German-Italian  com- 
mercial treaty 324 

1SC6.  Feb.    23il,     Ronmania,    Prince 

Cousa  overthrown 266 

11    March  ttth,  Austrian  circular. ..  328 

"     March  24th,  Prussian  circular.. .  32S 

"  April  8th,  Prussian-Italian  alli- 
ance   327 

"     May  5th,  Austria  offers  Venetia 

to  Italv ..331 


1SCC.  May  7th,  Prussia,  attempt   on 

Bismarck 332 

"     May  19th,  Germany,  Diet  votes 

disarmament 328 

"     May  20th,  Germany,  Abgeordue- 

tentag  at  Frankfort 327 

"     June  7th,  Prussians  cross  Eider  333 

u     June  9th,  French- Austrian  treaty  331 

"     June  14tb,  Germany,  Diet  votes 

mobilization,  Prussia  secedes  333 

"     June  15th,  Prussian  ultimatum..  336 

"  June  16th,  Prussians  invade  Han- 
over, Hesse,  and  Saxony..  336,  341 

"     June  20th,  Italy  declares  war.. . .  340 

"     June  24th,  Italy,  battle  of  Cus- 

tozza 340 

"  June  29th,  Hanoverian  army  sur- 
renders   339 

"     July  3d,  Austria  and  Prussia, 

battle  of  Sadowa 347 

"  July  20th,  Austria  and  Italy,  bat- 
tle ofLissa 353 

"     July  22d,  Austria  and  Prussia, 

battle  of  Blnmenau,  truce 354 

"     July  30th,  Mexico,  second  treaty 

with  Napoleon 29T 

"  Aug.  13th  to  Sept.  3d,  peace  and 
treaties  between  Prussia  and 
South-German  states 364 

"     Aug.  23d,  Austria  and  Prussia, 

peace  of  Prague 356 

"     Aug.  24th  .German  Confederation 

dissolved _ 367 

"     Sept.  2d,  Cretan  revolt 398 

"     Oct.  3d,  Austria  and  Italy  make 

peace 369 

"     Nov.  7th,  Italy,  Victor  Emmanuel 

enters  Venice 369 

1S67.  Jan.   12th,  Schleswig -Holstein 

annexed  to  Prussia 367 

"  Feb.  24th,North-German  Reichs- 
tag opened 368 

"  April  1st,  France,  Paris  Exposi- 
tion opened 372 

"  April  17th,  North-German  con- 
stitution adopted 368 

"     May  llth,  Luxembourg  treaty.. .  371 

"     June  8th,  Hungary,  coronation 

of  Francis  Joseph 373 

"     June  19th,  Mexico,  Maximilian 

shot 293 

"  Ang.  15th,  England,  Disraeli's  re- 
form bill  becomes  law 395 

"     Nov.  3d,  Italy,  battle  of  Meutana, 

French  in  Rome 401 

"  Dec.  21st,  Austria ,  new  constitu- 
tion, dual  empire 373 

1S6S.  April  27th,  Germany,  first  cus- 
toms' parliament 3S1 

"     June   10th,   Servia,  murder   of 

Prince  Michael 397 

"     June     22d,    Papal      allocution 

against  Austrian  la ws 375 


694 


INDEX   OF   DATES. 


18«S.  Sept.  ISth,  Spain,  revolt  in  Cadiz  406 
"     Dec.    3d,    England,    Gladstone, 

premier 396 

1869.  Jan.  9th,  Paris   conference   on 

Cretan  revolt 39S 

41  Feb.  ISth,  Spain,  new  constitu- 
tion adopted 400 

••     March  1st,  Paraguay,  death  of 

Lopez 299 

"  July  10th,  French-Belgian  rail- 
road convention 390 

"  Aug.  13th,  France,  death  of  Niel  3S9 
"  Nov. ITtb, Suez  Canal  opened....  391 
il  Dec.  8th,  Vatican  council  meets.  403 

1870.  May   8th,   France,   constitution 

approved  by  plebiscite 393 

"  July  2d,  Spain,  Leopold  of  Ho- 

henzollern  chosen  Kiug 408 

44     July  18th,  Pope  voted  infallible.  404 

"  July  19th,  France  declares  war 

on  Prussia. 415 

"  Aug.  2d,  France,  Germany,  battle 

of  Saarbruckeu 427 

"  Aug.  4th,  France,  Germany,  bat- 
tle of  Weisseuburg 428 

"  Aug.  6th,  France,  Germany, 
battles  of  Worth  and  Spi- 
cheru 42S,  429 

"  Aug.  14th,  France,  Germany, 
battle  of  Borny  (Colombey- 
Nouilly) 433 

"  Aug.  16th,  France,  Germany, 
battle  of  Viouville  (Mars-la- 
Tonr) 434 

"  Aug.  ISth,  France,  Germany, 

battle  of  Gravelotte 435 

"  Sept.  1st,  France,  Germany,  bat- 
tle of  Sedan 439 

"  Sept.  2d,  France,  Emperor  and 

army  capitulate 439 

"  Sept.  4th,  France,  fall  of  the 

Empire 441 

"     Sept.  20th,  Italians  enter  Rome  476 

"  Sept.  2Sth,  France,  Strasburg  ca- 
pitulates    448 

"  Oct.  9th,  France,  Garabetta  in 

Tours 443 

"  Oct.  29th,  France,  Mctz  surren- 
ders    449 

"  Oct.  31st,  Russia  refuses  to  be 

bound  by  treaty  of  Paris 485 

"  Nov.  16th,  Spain,  Amadeo  chos- 
en King 478 

"     Nov.22d,  France,  battle  of  Etuz  453 

"  Dec.  4th,  France,  battle  of  Or- 
leans   450 

"  Dec.  27th,  Spain,  Prim  assassi- 
nated   47S 

1871.  Jan.  1st,  German  Empire   pro- 

claimed.   465 

"  Jan.  15th -17th.  France,  battle 

of  Bolfort 454 

"  Jan.  nth,  Pontns  conference...  435 


1571.  Jan.  19th,  France,  battle  of  St. 

Q.uentin ' 452 

"  Jan.  28th,  France,  Paris  capitu- 
lates   457 

"     Feb.  1st,  France,  eastern  array 

driven  into  Switzerland 455 

"  Feb.  12th,  France,  National  As- 
sembly in  Bordeaux 458 

"     Feb.  18tb,  France,  Thiers,  chief 

of  executive 45S 

"     March    2d,    France,   Germany, 

preliminary  peace 458 

"     March  ISth,  France,  Commune 

established  in  Paris 469 

"     March  21st,  Germany,  the  first 

Reichstag  opened 465 

"  March  2Sth,  Germany,  Dollin- 
ger's  declaration,  Old  Catho- 
lics   405 

May  10th,  France,  Germany,  de- 
finitive peace 4CO 

"  May  28th,  France, Commune  sup- 
pressed   471 

"  Aug.  31st,  France,  Thiers,  presi- 
dent    472 

;<  Nov.  28th,  Germany,  pulpit  par- 
agraph    500 

1572.  May  2d,  Pope  refuses  to  receive 

German  ambassador 500 

"  July  5th,  Germany,  expulsion  of 

Jesuits  (law) 500 

"  July  18th,  Mexico,  death  of 

Juarez 493 

"  Sept.  14th,  England,  America, 

Geneva  award 395 

"  Sept.  ISth,  Sweden,  Charles 

XV.  t,  Oscar  II.,  King 490 

1573.  Jan.  9th,  Napoleon  III.  t 442 

"     Feb.  llth,  Spain,  Amadeo  abdi- 
cates   479 

"     Feb.  17th,  Switzerland,  Mermil- 

lod  arrested 492 

"  May  1st,  Austria,  Vienna  Expo- 
sition opened 485 

"  May  24th,  France,  Thiers  re- 
signs, MacMahon,  president..  475 

"     June  5th,  England,  slave-trade 

abolished  in  Zanzibar 4SS 

"     June  10th,  Russians  enter  Khiva  4S6 

"     Sept.  16cb,  France,  last  German 

leaves 473 

"     Oct.  31st,  Spain,  capture  of  the 

I'irtjiiiius 493 

"     Nov.  21st,  Papal  encyclica 4'J2 

"  Dec.  10th,  France,  Bazninc  con- 
demned    474 

1874.  Jan.    13th,    Russia,   compulsory 

military  service 486 

"      Jan.  17th,  Switzerland,  liberal 

church  law  in  Berne 492 

11  Jan.  24th,  Holland,  Dutch  take 
Atchin 

"     Feb.  4th,  English  takeC'ooinassie  48» 


INDEX  OF  DATES. 


695 


1874.  Feb.    20th,    England,    Disraeli, 

premier 483 

"  April  19th,  Switzerland,  revised 

constitution  adopted 491 

"  Jnly  13th,  Germany,  attempt  on 

Bismarck 503 

"  July  27th,  International  peace 

congress  in  Brussels 480 

u  Dec.  19th,  Germany,  Arnim  con- 
demned    495 

"  Dec.  29th,  Spain,  Alfonso  pro- 
claimed King 482 

1875.  Jan.  25th,  Germany,  civil  mar- 

riage   502 

"     Feb.  5th,  Papal  encyclica 603 

"     July  Cth,  Turkey,  insurrection 

breaks  ont  in  Herzegovina —  500 
u  Nov.  25th,  England,  purchase  of 

Suez  Canal  shares 510 

"  Dec.  31st,  France,  National  As- 
sembly dissolved 013 

1876.  Jan.  31st,  Turkey,  joint  note  pre- 

sented    509 

"  May  30th,  Turkey,  Abdul  Aziz 

deposed,  Murad  V.,  Sultan  . . .  514 
"  May,  Turkey,  Bulgarian  massa- 
cres    515 

"  June  151  h,  Turkey,  Hussein  Avni 

and  Rashid  Pasha  murdered..  620 
"  .  July  2d,  Servians  invade  Turkey  519 
u  Aug.  31st,  Turkey,  Abdul  Hamid 

II.,  Sultan 522 

"  Oct.  31st,  Turkey,  truce  with 

Scrvia 524 

"  Nov.  Cth,  Death  of  Autouelli....  597 
"  Dec.  23d,  Turkey,  constitution 

proclaimed 520 

1877.  March  1st,  Turkey  and  Servia, 

peace 527 

"  April  10th,  Roumanian  conven- 
tion with  Russia 530 

41  April  24th,  Russia  declares  war 

on  Turkey 529 

"  May  19th,  France,  manifesto  of 

363  Republicans 015 

"  June  21st,  Russians  cross  Dan- 
ube   532 

11  July  20th,  Turkey,  first  battle 

of  Plevna 535 

"  July  30th,  Turkey,  second  battle 

of  Plevna 530 

"  Aug.  19th  to  Sept.  17th,  Turkey, 

fighting  at  Shipka  Pass 537 

"  Sept.  2d,  Roumanians  cross  Dan- 
ube   530 

44  Sept.  4th,  France,  death  of 

Thiers 610 

14  Sept.  llth,  Turkey,  third  battle 

of  Plevna 530 

«'     Nov.  17th,  Turkey,  Kars  taken. .  543 

"     Dec.  10th,  Turkey,  Plevna  taken  640 

1878.  Jan.  4th,  Turkey,  Russians  in 

Sofia....  ..  541 


1878.  Jan.  9th,  Italy,  Victor  Emmanu- 

el II.  t,  Humbert,  King 593 

"  Jan.  31st,  Russia,  Turkey,  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities 545 

"     Feb.  7th,  Pope  Pins  IX.  t 590 

"  Feb.  13th,  English  fleet  in  Dar- 
danelles   546 

"     Feb.  20th,  Leo  XIII.,  Pope 596 

"  March  3d,  Russia,  Turkey,  treaty 

ofSauStefano 545 

"     April  21st,  Papal  eucyclica 598 

"  May  13th,  Germany,  Hudel's  at- 
tempt on  Emperor, 637 

«*  May  30th,  Russia,  England,  se- 
cret treaty 543 

u  June  2d,  Germany,  Nobiling's 

attempt  on  Emperor 638 

"  June  4th,  England,  Turkey,  se- 
cret treaty 552 

"  June  12th,  Germany,  George  V. 

of  Hanover  t 610 

u  June  13th  to  July  13th,  Berlin 

congress 650,  554 

"  July  22d,  Russian  embassy  in 

Cabul 577 

"     July29th,AustriansenterBosuia  555 

"  Sept.  6th,  Turkey,  murder  of  Me- 

hemed  Ali 562 

"  Oct.  19th,  Germany,  antisocial- 

ist  bill 639 

"  Nov.  17th,  Italy,  attempt  on 

King  Humbert 594 

u  Nov.  20th,  English  invade  Af- 
ghanistan   578 

1879.  Jan.  22d,  Zulu  War,  battle   of 

Isandula 581 

"  Feb.  8th,  Russia,Tnrkey,  supple- 
mentary treaty 556 

"  Feb.  21st,  Russia,  assassination 

of  Krapotkin 571 

"  Feb.  21st,  Afghanistan,  death  of 

Shere  Ali 578 

"  March  31st, Russia, Nihilist  proc- 
lamation to  "Mr.  Alexander 
Nikolaievitch  " 571 

"  April  6th,  Chili,  Peru,  Bolivia, 

war 055 

"  April  14th,  Russia,  attempt  on 

Emperor 571 

"  April  28th,  Bulgaria,  constitu- 
tion adopted 550 

"  April  29th,  Bulgaria,  Alexander 

chosen  Prince 557 

"  May  20th,  England,  Afghanistan, 

peace  of  Gundamak 578 

44  June  1st,  death  of  Prince  Louis 

Napoleon 582 

"  June  26th,  Egypt,  Ismail  abdi- 
cates    505 

"  Sept.  3d,  England,  Afghanistan, 

Cabul  massacre 57$ 

"  Sept.  9th,  Russia,  battle  of  Den- 

giltcpe 575 


696 


INDEX   OF   DATES. 


1S79.  Dec.   30th,   Spain,    attempt    on 

King  Alfonso 603 

1SSO.  Feb.  ITth,  Russia,  winter-palace 

explosion 568 

"     May  27th,  Chili,  Peru,  battle  of 

Tacna 656 

"     June  12th,  Turkey,  identical  note 

presented 560 

"     June  16th,  Berlin  conference —  560 

"     July   IGth,  Turkey,  joint   note 

presented 561 

"     July  18th,  Egypt,  liquidation  law  565 

"     July  22d,  England,  Afghanistan, 

battle  of  Kushk-i-Nakhoud. . .  579 

"     Aug.  9th,   France,   Gambetta's 

speech  at  Cherbourg 623 

"     Sept.  1st, England,  Afghanistan, 

battle  of  Sangiri 580 

"     Sept.  20th,  European  naval  dem- 
onstration   ..  503 


1880.  Oct.  15th,  Germany,  Cologne  ca- 
thedral completed 635 

1SS1.  March   3d,  Russia,  attempt  on 

MelikofTs  life 573 

"  March  13th,  Russia,  assassina- 
tion of  Alexander  II.,  Alexan- 
der III.,  Emperor 574 

"     April  19th,  England,  death   of 

Disraeli 586 

"     July  13th,  Italy,  riot  in  Rome...  59S 
u     Aug.   22d,   England,   land    bill    • 

passed 586 

"     Sept.  9th,  Egypt,  revolution 50G 

"  Oct.  10th,  Austria,  death  of  Hay- 
merle 588 

1882.  Jan.    1st,    St.   Gothard    tunnel 

opened 609 

"     Jan.  4th,  Prussia,  royal  rescript  646 
"     Jan.  26th,  France,  fall  of  Gam- 
betta  (Preface). 


THE    END. 


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Revised  German  Edition.  By  SAMUEL  DAVIDSON,  LL.D.,  and  Rev 
JOHN  WINSTANLEY  HULL,  M.A.  A  New  American  Edition,  Revised 
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Illustrated.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

ABBOTT'S  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  The  French  Revolution  of 
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SCHILLER'S  REVOLT  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS.  History  of  the 
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Horn,  and  the  Siege  of  Antwerp.  By  FREDERICK  SCHILLER.  Trans- 
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HELPS'S  SPANISH  CONQUEST.  The  Spanish  Conquest  in  Ameri- 
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ROLLIN'S  ANCIENT  HISTORY.  Ancient  History  of  the  Egyptians, 
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SISMONDI'S  ITALIAN  REPUBLICS.  A  History  of  the  Italian  Re- 
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dom. By  J.  C.  L.  SISMONDE  DE  SisMONDi.  12mo,  Cloth,  75  cents. 

SISMONDI'S  LITERATURE  IN  EUROPE.  Historical  View  of  ilie 
Literature  of  the  South  of  Europe.  By  J.  C.  L.  SISMONDE  DE  SISMON- 
DI. Translated,  with  Notes,  by  THOMAS  ROSCOE.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
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CUSHING'S  TREATY  OF  WASHINGTON.  The  Treaty  of  Washing- 
ton: its  Negotiation,  Execution,  and  the  Discussions  relating  thereto. 
By  CALEB  GUSHING.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

HALLAM'S  LITERATURE  OF  EUROPE.  Introduction  to  the  Lit- 
erature of  Europe  in  the  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth,  and  Seventeenth  Cen- 
turies. By  HENRY  HALLAM,  LL.D.,  F.R.A.S.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth, 
f>4  00 ;  Sheep,  $5  00. 

HALLAM'S  MIDDLE  AGES.  View  of  the  State  of  Europe  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  By  HENRY  HALLAM,  LL.D.,  F.R.A.S.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$2  00;  Sheep,  $3  50. 

HALLAM'S   CONSTITUTIONAL   HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.     The 

Constitutional  History  of  P^ngland,  from  the  Accession  of  Henry  VII.  to 
the  Death  of  George  II.  By  HENRY  HALLAM,  LL.D.,  F.R.A.S.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $2  00  ;  Sheep,  $2  50." 

YONGE'S    CONSTITUTIONAL    HISTORY    OF    ENGLAND.      The 

Constitutional  History  of  England  from  1760  to  1860.  By  CHARLES 
DUKE  YONGE,  M.A.  4to,  Paper,  25  cents.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 

MACKENZIE'S  AMERICA.  America :  a  History.  I.  The  United 
States. — II.  Dominion  of  Canada. — III.  South  America,  &c.  By  ROB- 
ERT MACKENZIE.  4to,  Paper,  20  cents. 

MACKENZIE'S  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  The  Nineteenth  Century. 
A  History.  By  ROBERT  MACKENZIE.  4to,  Paper,  15  cents. 

SMITH'S  MOHAMMED  AND  MOHAMMEDANISM.  Lectures  de- 
livered at  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain  in  February  and  March, 
1874.  By  R.  BOSWORTII  SMITH,  M.A.,  Assistant  Master  in  Harrow 
School ;  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  With  an  Appendix 
containing  Emanucl  Deutsch's  Article  on  "  Islam."  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

TAYLOR'S  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.  The  History  of  Ireland.  From 
the  Anglo-Norman  Invasion  to  the  Union  of  the  Country  with  Great 
Britain.  By  W.  C.  TAYLOR.  With  Additions  by  WILLIAM  SAMPSON. 
2  vols.-,  18mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 


Important  Historical  Works. 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.  A  Review  of  Amer- 
ican Progress.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep,  $5  50 ;  Half  Morocco,  $7  25. 

MILMAN'S  HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  A  History  of  Chris- 
tianity, from  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  the  Abolition  of  Paganism  in  the 
Roman  Empire.  Bv  Rev.  H.  H.  MILMAN.  With  Notes,  &c.,  by  JAMES 
MCKDOCK,  D.D.  Svo,  Cloth,  $2  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $4  25. 

MILMAN'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.  A  History  of  the  Jews. 
From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time.  By  Rev.  H.  H.  MILMAX. 
Maps  and  Illustrations.  3  vols.,  18mo,  Cloth,  $2  25. 

THIRLWALL'S  GREECE.  History  of  Greece.  By  Rev.  CONNOP 
THIKI.WALL,  D.D.  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  $4  00;  Sheep,  $5  00;  Half 
Calf,  !$S  50. 

GEDDES'S  HISTORY  OF  JOHN  DE  WITT.  History  of  the  Admin- 
istration of  John  De  Witt,  Grand  Pensionary  of  Holland.  By  JAMES 
GEDDES.  Vol.  I.— 1G23-1G54.  With  a  Portrait.  8vo,  Clotli,|2  50. 

A  CENTURY  OF  DISHONOR.  A  Sketch  of  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment's Dealings  witli  some  of  the  Indian  Tribes.  By  H.  II.,  Au- 
thor of ''Verses,"  "Bits  of  Travel,"  &c.  With  a  Preface  by  Bishop 
Whipple  and  an  Introduction  by  President  Seelye.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

NORTON'S  CHURCH -BUILDING.  Historical  Studies  of  Church- 
Biiildiug  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Venice,  Siena,  Florence.  By  CHARLES 
ELIOT  NORTON.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

PRINCE  MKTTKUXICirS  MEMOIRS.  Memoirs  of  Prince  Metter- 
nich,  1773-1829.  Edited  by  Prince  RICHARD  METTEKMCH.  The  Pa- 
pers Classified  and  Arranged  by  M.  A.  de  Klinkowstrom.  Translated 
by  Mrs.  Alexander  Napier.  Four  Parts,  4to,  Paper,  20  cents  each ; 
12mo,  Cloth,  2  vols.,  $2  00. 

ENGLISH  CORRESPONDENCE.  Four  Centuries  of  English  Letters. 
Selections  from  the  Correspondence  of  One  Hundred  and  Fifty  Writers, 
from  the  Period  of  the  Paston  Letters  to  the  Present  Day.  Edited  by 
W.  BAPTISTS  SCOOXES.  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

PARDOE'S  EPISODES  OF  FRENCH  HISTORY.  Episodes  of  French 
History  during  the  Consulate  and  the  First  Empire.  By  Miss  JULIA 
PAUUOE.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

PARDOE'S  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH.  Louis  the  Fourteenth  and 
the  Court  of  France  in  the  Seventeenth  Century.  By  Miss  JULIA  PAK- 
DOE.  Illustrated.  2  vols.,  12mo.  Cloth,  *4  00. 


8  Important  Historical   Works. 


THE  STUDENT'S  SERIES.  Maps  and  Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth. 
FKANCE. —  GIBBON.  — GREECE.  — ROME  (by  LIDDELL).  — OLD  TESTA- 
MENT HISTORY. — NEW  TESTAMENT  HISTORY. — STRICKLAND'S  QUEENS 
OF  ENGLAND  (Abridged). — ANCIENT  HISTORY  OF  THE  EAST. — HAL- 
LAM'S  MIDDLE  AGES. — HALLAM'S  CONSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY  OF  ENG- 
LAND.—  LYELL'S  ELEMENTS  OF  GEOLOGY. — MERIVALE'S  GENERAL 
HISTORY  OF  ROME. — Cox's  GENERAL  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. — CLAS- 
SICAL DICTIONARY.  $1  25  per  volume. 

LEWIS'S  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY.  —  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.  — 
HUME'S  ENGLAND.     $1  50  per  volume. 

MICHELET'S  MODERN  HISTORY.  Elements  of  Modern  History. 
By  M.  MICHELET.  Translated  from  the  French,  with  an  Introduction, 
Notes,  &c.,  by  Rev.  Dr.  TOTTER.  18mo,  Cloth,  75  cents. 

HARPER'S  PICTORIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  REBELLION.  Har- 
per's Pictorial  History  of  the  Great  Rebellion  in  the  United  States. 
With  nearly  1000  Illustrations — Maps,  Plans,  Scenes,  and  Portraits. 
In  Two  Volumes,  4to,  Cloth,  $12  00. 

CREASY'S  FIFTEEN  DECISIVE  BATTLES.  The  Fifteen  Decisive 
Battles  of  the  World  ;  from  Marathon  to  Waterloo.  By  E.  S.  CREASY, 
A.M.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

STEVENS'S  MADAME  DE  STAEL.  Madame  DC  Stael :  a  Study  of 
her  Life  and  Times.  The  First  Revolution  and  the  First  Empire.  By 
ABEL  STEVENS,  LL.D.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

ROBERTSON'S  AMERICA.  History  of  the  Discovery  of  America.  By 
WILLIAM  ROBERTSON,  LL.D.  With  an  Account  of  his  Life  and  Writ- 
ings. With  Questions  for  the  Examination  of  Students,  by  JOHN 
FROST,  A.M.  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  25 ;  Sheep,  $2  75 ;  Half  Calf,  $4  50. 
Abridged,  18mo,  Cloth,  75  cents. 

ROBERTSON'S  CHARLES  V.  History  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V. : 
With  a  View  of  the  Progress  of  Society  in  E'iropc  to  the  Beginning  of 
the  Sixteenth  Century.  By  WILLIAM  ROUKKTSON,  LL.D.  With  Ques- 
tions for  the  Examination  of  Students,  by  JOHN  FROST,  A.M.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $2  25;  Sheep,  $2  75;  Half  Calf,  $4  50.  Abridged,  ISmo, 
Cloth,  75  cents. 

ROBERTSON'S  SCOTLAND  AND  ANCIENT  INDIA.  A  History 
of  Scotland  during  the  Reigns  of  Queen  Mary  and  James  VI.,  till  his 
Accession  to  the  Crown  of  England.  With  a  Review  of  the  Scottish 
History  previous  to  that  Period.  Included  in  the  same  Volume  is  a 
Dissertation  concerning  Ancient  India.  Bv  WILLIAM  ROBERTSON. 
LL.D.  8vo,  Cloth.  f  2  25  ;  Sheep,  $2  75  ;  Half  Calf,  $4  50. 


